indian/revisited: i still strongly recommend MAYUR INDIAN KITCHEN

MAYUR INDIAN KITCHEN 

馬友友印度廚房

350-5 Keelung Rd, Sec. 1 台北市基隆路一段350號之5

(02) 2720-0011

MRT: Taipei City Hall or Taipei 101

website: Mayur's FB page 

hours: 11:30 am – 9:30 pm 

$-$$ (This meal was by invitation and hosted, but all opinions are my own.)

Visit reviewed: 4/3/2018

Previous reviewed: 5/17/2012

RECENTLY, I REVISITED THE ORIGINAL Mayur Indian Kitchen in Xinyi and was happy to find it even better than when I first wrote about it in 2012! (That rarely happens.) Since 2012, Mayur Indian Kitchen has expanded from one street side shop to six Indian restaurants across Taipei, all with different specialties including all vegetarian, buffet or late night with live music.  I'm not sure why I didn't return since I wrote about it six years ago, but Chef Mayur had kindly invited me over the years, as he sent messages here and there about the new restaurants he had opened. 

After I had posted some butter chicken that I had ordered after an ubereats fail from another Indian restaurant during Chinese New Year, he told me that my original blog post had brought so many customers to his restaurant, but that the Mayur Indian Kitchen I visited back then was completely different from my last visit and hoped I could see for myself. 

So I invited a few fellow Indian food loving friends to meet me at the Guangfu location, which was missing its sign above, but had doubled in restaurant space. Mayur Indian Kitchen (MIK 1) now had indoor table seating in a festive bright red dining area, as well as the al fresco tables outside. It's still quiet on this street, so sitting outside in good weather isn't a problem. 

 

The current glossy menu had page after page of appetizers, tandoori, vindaloo, tikka masala, butter chicken, masalas, vegetarian curries, naan, parathas, and drinks, which affordable prices from NT$190-395. I could understand why a revisit was overdue because the restaurant had grown into a completely different experience than the one that was just starting out in 2012 which chicken on the bone in the curry and less than a dozen curries available. Thank you to Chef Mayur for the invitation and for your hospitality.  (It's such a funny coincidence that my post in 2012 was exactly 6 years ago yesterday).

I'm a creature of habit, especially at Indian restaurants. I will tend to reorder the same things that I like, but I'm open to trying new things. So while we put in our order for butter chicken, palak paneer, naan, paratha, aloo gobi and raita, some finger foods came to the table.  

It was my first time trying these Dahi puchka from Kolkata (NT$150 for 6), which were small puffs filled with yogurt, tamarind and mint sauces. They were flavor bombs and slightly messy if you didn't eat it in one bite. A lighter way to start the meal than the more well known Punjabi vegetarian samosas (NT$135) dense with potatoes and peas. 

Soon our table filled with curries, naan, rice and vegetables. After a few photos, we dug in. Our favorites were the butter chicken (NT$245) which had that classic sweet and slightly spicy addictive sauce, and surprisingly the recommended aloo gobhi (NT$225), which is curried cauliflower and potatoes. It is a MUST ORDER. I used to order aloo gobhi all the time in the states, but sometimes you get more potatoes than anything else. Mayur Indian Kitchen's version had strong cauliflower game where the cauliflowers were just the right texture and was spiced without being heavy. 

Such a happy meal as my friends and I used the naan to scoop up every last bit of the butter chicken curry and filled our plates and bellies with food. I loved everything. 

The only thing I probably wouldn't reorder is the Malai Tikka (NT$225) which was not as juicy or flavorful as I've had elsewhere. Next time I'd try the tandoori chicken. MIK 1 also still only serves yellow rice, which I noted on my first visit. In my conversation with Chef Mayur, most people in India typically eat regular rice and not basmati rice because it's more affordable and it's more filling. 

Otherwise there are 18 types of naan, roti and paratha to order from, including garlic chili naan and sweeter coconut naan or cheese naan. We ordered three- plain, garlic and aloo paratha, for the three of us and it was more than plenty. 

butter chicken

palak paneer (spinach with paneer) & spiced rice

aloo gobhi and chicken malai 

aloo paratha (NT$85)

plain naan (NT$55)

garlic naan (NT$55)

A large sign outside the restaurant displays the new exclusively vegetarian MIK as well as the addresses of the other locations. Rather than make each restaurant the same, Chef Mayur chose to give each one a specialty. MIK 1 is homestyle Indian food. MIK 2 is more upscale.  MIK 3 is purely vegetarian. MIK 4 is a buffet (but only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays). MIK5 is stated to the be the largest Indian restaurant in Taipei. And last but not least, the newest MIK 6 is an Indian restaurant by day, hookah and live music restaurant by night, offering Indian food until 3AM. 

What was Chef Mayur's entrepreneurial secret to opening 6 restaurants in 6 years? Chef Mayur wooed his family from India to Taipei in his expansion to helm and cook at the different branches, and his father is the chef at MIK 1, which serves classic, homestyle Indian dishes. “My father cooks food for our guests just like the way he used to cook for our family. In fact, he treats all MIK customers as our family guests.” And to find that in Taipei is such a treat. 

indian: i recommend KHANA KHAZANA

KHANA KHAZANA  

No. 366 Keelung Rd, Sec. 1 

臺北市信義區基隆路一段366號

(02) 8786-9366 

MRT: Taipei 101 / World Trade Center 

website: khanakhazana.com.tw

Hours: 11am-2:30pm; 5:30pm-10:30pm 

Visit reviewed: 4/13/2016 & 2/12/2014 & 10/21/2013

It's been a while since I've been to Khana Khazana, but I've been wanting to retry their lunch sets.  They are one of the few Indian restaurants in Taipei offering lunch sets under NT$200, as well as a halal menu. It's not very far from the original branch of Mayur's Indian Kitchen, also on Keelung Road, across from Grand Hyatt Taipei. You can see the bright orange sign when you are approaching, and huge photos of the owner with Ang Lee, who shot Life of Pi in Taiwan.

Inside is decorated with jewel colored tones, Khana Khazana seat about 40 people, but I've never seen it very crowded in the handful of visits I've gone over the past few years. The menu is sprawling and varied, but what sets Khana Khazana apart is their business lunch set menu. Good options for vegetarians with over 20 vegetable dishes on the menu. 

The set comes with a curry, chickpeas, pakora, rice and naan. Chicken set is NT$180 and vegetarian set is NT$160. Beef and lamb are also available. I had good impressions of the vegetarian lunch set as well as the chicken tikka wrap from the last time I went, so lunch with mom was a good excuse to go back. Thanks to my instagram to remind me what I thought back then in 2014. 

I decided to get the chicken set, even though in the past I haven't had the best of luck with lunch sets in Taipei. Usually it's a watered down, cheaper version of their regular food, especially for the meat curries because they have to sell it such a low price. But I wouldn't know until I tried it. I was debating on whether or not to add a butter chicken to my order, but the server (owner?) dissuaded me, telling me that the set would be filling for one person. (Little did he know who he was talking to! Lol!)

Vegetable curry set (NT$160)

The sets came out fairly quickly and were slightly different than my last visit. Instead of aloo gohbi, this time it was a vegetable curry for my mom; the salad was instead chopped onions and the hot fried samosa type dumpling was instead pakora. 

Chicken curry set (NT$180)

The good? You really do get a lot of variety for the lunch price since meals at many Indian restaurants can add up since they are portioned and priced to share. The naan was great, and more chewy than I recall than at other places.  

The bad? My mom disliked that the pakoras (fried onions) were not served hot and the chickpeas were a bit sour (is that typical?). She also disliked how big and thick the samosas were, although I had no problem with it. I told her that usually people like it when they are getting a big portion for the price. Lol. 

Samosas (NT$90 for 2) stuffed with curried potatoes and peas. meat option available too. I liked the samosas as they are similar to the ones I've had in the states, but it's very filling.

When the food came, I still ended up having to add an ala carte butter chicken since the chicken in the set was a bit bland, being chicken breast, and not tandoori chicken, and there were only two pieces. Come on, I needed the butter chicken curry to dip my naan in and be satisfied! Of course, altogether it ended up being too much to finish, (along with adding the samosas), but I packed leftovers to go for later.

Butter chicken (NT$350) 

In the future, I'd probably share veggie lunch set with my mom (neither of us finished the naan) and add butter chicken (NT$350). I wouldn't mind getting the chicken tikka wrap again, or inviting a bigger group of friends to share more dishes. 

In terms of how Khana Khazana ranks with other Indian restaurants, I think Balle Balle and Saffron are still my favorites, along with Joseph's Bistro. I do want to try MIK 4ever (Mayur Indian Kitchen's buffet style restaurant). I wish one of the Indian restaurants in Taipei would figure out a way to do lunch set with choices-- so that I could opt for the butter chicken curry or whatever I wanted, add a side of veggies or two and choice of naan and rice, like they do in the states or Singapore, so it's portioned for one person, but charge a little more than they do for the lunch sets they have now. If it was good quality and portions, I wouldn't mind paying NT$250-400 for that.

indian/revisited: i still strongly recommend THE SPICE SHOP

THE SPICE SHOP INDIAN CUISINE 香料屋印度料理
No. 6 Alley 10, Lane 50, TianMu E. Road, Shilin District
天母東路50巷10弄6號
(02) 2873-7775

 MRT: Mingde (about 30 minute walk or 10 minute drive from station)

 website: Spice Shop's FB page

 hours: 11:30AM – 2PM, 5:30PM –9:30PM

 $$ - $$$ (about NT$400-600 per person)

 Kid friendliness: high chairs available, some non spicy menu items available.

Visit reviewed: 3/15/2016
Previous visit reviewed: 5/29/2013 (LOL!! I didn't even realize I reviewed it already. So I added this and changed the header.

Have you ever seen the movie THE HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY? Basically, it's a movie about a one Michelin starred French restaurant run by Helen Mirren's character that begins feuding with the owners of the newly opened Indian restaurant across the street, and of course, mutual love of good food brings them together in the end. Anyways, I think about this movie because Spice Shop is right next to another Indian restaurant, Saffron, less than a hundred feet away, and you have to wonder what the relationship between the two restaurants are. Are they owned by the same people? Are they enemies? Do they just ignore each other? Do they work together? I guess the easy thing to do would be to ask, but every time I'm too busy eating my food to remember.

For whatever reason, I tried Saffron first and ate only at Saffron for years before stepping foot into Spice Shop, because Saffron was so good, even though it seemed to be the more upscale, pricier restaurant . Why give up a sure thing when you don't know if the restaurant next door is going to be bad or good especially when I was trekking all the way to Tianmu. Then a few years ago, a friend wanted to eat at Spice Shop and so we went and it ended being equally tasty as Saffron. (Note the date in the Instagram photo below-- May 2013! That was my first time to Spice Shop. What a difference three years make, so much has changed in my life since then.)

I wish I had taken more photos of the menu, but the English Chinese menu has a collection of appetizers, salads, tandoor dishes, curries and vegetarian dishes.

And even though I don't have photographic proof, Spice Shop went through several renovations awhile back and now is equally fancy looking as Saffron, even though my fuzzy memory swears that Spice Shop used to look more colorful and casual than it does with its current muted purple hues and decor. (Googling some old blogs seem to vouch for that.) Spice Shop has been opened for over 10 years, a few years before Saffron opened.

So for a recent get together, my friends and I ended up at Spice Shop and they quite liked it as well. Butter chicken, tandoori chicken, fluffy naan, raita, spinach, eggplant.

Complimentary papadum, only 1 per person. We asked for more, but they said it would cost extra.

The raita (NT$100) at Spice Shop has a lot of cucumber, onion, tomato mixed in (unlike the version at Balle Balle which has a little bit of diced cucumber but is basically a yogurt dressing, but more like the version I had at Joseph's Bistro). 

The tandoori chicken - a half order of four pieces was good enough for three of us to share. I personally thought the chicken had too much spice layered atop it, there was something that didn't agree with me, but I was the only one who thought so.

Butter Chicken (NT$380) This was a hit at the table as always.. It seemed to have more layered flavors than my current favorite spot, Balle Balle, and wasn't as sweet. 

Butter chicken with a pile of naan is a must. Plain for me, garlic for my friends! The naan at Spice Shop is fluffy and generously sized.

Spoon a little of each curry and some rice to your plate and dig in. The eggplant and spinach were really good too. It's definitely harder to have a variety if you are eating alone. That's why I always eat it with a few friends. If you can't eat spicy foods, then the waitress recommended Murgh Lababdar (NT$340) to us. The default spiciness level in Taipei is generally low spiciness, which is how I like it too, so I don't mind it. But I've heard rumbles online when people complain about Indian restaurants in Taipei not being spicy enough. So the general rule of thumb for Indian food in Taipei is that if you like it spicy, just ask. 

indian: i strongly recommend BALLE BALLE INDIAN

BALLE BALLE INDIAN FOOD 雷巴雷印度餐廳
No. 12 Guangfu N. Rd 光復北路12號
(02) 2570-7265

MRT: SYS Memorial Hall (10-15 minute walk away)

website: Balle Balle's FB page 

hours: 11:30AM - 2:30PM; 5:30PM - 10PM

$$ (average NT$400-700/person)

Kid friendliness: no high chairs spotted, but kid friendly breads, rice, chicken dishes

Visit reviewed: 8/21/2014 & 9/1/2014

I was having scones and tea a few weeks ago with a girlfriend who was visiting from NY, and she was telling me how useful my blog was, but also how it felt a little out of date. It's true I haven't been posting as often as I used to, and I have been selfish, keeping my favorite places to myself for as long as I can so that they don't get crowded and I can walk in last minute without a reservation. But sometimes, you can't keep a good thing all to yourself, so I wanted to write about Balle Balle Indian Restaurant.

My mouth started to water when I was uploading the pictures for this post... butter chicken, naan, spinach. So much so that I had to order some food from there to-go for dinner! I was quite happy to find a new Indian place to devour and Balle Balle continued the streak of good Indian food that seems to be hitting Taipei. The past few years has seen the opening of Balle Balle (2013), Khana Khazana (2012), Fusion Asia Indian Restaurant and Bar (2012), Mayur Indian Kitchen (2011) and Sree Indian Palace (2011).  Even though there have always been a handful of Indian restaurants in Taipei, or at the mall food courts, I'd sometimes find repeat visits a disappointment when the food wasn't consistently good as the first time (Invariably, they have to keep costs down, but it's still a bummer). I love Saffron (and its next door neighbor Spice Shop is great too), but the drive to Tianmu and its pricier menu makes it a destination, not a regular visit for me.

So when my friend raved about her new find, Balle Balle, we made our way there for lunch and grabbed the last table for two at lunch. It was fairly crowded both times we went, so I'd recommend making a reservation. I took this picture after the lunch crowd had cleared out.

Balle Balle's menu features Punjabi Indian fare and the second time I went, I went with a large group that could EAT, so I was able to try a lot of different dishes. Everything was delicious and the portions are good for the price. The manager speaks English and Chinese, and can recommend dishes if you aren't sure what to order. There's a great range of appetizers, tandoori, chicken, seafood, lamb, vegetarian and breads to choose from.

On my first visit, my friend who introduced me to the restaurant chose her favorite dishes from her previous visits- the murg malai kebab (NT$380), naan (NT$65), cucumber raita (NT$90) and the manager recommended the murg saag wala (NT$380) which had chicken chunks cooked in spinach puree, when we asked for a curry to add. The murg saag wala is a good dish to order if you are eating alone because you get the meat and the veggies without having to order two things- since Balle Balle doesn't have the lunch set menus here.

The murg malai kebab (NT$380) is marinated in Indian spices, cashew nut paste and homemade indian cream, so it's flavorful without being spicy and is really succulent. This is something I'd probably order for my dad to try, as he is someone who doesn't like curry or Indian food. Also a great alternative for those who love chicken tandoori, but want something boneless so you don't have to get your hands dirty.

The cucumber raita (NT$90) is refreshing and cooling, not too runny or sweet.

I liked Balle Balle so much that I chose for dinner when meeting up with some cousins. The guys said they were hungry and loved Indian food, so we ordered up a storm.

Refreshing mango lassi- not overly sweet and great yogurt/mango taste.

Samosas (NT$80 for 2 ) to start off the night. 

Fish tikka masala (NT$380) and Dilwala Tandoori murg chicken (NT$550 for full portion) very tender and aromatic. Super yum.

Chicken Murg Tikka Masala  (NT$340)- boneless chicken cooked in the clay oven, simmered with tomatoes, onions, coriander and Indian spices. 

The Murg Makhani Masala (NT$380) was one of the favorites of the night. Otherwise known as  Butter Chicken, the creamy butter cream and tomato curry is on the sweet side and everyone scooped the last of the curry with their naan even after there was no more chicken.

I liked the vegetarian dishes a lot- we didn't spot okra on the menu, but after asking, they said they had it.

Palak paneer- spinach

Scoop a little bit of everything to the plate to go with your rice and naan and pass the curry along. 

The manager chose an assortment of naans and parathas for us to try. I ended up really loving the golden brown amitsari aloo kulcha (NT$120), which tasted like a wheat-y flatbread stuffed with mashed potato. Google says that kulchas are leavened Punjabi breads made from wheat flour, and made with baking soda instead of yeast. Next time I'd try the kulcha or paratha stuffed with cauliflower or the poori, a puffed up deep fried bread, which I spotted when another table ordered it.

Balle Balle, the name of the restaurant, is said to be an "expression of joy" or used to describe a feeling of happiness especially in songs. Cue Pharrell, because I'm happy to have found my new favorite restaurant for Indian food in Taipei.