INDIAN PALACE
(this location is now closed and a Cafe India has opened in the same spot a/o 8/2012)
Miramar Mall, B1
22 Jing Ye 3rd Road
DaZhi, Taipei
Taipei 101 Mall food court
MRT: Taipei City Hall
website: indianpalacetaipei.googlepages.com
$
Kid friendliness: actually at Mitsukoshi they will deliver your food to your seat, rare for a food court eatery. Miramar has enclosed eating space.
Visit reviewed: 2/3/2008 and 12/7/2007
It's hard to find good Indian mall food in the states, let alone Taipei. For awhile, I was in love with this tiny corner of the old Century City Mall food court, near Ben and Jerry's and La Salsa that had combination plates for about $7 or so. Everything was just right and you could a meat and vegetable curry and naan. But one day I went to fulfill my craving and it was gone. I was pretty sad. But I guess it doesn't matter since that whole food court ended up getting torn up and there's a new fancy food court with Lawry's Carvery now. hahahah
Anyways- with Indian mall food in Taipei, I've had some terrible experiences at Curry and Tea House at 101 and some okay experiences at Tandoor at Far Eastern Mall AGES ago, but Indian Palace is the first time I've had a good experience where I would totally go back. It was actually recommended by a friend the first time and a relative the second time.
If the curry and naan are good then you can forgive everything else- the strange bland rice despite its cute heart shaped presentation, or the vague milky dessert and tea in the set menu.
I was reminded of how pleasant the whole experience was when my aunt asked me if I wanted to get some food to go from there from the Miramar Mall Food Court the other day.
Though they don't list it on their menu, they can make Chicken Tikka Masala for you. There might be other things as well if you ask. The server was as friendly at the Miramar location as they were at the Xin Yi Mitsukoshi location. The Miramar mall has their own private seating area as the host beckons the crowd to "try something different."
The glass window into the kitchen displays three Indian chefs, one of who is making naan to order in the hot tandoori oven. It's promising when you see Indian chefs right? Like when you see Mexican cooks at that hole in the wall taco place or the Chinese restaurant filled with Chinese people and the menu has Chinese and Chinese servers (nothing against ones that don't... but generally the food seems more authentic that way). At the Mitsukoshi location, you only see their picture on them menu since their kitchen is enclosed...
On both occassions, I tried to order samosas (NT$100 for 3) and they were "out." I wonder when they are offered as I went on different times of day, weekend and weekday at the different places. But no worries, their set menus (NT$180 - NT$250) with meat (Butter Chicken or and vegetarian options like Aloo Gohbi (potato and cauliflower) or lentils, include a small salad, soup and naan or rice. The size is pretty decent and probably about the size that the sit down restaurants offer for a higher price.
The curries seem quite similar to what you'd get, not too watery, not too thick. The aloo gohbi was interesting in that they cut the potatoes in slices instead of dices and there was a lot of curry rather than the drier variety I'm used to in the states. But tastewise it was fine.
My aunt also said that the tandoori chicken was too spicy the first time they ordered it, which I found strange, but not THAT strange after my visit to sit down Tandoor where EVERYTHING including the tandoori chicken was crazy spicy. So wander down to Indian Palace next time you feel like something other than Chinese mall food, be clear about how spicy you want stuff, feel free to ask if there is stuff off the menu, and let me know if you actually get some samosas!
