A Bollywood song-and-dance routine blares from the television. Orders for mutton and vegetable curries as well as cups of lassi are relayed in Urdu to the kitchen staff. Alas -- some would say "fortunately" -- we're not in a bustling whistlestop somewhere along the Grand Trunk Road, but in an equally bustling alley off Shita Rd.
Here, M.T. Joe opened Curria nearly two years ago. Although Joe hails from Lahore, in the Pakistani part of Punjab, he bills his restaurant as Indian. And unlike many other Indian restaurants, he doesn't believe in listing dozens of items on his menu. "What we offer customers is something simple and convenient. Most important is that all food is inexpensive," Joe said.
PHOTO: DAVID VAN DER VEEN, TAIPEI TIMES
The selection of main courses reflects the name and the size of this simple, clean establishment: chicken, beef, mutton, seafood and vegetable curry. That's it. But specialization means Curria can come up with the real deal.
Priced NT$150 or NT$170 each, they come with a plate of rice and an egg. Curria imports most of the ingredients for its curries: only the chicken and the vegetables are procured locally. As to which vegetables will appear in your curry, it's wait and see, as Joe, who does the cooking, decides at the market what his customers will eat. One day it might be spinach, the other peas and potatoes.
The mutton curry is commendable not only for its ample size but for the juicy chunks of fine meat as well.
The restaurant of course provides its clientele with spoons, but why not scoop up your curry the way it's done on the Subcontinent? Plain papadums are just NT$30 each and if you're looking for more filling fare, potato or turnip stuffed papadums are NT$100.
No Indian meal is complete without a glass of lassi (NT$70) and Curria happily, and very competently, obliges with its home-made version -- in the evenings the staff can be seen preparing next day's supply. A welcome relief from the sugar-laden yogurt drinks in the country's convenience stores, the lassi on its own is worth making a detour for.
If you prefer to wash your curry down with beer, Heineken, Corona and Taiwan Beer are very reasonably prized from NT$50 to NT$90.
For dessert, there's the yogurt, which is also homemade and equally as good as the lassi, or there are strawberry and mango yogurts.
And if you would like to try to beat Curria at its own game, they sell imported packets of spices as well.
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