One of Taipei's oldest and most reputed Indian restaurants, Tandoor Indian Restaurant, has recently found a new home in the multicultural Tienmu neighborhood serving the same authentic North Indian cuisine and an enchanting interior design mixing elegance with modern chic.
Named after the traditional Indian clay oven, Tandoor takes its native recipes seriously and imports all the spices and herbs from India. For each dish, at least 10 to 12 spices are used.
"Many people ask us if we make changes to appeal to local palates. I always reply that there is no such need since the menu is so extensive, diners are bound to find something to their liking," said manager Monisha Relwani.
PHOTO: HO YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Relwani's confidence is not unfounded since the restaurants experienced Indian chefs study the ancient combinations of spices and are skilled at making over 100 different sauces.
For appetizers, the barbecued delicacies come highly recommended as they are roasted in the tandoor in the traditional way. Seekh kabab (NT$290), or the roasted minced mutton, is one of the most-ordered dishes.
The Indian gravies come in three basic kinds: yellow, which is made of various vegetables and ginger powder; red, which is either tomato or chili-based; and green, which is the spinach-based. The vindaloo is not for the faint-hearted. If you prefer something milder, chicken saagwalla (NT$300) has a slight tang of spices mixed with the fresh flavor of spinach.
Arguably the world's favorite Indian dish, chicken tikka masala (NT$350), cooked with green peppers, onions and spices, is perfect with a basket of garlic naan (NT$70), according to Relwani.
"All our meats are deboned and skinned since North Indian cuisine was traditionally served at the imperial family's dinning table and the royal family liked their food immaculately prepared," the manager explained.
As for the vegetable options, aloo gobi (NT$220), or cauliflower and potatoes cooked with dry herbs and spices and chana masala (NT$220), which is chickpeas cooked in traditional Punjabi style with a thick spicy gravy, are two must-tries for vegetarians.
A tip to Tandoor's customers: ask for a doggie bag for leftovers since the sauces are the soul of the food and excellent seasonings for bread, rice or noodles.
March 24 to March 30 When Yang Bing-yi (楊秉彝) needed a name for his new cooking oil shop in 1958, he first thought of honoring his previous employer, Heng Tai Fung (恆泰豐). The owner, Wang Yi-fu (王伊夫), had taken care of him over the previous 10 years, shortly after the native of Shanxi Province arrived in Taiwan in 1948 as a penniless 21 year old. His oil supplier was called Din Mei (鼎美), so he simply combined the names. Over the next decade, Yang and his wife Lai Pen-mei (賴盆妹) built up a booming business delivering oil to shops and
The recent decline in average room rates is undoubtedly bad news for Taiwan’s hoteliers and homestay operators, but this downturn shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. According to statistics published by the Tourism Administration (TA) on March 3, the average cost of a one-night stay in a hotel last year was NT$2,960, down 1.17 percent compared to 2023. (At more than three quarters of Taiwan’s hotels, the average room rate is even lower, because high-end properties charging NT$10,000-plus skew the data.) Homestay guests paid an average of NT$2,405, a 4.15-percent drop year on year. The countrywide hotel occupancy rate fell from
In late December 1959, Taiwan dispatched a technical mission to the Republic of Vietnam. Comprising agriculturalists and fisheries experts, the team represented Taiwan’s foray into official development assistance (ODA), marking its transition from recipient to donor nation. For more than a decade prior — and indeed, far longer during Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rule on the “mainland” — the Republic of China (ROC) had received ODA from the US, through agencies such as the International Cooperation Administration, a predecessor to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). More than a third of domestic investment came via such sources between 1951
Indigenous Truku doctor Yuci (Bokeh Kosang), who resents his father for forcing him to learn their traditional way of life, clashes head to head in this film with his younger brother Siring (Umin Boya), who just wants to live off the land like his ancestors did. Hunter Brothers (獵人兄弟) opens with Yuci as the man of the hour as the village celebrates him getting into medical school, but then his father (Nolay Piho) wakes the brothers up in the middle of the night to go hunting. Siring is eager, but Yuci isn’t. Their mother (Ibix Buyang) begs her husband to let
RSS