Tarka Indian Kitchen

We had our first taste of Indian food here in Texas on Easter Sunday.  Before then, it’s been over 3 years since we last enjoyed Indian cuisine and that was back home (the Philippines) in a really nice restaurant in Makati City called Kashmir.  It’s not that Indian restaurant are as rare as diamonds this side of the planet.  We just haven’t had the craving for Indian food, or so we thought.

We were in South Austin and our Easter egg hunt hosts gave us several dining options for dinner.  Indian food was the unanimous choice as the suggested place, Tarka Indian Kitchen, doesn’t have a North Austin location, where most of us reside.

The ordering process in Tarka is similar to that of Pei Wei’s.  When ordering curry, for instance, you choose your curry, then your protein and lastly, a spice level (mild, medium or hot).  Protein choices include chicken, lamb, shrimp, vegetables and paneer.  Entrees are served with basmati rice.

I had Coconut Curry with Vegetables that has a medium hot spice level…

I liked my order…a lot!  For one, I already love coconut curry.  Second, I like food with a little kick.  The curry is really creamy and I could have actually just had the basmati rice and curry sauce.  Hee hee.

Hubby had the Mirch Masala with Lamb…

Hubby was very pleased with his order as well.  I gave it a little taste and if I haven’t given up meat for the entire Lenten Season, I would have like it a lot, too. Pork, beef, and specially lamb, just tasted a little funny (game-y even!) to me after having gone 40 days without them.  To this day, I limit my red meat consumption to one serving a week, if none at all.

Now, what to do with all that creamy yummy sauce?  I had that covered.  I asked hubby to order naan (leavened Indian flat bread) and roti (unleavened whole wheat bread) to wipe our bowls clean with.  So what if we had a good portion of basmati rice already?!  Carbo-loading for one day shouldn’t be harmful.  Hee hee.

Naan

Roti

We still ended up bringing home some of the roti/naan and left over sauce.  We were just too full and the sauce is just too good not to be taken home.

Tarka has a kid’s menu.  Most of the kids in our group ordered the Chicken Pakoras, an Indian style chicken fingers served with masala fries…

My daughter, on the other hand, who already loves curry anyway (we’re training her well!) had the Tikka Masala Curry Bowl.  I was not able to take a photo as she was seated with her friend at the other end of our very long table. :)

Overall, we had a very pleasant dining experience at Tarka.  Serving portions are a good size and not at all overwhelming specially if one is used to huge American serving portions.  I found the interiors to be quite lovely for a fastfood.

Hubby, my little girl and I were at Tarka again last week.  We took advantage of the fact that we were passing through South Austin again on the way home from San Antonio.

Now that our tastebuds have been reacquainted with flavor-rich Indian food, we find ourselves craving Indian food a little more often than we used to.