Noshwellmenu

[rating:3]

The Tandoori King on Fraser Street is one of those restaurants that doesn’t stand out in any way: unremarkable location, bland decor and bad lighting, so-so service, and a website with a face only a mother could love. But we heard this Indian restaurant served some of the best butter chicken around, so we popped by the South Vancouver hood to see for ourselves.

(Clockwise: 1. Tandoori Chicken. 2. Naan Bread. 3. Pulau Rice)

They started us off with complimentary Papadum, the standard appetizer for many Indian restaurants. The over-sized chip-shaped wafers were really crispy and was singing with flavour from the various spices infused into the dough. For starters, we ordered oven-fired Naan bread and a Masala Tea. Case had to taste the Butter Chicken for herself, while I opted for the Tandoori Chicken. To help sop up all that curry goodness, we shared a bowl of Pulau rice.

(Clockwise: 1. Butter Chicken. 2. Chai Tea. 3. Licorice and Fennel Seeds)

The Naan bread was phenomenal: well seasoned, soft with a slightly chewy texture and that hint of char from being freshly plucked out of the smoky Tandoor oven. It’s some of the best Naan bread we’ve had. The butter chicken was indeed really tasty; the curry is creamy and tangy with a wonderful blend of fragrant spices. My Tandoori Chicken arrived in the signature crimson hue on a sizzling hot plate accompanied by a similar curry sauce. Our only disappointment was both the Tandoori and Butter Chicken were a tad dry, but overall the curries were wonderfully full-bodied and flavorful, albeit not as spicy as we would have liked (we specified hot, hot, hot like Buster Poindexter but instead got something less hot, kind of like Paris Hilton). The Masala Tea, however, was pretty much blase and not really worth trying again.

The decor and service weren’t really anything worth writing home about. So I won’t. Our meal set us back just under $30, which is a pretty good deal, but I did only order a quarter portion Tandoori Chicken rather than a half or whole.

Perfect for:

Good, no-frills Indian food served on some pretty cool looking copper pots and some of the best Naan bread around.

The Details

8017 Fraser Street, Vancouver
604.327.3355
tandooriking.com

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