Though India and Indiana are roughly the same word, their cuisine offerings are worlds apart. Find out the difference two letters make with today's Groupon: for $12, you get $25 worth of Indian fare at Tandoor Indian Restaurant in Chapel Hill.
The recently remodeled Tandoor Indian Restaurant serves dishes celebrating India's northern Punjab region, an area known for layered flavors and vibrant presentation. Commence meals by tearing pieces off house-made indian bread, such as the garlic naan ($4), and inhaling a platter piled high with chicken pakora, meat samosa, chicken tikka, and seekh kebab ($8). For main plates, the tandoori salmon is awash in a mouthwatering mélange of freshly ground spices ($20), and the seriously spicy lamb vindaloo pleases heat seekers with a blanketing of house-made vindaloo sauce ($13). The Bollywood thali caters to uncommitted gourmands with an assortment of Indian classics—lamb curry, chicken tikka masala, raita, meat samosa, and more—served on a silver platter ($18), and the mango-chutney cheesecake ($5) caps meals with a touch of sweetness, like a fist bump from the Pillsbury Doughboy.
Tandoor Indian Restaurant is authentic in its flavors and its ambiance. Binda Bhupal drew inspiration from his Indian homeland when adorning the space, which is now colorfully awash in vibrant mango orange, Kashmiri hot pink, Bombay yellow, and peacock blue. Binda invites guests to relax and dine in the cozy leather-tooled paisley booths or at the bar, where they can enjoy televised Bollywood music videos on Wednesday nights and untelevised smiles.
Tandoor Indian Restaurant
Chefs at Tandoor Indian Restaurant draw on the culinary traditions of India's northern Punjab region, an area known for complex flavors and vibrant presentation. Though lamb curry, chicken tikka masala, and meat samosas have always been a staple at the eatery, a recent renovation has reinforced the feeling of stepping onto another continent. “Following the aroma of classic Indian spices you arrive at a completely refurbished place,” says the Chapel Hill News, “filled with mythological art and sculpture, newly painted doorways, metal bird sculptures and butterfly topiaries as well as new booths, rugs, curtains, covers and cushions.”
The lilting, tangled choruses of Bollywood videos drift from televisions above the paisley booths. In the kitchen, chefs work quickly around a clay tandoori oven filled with licking flames, much like a pyromaniac’s vacation slideshow. Mango-chutney cheesecake and other colorful dishes match a dining room, which the Independent Weekly says “is filled with vibrant colors inspired by owner Binda Bhupal's homeland: mango orange, Kashmiri hot pink, Bombay yellow, peacock blue.”