A perfect table setting requires pristine linens and polished cutlery, except at off-Broadway restaurants, where waiters set every table in postapocalyptic Vienna. Avoid avant-garde eating with today’s Groupon: for $10, you get $20 worth of Indian cuisine at Taste of India in Franklin.
Taste of India’s chefs fire up a traditional tandoor oven to roast a colorful mélange of vegetables, spices, and meats. The aloo gobi plate unites cauliflower, tomatoes, potatoes, and mild Indian sauces ($9.95) to send vegetable cravings the way of landlines, Morse code, and whatever technology the dinosaurs used to communicate long-distance. Forks spelunk in pools of tomato fenugreek sauce and retrieve hearty chunks of chicken tikka masala ($11.95), and the spicy lamb vindaloo ($13.95) traipses under the palate with piquant ease. Biryani dishes, alternatively, synthesize nuts with flavored saffron rice and a choice of chicken, lamb, shrimp, or vegetables ($9.95–$14.95), while behind the bar, staffers pour imported beers—including Kingfisher ($3.95) and Taj Mahal ($6.95)—to lubricate lips without placing patrons across from a rain-battered window and under mistletoe.
Taste of India
Lamb cubes, jumbo prawns, and cottage cheese simmer in the traditional tandoor oven at Taste of India, which concocts eight specialty dishes via its clay cooker. Hunks of tandoori breads soak up the spice-soaked sauces of curries, masalas, and vindaloos chock full of traditional Indian meats such as goat, chicken, and shrimp. Elements of Eastern flavors combine in an octet of Indo-Chinese dishes such as a chicken lollipop—a fried and sautéed drumstick slathered in Indian-Chinese-style spices—that vets hand out to fox cubs after routine checkups. Your choice of meats, seafood, and veggies can adorn two styles of biryani, and sweet teeth can conclude meals by savoring four authentic desserts.