Whip In

Whip In Convenience Store

I've been curious about Whip In since it first opened next to I-35 a while back.  A convenience store that serves Gujarati style Indian food and doubles as a live music venue?  It's stores like this that makes Austin so distinctly Austin.

Table in front of the stage

I walked in at noon not knowing what the heck I wanted for lunch.  I ended up ordering a combo basmati rice bowl of cauliflower and curry chicken, a homemade naan, and Indian iced tea. 

Cauliflower and Curry Chicken & Potatotes on Basmati Rice with Naan

I didn't feel like a total pig until the enormous bowl was set in front of me.  The curry was medium spicy and rich in flavor.  Combined with the fragrant basmati rice, I was in curry heaven.  Shu, if you're reading this, Whip In is definitely a place that you should try.  This bowl of steaming rice and curry warmed me right up on a cold, damp and gray day. 

Tarka Indian Kitchen

After returning from China, I was shocked by how quickly Austin is changing-the construction of more high rises in downtown, new construction east of I-35, new communities of family houses popping up in south Austin along with new strip malls.  I'm all for the strip mall with an Indian restaurant close to home in south Austin!  Tarka Indian Kitchen received either really positive or utterly dismal reviews on Yelp.

I wanted to try this place out and judge for myself, and I finally got the chance when my best friend from high school and I chose this restaurant to celebrate living in the same city again after 8 years of separation.  Hooray for Austin's relatively healthy job market!

Tarka certainly isn't short on dishes that I'm interested in trying.  I decided to stick to the chicken tikka masala on my first visit so I can compare it to ones I've tasted before.  You have a choice of mild, medium, or hot, and I picked hot because people have commented on how the medium isn't the slightest bit spicy.  Well, I got what I asked for.  The tikka masala was tongue-burningly spicy.  For fast food Indian food, I find Tarka's chicken tikka masala well-made and seasoned.  However, the price isn't fast food cheap and is actually comparable to a sit-down Indian restaurant.  In that sense, it may be worth it to drive further north to lunch at Tarka's older sister sit-down restaurant, Clay Pit.

My friend enjoyed her vegetarian dish, but the highlight of our meal was the delicious, refillable mango lemonade.  It's more mango than lemonade, which is exactly what I hoped it to be!

Mango Lemonade

Minced Vegetable Kabob

Chicken Tikka Masala-Hot

Indian Restaurant in Shenyang

Ah...the globalization of Indian cuisine!

A friend, who introduced me to this restaurant, said that the Chinese owners learned to cook Indian food from their Indian friend. That's extremely sweet of the friend to teach them how to cook such an extensive repertoire of Indian cuisine!

I saved my second visit to the restaurant for my very last lunch and dinner (leftovers from lunch) in Shenyang. I love how you can tell the food is made with care. I love breathing in the aroma from all the spices in the tikka masala, and even better, I love scooping up the sauce with the garlic naan.

Vegetable Rice Pilaf

Garlic Naan; Chicken Tikka Masala

So, why would I choose to have Indian food for my last meal in Shenyang? Well, why not? The city is rapidly changing and developing into a major metropolis. It is attracting international business and will sooner or later become an international city. An Indian restaurant may be unusual now, but other cuisines will surely populate the city in the near future. I just hope that Northeast Chinese cuisine will continue to find its place in other parts of the world as it makes room for others in China.

Clay Pit

First of all, I find the dinner menu at the Clay Pit overly priced. I remember my jaw dropping when my friend ordered a $11 vegetable entree, and it had one tiny bowl of veggies and a tiny plate of rice. WTF. That's a rip off. Who the hell would knowingly pay that much for a small bowl of veggie mush. I urge everyone to go for the lunch buffet that has plenty of stuff that you would want to get during dinner, but for only $8! Ta-dah!

Now, about the food. It's quite delicious...not $20-$30 per entree delicious...but when you can afford it, it's pretty delicious. When L.B. came back to Austin for a visit, this was on her list of restaurants to revisit. It's been a while since I ate there too, so I was happy to dine there.

Clay Pit offers complimentary a chips-like naan with 3 dipping sauces. I prefer fluffy/chewy naan and am glad that we ordered the Peshwari Naan-naan stuffed with nuts, raisins, and cherries. This made me want to try all the non-free naans, but I knew shouldn't bust all the money on bread when we still had to order the entrees.

Thin, crunchy naan with 3 dipping sauces and Peshwari Naan

We got the vegetable samosas next. The flaky pastry is so much better than the chewy samosas from the Indian Mela food vendor. The warm, creamy, potato filling makes this a definite comfort food.

Vegetable Samosas

I didn't know what a lassi is at the time, and thought that a mango lassi would be a good drink to wash all the yummy food down. Wrong. The thick, yogurt based drink is more like a dessert than a refreshment for me.

Mango Lassi

I highly recommend the rack of lamb...though be prepared that $19.50 will give you 4 or 5 ribs. The lamb is spiced and marinated in yogurt-masala and comes with onions and mango chutney. The lamb melts in your mouth. The chicken tikka masala is prepared with tomato-based butter cream sauce, which goes really well with basmati rice.

Rack of Lamb and Chicken Tikka Masala

The Vegetable Ayam is prepared with fresh garlic and herbs in yellow goan curry. Good, but I would avoid ordering this if I want more bang for the buck.

Basmati Rice

I'm still waiting for a good time to go back for the lunch buffet. mmm.

Indian Mela Food

Barsana Dham hosted an Indian Mela (Festival) yesterday, and one of my school friends was particularly eager to sample the food at the event. We certainly don't know much about Indian food, and this was a perfect opportunity for us to get a taste of dishes we can't get in Indian restaurants around Austin. (More on my Mela experience on my travel blog.)

The Dosa vendor attracted us because we could relate it to traditions we are familiar with like crepes or Chinese 饼 (bing3). It came filled with potato curry and yogurt paste and a masala dipping sauce. This was fun to eat and had a pleasant crunch on the exterior with a slightly sour soft interior (due to fermentation).

Dosa-filled with potato and masala sauce and yogurt paste

The Masala Wok vendor offered an Indian take on Chinese food complete with fried rice, chow mien, egg rolls with samosas, and veggie balls. This was an obvious attempt to cater to the less versed in Indian food. That's us!

Fried rice, chow mien, fried dough balls filled with veggies, eggrolls and samosas

You know you're in Texas when they serve Indian taco salads at the Mela. Lol. I think it consisted of lettuce, tomatoes, boiled potatoes, onions, and beans. It wasn't bad.

Indian taco salad

I was not keen on ordering the Vada, but curiosity took over us. Unfortunately, the vadas confounded us. It's a savory donut, which is ok, but it was sour...super sour with the yogurt sauce. I can't even describe the extent of the sourness. It didn't help that the sauce seeped into the cake-like dough of one of the vadas. The other vada was filled with spices, one of which is oregano. That vada was ok at first and then the after taste was pretty good. Please, just don't remind me of my yogurt vada experience!

Vada

We washed all this food down with mango lassi and rose milk. The mango lassi was thick with a strong mango taste. No complaints. I'm a big sucker for mango anything. The rose milk was surprisingly refreshing. This is probably really simple to make. Just pour some rose syrup into milk and voila.

Mango Lassi and Rose Milk

Overall, this wasn't a meal I see myself eating often.