On a warm spring day, quite unlike our wedding day three years prior complete with a Nor-Easter, Matt took me to Bindi to celebrate our anniversary. It was quiet and calm on an otherwise busy street.
We started with a pitcher of mango sharbat (mango puree, lime, and green cardamom) but skipped the suggested accompaniments of rum, vodka, or tequila. It was fine on its own, although a bit sweet. Next time I’ll try the lassi.
We loved the bamboo mixing paddle.
The menu that we ordered from seems to be newer than what is on the website, so forgive me if I don’t remember the exact ingredients in everything.
A bowl of Indian-style chips and dip started off the meal.
For an appetizer we got the turkey keema lettuce wraps (turkey meatballs with a fresh salad of cabbage and sprouts and…lots of other stuff) topped with a citrus vinaigrette.
These were light and juicy, without being greasy. Notice the juice:
We ordered two breads: the south Indian lentil-rice bread (scallion, spinach, green chili, olive oil, sea salt) and the sweet goat cheese paratha (coconut-date-pecan stuffed, local honey sweetened yogurt).
Although a tad dry, the savory bread was tasty and made up for its lack of moisture with the cucumber yogurt dipping sauce.
This sweet bread was luscious and it felt completely wrong to not eat it for dessert.
For my main course I ordered the Lamb Two Ways. I am always drawn to “two ways” dishes on menus and am usually disappointed. This time I wasn’t. The waiter was extremely accommodating throughout the meal, although I did not enjoy explaining that the reason I could not order my lamb medium rare as he suggested I order it was that I was pregnant. Just let me order my damn meat well done even though I don’t want to. Poor guy dealing with my hormones.
What a treat. The lamb loin and lamb shoulder rogan josh were still amazingly tasty cooked well done (but by the looks of this photo I think the chef took some liberties) and the asparagus-fava salad provided a welcomed crispness. Nothing was too heavy and the seasoning was pleasant with a bite.
The accompanying potatoes and onions were tastier than they looked, and a nice addition, although not completely a necessary one.
Matt ordered the pork chop vindaloo and ate it all up, yum.
His flavors were not as mild. The poor guy’s eyes were watering half way through but he was a trooper and just kept drinking his water. The cauliflower puree would have cut some of the spice but it was surrounded by it. Still a winning dish, though.
After being away from the restaurant scene for so long, this was a nice ease back into foodie society. I can’t wait to go back when I can add some rum to the mango sharbat.
Explore and Eat 