Bombay Bistro - Rockville, MD

The first time I had tried Indian food was at Bombay Bistro when I was probably 10 years old. It was one of the original Indian restaurants in the area. I decided to re-pay it a visit after all these years with one of my good friends.

There is parking in front and along the side of the restaurant. The closest metro station is Rockville on the red line.

The place is small on the inside with pretty simple decor. Our booth looked and felt a bit worn down though.

The menu consists of regional dishes from both the North and South of India.

My friend and I shared an appetizer of Aloo Tikki (Potato patties stuffed with spiced peas, served with assorted chutneys) for $5.95. We wanted something non-fried, and it was the 1st time I had heard of this item, and I liked it a lot. Nice consistency, and flavorful.

We both ordered Garlic Naan (leavened white flour bread with garlic) for $2.50. Each of them were the size of a small pizza. They had a lot of garlic and I appreciated the large portions.

I ordered the Saag Paneer (homemade cubes of cheese cooked with spinach) for $10.95, which was the closest thing to Palak Paneer (my fav!). However I've realized the difference between the dishes is what I'm not a fan of - the consistency. The Saag Paneer is thicker and I prefer the smoothness of the Palak Paneer. I also found this dish a bit bland.

My friend ordered the Lamb Rogan Josh (lamb cooked with an assortment of spices and
tomatoes) for $12.95. I liked it better than my dish because it had a lot of spices and was more flavored.  The presentation was cute with the candle. Both dishes were served with basmati rice.

Our server was helpful when we were trying to understand the dishes. The garlic naan was the highlight of our meal. I would probably order something else next time, though the assorted chutneys helped my dish a bit. I found the prices to be average for Indian food (low teens).

98 W Montgomery Ave
Rockville, MD 20850
(301) 762-8798
www.bombaybistro.com

Spice Xing - Rockville, MD

Friday was date night with the bf, and before watching The Karate Kid (good flick btw) we had Indian food at Spice Xing. The restaurant was on Washingtonian's Top 100 Cheap Eats list, so I wanted to try it. We haven't had Indian food in a while anyway. I kept pronouncing it like "Spice Sing" but the bf corrected me, and it's "Spice Crossing" haha. Located in Rockville Town Square, the parking garage on Gibbs St is $1 as well as in front of Regal Theaters on Friday nights and free on weekends. There is also metered street parking. The closest metro stop is Rockville on the red line.

The interior is really pretty with booths and nice chairs wicker-looking chairs. I liked the floor to ceiling windows, and the outdoor seating.

They have a beautiful lit up bar, and gorgeous drapery over the main dining area.

They also had colorful mounted photographs of spices on the walls.

For our appetizer, we ordered the 'Tamarind Glazed Prawn (Jumbo shrimp with a tangy glaze)' for $8.25.They were really big shrimp! The glaze was flavorful and went well with the dipping sauce. The veggies on the side were spicy! I wish there were more than 2 shrimp for the price though.

For my entree, I ordered the 'Paneer Makhni (Farmers cheese in a burnt butter-tomato sauce) for $12.95.<I  love all Indian dishes with paneer, and this was awesome. They gave a lot of paneer, there was a great balance in flavors and was a bit sweet.

The bf ordered 'Malbari Chicken (A southern coastal curry with coconut)' for $12.95. He liked it a lot, and said the chicken was very tender and not dry at all.

Each entree came with perfectly cooked basmati rice, some cabbage slaw, and delicious green beans.

We ordered some 'Garlic Nan' for $2.75 since there as a lot of curry, and we needed either more rice or bread. This was the best nan I've ever had. It tasted better in my dish because it's tomato-based and somehow reminded us of pizza.

Everything we had there was good. The service was nice, and the place is really pretty. I think the entrees were priced reasonably, but the appetizer was a bit pricey. They have a huge dessert menu - 10 items. We were so full though, but they looked good. 

100 Gibbs St
Unit B
Rockville, MD 20850
(301) 610-0303


Mon-Thu 11:30 am - 9:30 pm
Fri-Sat 11:30 am - 10:30 pm

Fojol Brothers of Merlindia- DC

I was at the "For the Love of DC" event at the Longview Gallery on 9th & M St NW, and saw this crazy-looking truck parked in front of it. It was a Fojol Brothers of Merlindia truck! Started in January 2009, they sell Indian food from their truck in different parts of DC.

The people working had amazing outfits on that reminded me of an 'old school' circus/carnival. I didn't get a picture of the guy working, but he had a huge moustache.

After looking at their website, I learned that besides selling food they also work events, which explained why the food was free! The serving size was very small, but there were popular Indian dishes to choose from: Spinach & Cheese, Lentils, Chicken Masala and Chicken Curry.

My friend got the chicken curry on basmati rice. He said it was awesome.

I got my favorite - Spinach & Cheese on basmati rice. It was AMAZING. I couldn't stop thinking about it after that night. Very good quality that you might not expect from a food truck.

What I also liked was that they had a compost bin on the back of their truck. The mini bowls, napkins and utensils were all biodegradable. I like it when businesses are thinking about the environment.

One of the coolest things that attracted me to this truck was the music! They were playing some amazing funk that really made it worth being outside in the cold. You can see the guy grooving while he's ordering, haha.


I have never seen anything like it. A circus-looking truck with Indian food and funk music...better than the hot dog carts, for sure! They use Twitter and their website to inform people of there daily where abouts. Since this was for an event, they didn't have as many selections as they normally would, but I saw Lassi pops on their menu, and I want to try those in the summer.

Follow them on their website

MemSahib- Rockville, MD

Hi Everyone! Recently the bf was craving Indian food, so a friend recommended MemSahib in Rockville. Mind you, I did no research, nor have I heard of this place prior to going, so it was an interesting experience.
Located behind White Flint mall, there is plenty of shopping center parking. The closest metro stop is White Flint on the red line.

From the exterior it looks like a regular restaurant with dark curtains. Nothing too special, so I didn't think much of it.

Its always nice to see plaques when I walk through the front door.

I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in. There's a huge screen on the wall with Indian music videos, booths filled with pillows, and a dance floor. Looks like they serve a buffet for lunch.

After sitting down, I was confused as to why the server didn't hand us menus. Later one of them came over and said there is no menu, just a prefixed meal of 6 courses for $22 per person. So we agreed and then came out to wash our hands. Sorry I only have a picture of the towel! For 5 of the 6 meals, you don't have utensils.

1st plate came out with 4 of the 6 dishes. Carrot and coriander salad, eggplant salad and cucumber and bell paper salad with cumin dressing. I loved all of them. They all tasted extremely different and flavorful. I think I liked the eggplant, then carrots then cucumber salads in that order. There were also Chicken Kabobs, which were quite good, and hot.

The bread (more like a cracker to me) for the salad and kabobs was thin and plain so it didn't drown out the food. Since it was kind of crisp, it was interesting trying to pick up cucumbers and carrots.

2nd plate was the Tandoori Chicken. It was slightly drier than the kabob, and more salty. There was also a larger portion to split between us. I liked the coriander sauce on the side.

RANDOMLY a belly dancer came out and danced for us for around 30 minutes. It was a nice surprise! She did stuff with scarves and then balanced a tray of candles on her head.

There was a group celebrating a birthday in the restaurant so they all got up and danced with the belly dancer. I chose to stay seated and take pictures.

3rd plate we had the option of Butter Chicken or Lamb curry. The bf doesn't like lamb, so we had 3 diff erent types of chicken that night. I liked it a lot along with the rice and naan bread, and this time we were given forks.

I thought dinner was over, but they brought out a HUGE bowl of fruit. Like whole apples, oranges, bananas, and slices of watermelon. There was no way we were going to eat all of that!

Then we were given cups of chai tea ...mmmm.

We were also given small bowls of rice pudding. It was very sweet, so the tea balanced it out.

Dinner took 3 hours! There's nothing wrong with that if you're mentally prepared. The music videos were quite entertaining, so it helped to pass the time. We kept asking for the check and they kept telling us there was more food coming out. $22 is a good deal for so much food, however on the bill there was a 15% service charge, which isn't the tip, so really it's like a little over $25 a person. It's not that much of a difference, but as a customer its something you'd like to know upfront. It's a good place for large groups because they can accommodate a lot of people.  

4840 Boiling Brook Pkwy
Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 468-0098
Website

Buffet Lunch
Tues-Fri: 11:30AM - 2:30PM
Sun: 12:00PM - 3:00PM

Dinner
Tues-Sun: 6:00PM - 11:00PM

Haandi - Bethesda, MD

For my cousin's birthday our girl friends and I went to Haandi for dinner. It is an Indian restaurant located in Bethesda with the closest Metro stop being Bethesda on the Red Line. There is meter parking available on the street as well.

Haandi has been mentioned in Washingtonian Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Asia Today and Zagat Survey, just to name a few.

Sorry for the blurry pic!

The inside is quite classy with a really cool looking ceiling, white table clothes and napkins, and plenty of large round tables. This photo shows about 1/2 the restaurant.

Here is a blurry picture (geeez...) of the bar they have in the back.

The drink I always order at an Indian restaurant is the mango lassi. It's a yogurt-based drink with mango. It costs $4 and is thick, sweet and tastes like a fresh mango.

For our appetizer we ordered the 'Assorted Appetizer Platter - a combination of samosas, sabzi bhajiyas, murgh tikka and seekh kabab' for $12. My favorite one was the 'Samosa - deep fried pastry triangles stuff ed with spiced potatoes and green peas' because I love fried things and potatoes. They are the large items on the right.

Here are two dipping sauces provided. The one to the right is a Green Coriander Chutney and the brown one is a Tamarind Chutney. I like to eat everything with the Green Coriander sauce.

This is what some of the items look like on the inside.

Our table got 2 big plates of Basmati rice to go with our dishes. It was really light, fluffy and we finished all the rice by the end of dinner.

I enjoyed this dish so much at India Grill that I wanted to try it here. I ordered the 'Palak Paneer - homemade farmer cheese cubes, spinach cooked in green herbs and spices' for $11. Compared to India Grill's version, the spinach had a whipped texture and there wasn't much cheese in it. It still tasted good, I was just surprised by the texture.

I took pictures of all of my friends' dishes to show some of the choices available.

This is 'Sheesh Kabab Murgh - strips of boneless chicken breast marinated in yogurt, herbs and spices, skewered with tomatoes, onions and bell peppers' for $14.

'Baigan Bharta - eggplant roasted in tandoor clay oven sauteed with onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, panchporan (a very special fire spice mixture)' for $10.

'Murg Makhihi - barbecued chunks of boneless chicken breast cooked in fresh cream, based tomato curry sauce' for $16.

'Murg Do Pyaza - boneless chicken sauteed in fresh onions, tomatoes in a creamy curry sauce' for $14.

Overall the dinner was fine. The servers were attentive, and there was a lot of room to just be loud and chat without bothering others. The entrees range between $10-$20. The menu is fairly extensive with dishes including from vegetarian, seafood, wok entrees, chicken, lamb, charcoal barbecues, and special tandoori breads. They also offer a daily lunch buffet.

4904 Fairmont Ave
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-718-0121

Lunch: 11:30AM - 2:30PM (Monday-Sunday)
Dinner: 5PM - 10PM (Sunday-Thursday)
5PM - 10:30PM (Friday-Saturday)

Website