Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Sundara, an Indian kitchen with distinction
OB's go-to South Asian restaurant more memorable than most
Lamb biryani with egg, almonds, raisins, and saffron rice
Despite being a repeat customer at plenty of all-you-can-eat Indian food buffets, I don’t yet feel as though I have eaten all I can. Though I have left most of them well satiated, from a full belly standpoint, when I think back on all the many flavors that made it to my buffet plate, it’s largely a blur. That’s because, the assortment of curries etc. start to taste the same. Like I know what the tikka masala will taste like, and the tandoori chicken.
Ocean Beach restaurant Sundara does not offer an all-you-can-eat special, but its dishes do stand out as distinct compared to many of the generic Indian restaurants we have scattered around the county. Some of that has to do with a willingness to create the occasional fusion dish: tikka masala pizza, for example. But to be honest, the restaurant does its best work sticking to Indian food canon.
Tikka masala pizza
Obviously, that means it’s tough to go wrong with staples such as samosas or naan. The dumplings come stiffed with either vegetables ($7) or lamb ($9), each served with chutney. The flatbread comes plain or with sesame seeds, with additional options including coated with cheese, dressed with garlic and cilantro, or a combination of all three ($3-5).
Saag paneer, a caramelized onion and spinach curry with cubed Indian cheese
Then there’s saag ($14), a curry of spinach and caramelized onion, served with option of vegetables or chicken mixed in, but ideally with the choice of the vagley cottage cheese-like paneer. At least, that’s how you’ll find it served most places, but here the sweet oil from the onion comes through a little more in contrast to the earthiness of the spinach, allowing the small cubes of paneer to center the dish both texturally and in terms of taste.
A small Indian kitchen in Ocean Beach
My favorite has been the lamb biryani ($18), a salty combination rice that makes beautiful use of aromatic spices to complement the gamey aromatics of minced lamb running throughout. The recipe is aided by hits of saffron rice, slivered almonds, slices of hard boiled egg, and the occasional sweet bites of golden raisins. That's a lot of stuff i don't typically expect to find on one plate, but it's sure easy to eat.
Garlic and cilantro naan, a soft flatbread with a little bit of char
Given current dining restrictions, it’s helpful to point out that Sundara’s online ordering system works quite well: I walked into the restaurant, picked a bag with my name on it off a front table, and walked out. I do believe the less than ten minutes total I spend in OB is a personal best.
But the greater point is, there’s more to Indian cooking than throwing spice blends into a pot, and visiting Sundara forces me to realize I need to continue to skip the buffets, even after the pandemic has passed, and redouble my focus on Indian restaurants that bring a little character to their dishes. They won’t always leave me feeling satisfied, but if experience teaches me anything, it’s that I’ll always have an appetite for more.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Sundara, an Indian kitchen with distinction
OB's go-to South Asian restaurant more memorable than most
Sundara, an Indian kitchen with distinction
OB's go-to South Asian restaurant more memorable than most
Lamb biryani with egg, almonds, raisins, and saffron rice
Despite being a repeat customer at plenty of all-you-can-eat Indian food buffets, I don’t yet feel as though I have eaten all I can. Though I have left most of them well satiated, from a full belly standpoint, when I think back on all the many flavors that made it to my buffet plate, it’s largely a blur. That’s because, the assortment of curries etc. start to taste the same. Like I know what the tikka masala will taste like, and the tandoori chicken.
Ocean Beach restaurant Sundara does not offer an all-you-can-eat special, but its dishes do stand out as distinct compared to many of the generic Indian restaurants we have scattered around the county. Some of that has to do with a willingness to create the occasional fusion dish: tikka masala pizza, for example. But to be honest, the restaurant does its best work sticking to Indian food canon.
Tikka masala pizza
Obviously, that means it’s tough to go wrong with staples such as samosas or naan. The dumplings come stiffed with either vegetables ($7) or lamb ($9), each served with chutney. The flatbread comes plain or with sesame seeds, with additional options including coated with cheese, dressed with garlic and cilantro, or a combination of all three ($3-5).
Saag paneer, a caramelized onion and spinach curry with cubed Indian cheese
Then there’s saag ($14), a curry of spinach and caramelized onion, served with option of vegetables or chicken mixed in, but ideally with the choice of the vagley cottage cheese-like paneer. At least, that’s how you’ll find it served most places, but here the sweet oil from the onion comes through a little more in contrast to the earthiness of the spinach, allowing the small cubes of paneer to center the dish both texturally and in terms of taste.
A small Indian kitchen in Ocean Beach
My favorite has been the lamb biryani ($18), a salty combination rice that makes beautiful use of aromatic spices to complement the gamey aromatics of minced lamb running throughout. The recipe is aided by hits of saffron rice, slivered almonds, slices of hard boiled egg, and the occasional sweet bites of golden raisins. That's a lot of stuff i don't typically expect to find on one plate, but it's sure easy to eat.
Garlic and cilantro naan, a soft flatbread with a little bit of char
Given current dining restrictions, it’s helpful to point out that Sundara’s online ordering system works quite well: I walked into the restaurant, picked a bag with my name on it off a front table, and walked out. I do believe the less than ten minutes total I spend in OB is a personal best.
But the greater point is, there’s more to Indian cooking than throwing spice blends into a pot, and visiting Sundara forces me to realize I need to continue to skip the buffets, even after the pandemic has passed, and redouble my focus on Indian restaurants that bring a little character to their dishes. They won’t always leave me feeling satisfied, but if experience teaches me anything, it’s that I’ll always have an appetite for more.
Comments