Indian Restaurants Your Tastebuds Will Approve of

by Brenda Gimotea / December 16, 2019

Enjoy these great dishes that come in hefty portions, giving you the best bang for your buck.

Indian cuisine is among the most flavorful among all of Asia’s cuisines. It has a unique flavor profile that can hardly be found anywhere else in the world. Little wonder that fans of Indian food constantly crave it.

Whether you are an aficionado or a newbie, you will rejoice to know that more and more Indian restaurants are appearing in the metro, and you won’t have to go far to find food that fanatics go crazy for. Here are four Indian food places that allow you to enjoy great, flavorsome dishes in hefty portions, giving you the best bang for your buck.

1. Pepper Tree Foods

Pepper Tree Foods has dishes that are friendly to the Filipino palate, yet faithful to its Indian identity. Most Filipinos are not used to intense spiciness that is common in Indian fare, and so Pepper Tree dials down the heat in its dishes while preserving all the other flavors that typically make up the Indian dish profile. The result is that Filipinos keep asking for more of their food!

Dishes to try:

Melt-in-your-mouth My Lola’s Pork Curry, paired with basmati rice, is a definite win. Their pork sisig is the Filipino sisig with Indian spices, a surprisingly pleasant and flavorful twist to a beloved Filipino dish. For dessert, their kulfi definitely is one of the most delectable in the metro. They don’t hold back when it comes to the quantity and quality of the ingredients. Their house blend iced tea is something you won’t encounter anywhere else, as it is iced tea with Indian spices!

2. Ricksha Streetside Tandoor

Ricksha Streetside Tandoor doesn’t at all profess to be the most authentic Indian cuisine in Metro Manila. “We don’t claim to be authentic, because for my mom, it is about good taste,” it says on their menu. Well, that doesn’t sound bad at all! Also, a mother’s cooking, made with love, will always be something foodies of all cultures would love to try.

Dishes to try:

Their paneer tikka grilled tandoor plate is served with two huge chunks of paneer with mint and coriander. Their biryani rice, flavored with cardamom, is fragrant and flavorful. Need I say more? Their serving size, while big enough, didn’t seem as big as most other Indian restaurants, but don’t be fooled! Your belly will be bursting at the seams afterwards!

If Filipinos have halo-halo, the Indians have gud bud ice cream, and you can order it at Ricksha! It is just as good a cold ending to a hot meal in the tropics. 

3. Naan Indian Street Kitchen

Naan is another Indian restaurant that tries to create Indian food that can bridge Filipino and Indian tastes. Named after the Indian flatbread that is filling enough to be eaten alone as a meal, Naan serves rich dishes in big servings, which is a sure hit with any Pinoy food lover, to whom bigger is always better.

Dishes to try:

The thali plate is their set meal complete with the main dish, rice, a side salad of kachumber, a piece of naan, a piece of roti, and even a little serving of gulab jamun for dessert. Be sure to go on an empty stomach, because you will need all that room for all of that goodness you will be devouring.

Their thali plates have so many variants to choose from, between their vegetarian and non-vegetarian menu, plus thali upgrades. Their butter and palak paneer thali plates are ones you shouldn’t miss. (Full disclosure: This author loves cheese, especially paneer!) If you can handle it, request that your order be made the spiciest possible, and enjoy the heat!

4. Little India

Rejoice, vegans and vegetarians! Little India’s dishes are vegetarian, and many of them are either vegan as well or can be modified to accommodate vegan customers. Little India also follows Ayurvedic principles in preparing their food, so you can be sure that everything Little India has to offer is kind to your body while being a feast for your tastebuds.

Little India proves time and time again that vegetarian food can be just as tasty as dishes with meat in them. In fact, if everything we eat is as good as the dishes at Little India, we probably won’t miss meat at all.

Dishes to try:

Of course, there’s palak paneer and shahi paneer for cheese lovers. And if you as an Asian think there’s nothing better than rice, then you have to try their jeera rice, which is rice sauteed in butter and with cumin added for more flavor.

If your mom always scolded you when you were a kid for not eating enough vegetables, well, make her proud and have gajar halwa–carrot pudding–for dessert! And don’t leave the place without trying their rose lassi!