When eating in an Indian restaurant I usually think of the bold statement Zadie Smith made in her “White Teeth”: She says Indian restaurants outside India offer food not to be found or eaten inside India…
Now if I am particularly unhappy about the “germanised” taste of deep frozen vegetables and stock cube to be found beneath the übercreamy curry-like surface of a meal in such a restaurant, I tend to think: Ha! Gotcha!
And I don’t return, except if my craving for “Indian” food forces me to and we have no time to cook.
There is an Indian restaurant in Tübingen, though, where I stop to care about the real thing the moment they serve their delicious meals. It seems to me they cannot do anything wrong: the vegetables are tasty and not overcooked, there is just about the right amount of cream involved and the food is spicy in a way that leaves my palate alive and kicking.
Thus we have spent many a nice anniversary there and we don’t mind driving 100 kilometres to get there, at least once a year. What we should do, though, is go to India one day and check it out on the spot(s)… Maybe when visiting my Plan goddaughter in Rajahstan?