Neil S.
Yelp
Choosing an Indian restaurant often poses a challenge for me and my wife. We grew up on authentic, home cooked Indian food, and find it tricky to select restaurants that strike the balance among quality food that is not watered down to suit American taste buds, decent ambiance, and an appealing menu. While we have only had a single meal there, Mirch Dhamaka in Herndon fit this bill and impressed us enough on a recent dinner to become a new favorite.
We visited the restaurant during dinner on the evening of Diwali. We found the ambiance more elegant than usual for a sit down Indian restaurant, though the lack of music in the dining room initially was somewhat offputting. We also found the service a bit unpolished at first, though once our main waiter took over everything ran much more smoothly.
We ended up ordering two appetizers, two main course curries and two naans, which provided ample food for two additional meals worth of leftovers. For appetizers, we selected the mutton seekh kabab and the chicken majestic. The seekh kabab possessed a robust spice blend, palpable tandoor flavor, and soft, juicy texture. The kabab was a touch over salted, but we highly enjoyed it nonetheless. The chicken majestic, though raved about in other reviews, failed to impress as much and ate too rich and heavy for our stomachs.
Our main courses excelled. Butter chicken may be the stereotypical dish that gringos order, but when done right is a beloved comfort food for Indians too. Here, the butter chicken (ordered extra spicy) offered a perfectly creamy and tangy gravy with ample spice from Kashmiri chili and fenugreek. The chicken pieces themselves had a tender texture yet maintained a slight, pleasant char from the clay oven cook. My wife hailed this as one of the best renditions of the dishes she has had, and I concurred.
The goat bhuna curry was also delicious. The tender pieces of fresh meat almost melted into the drier, more intensely flavored gravy. The balance of sweet notes from the onion curry base and roasted, smoky spices married quite well. While I did not love the soft but slightly flat naans, they had a decent chew and provided a good enough vessel with which to sop up our sauces.
While prices here run higher than the typical Indian restaurant (about $15-20 for appetizers and $20-30 for meat curries), the quantities we received were ample. Despite ordering relatively rich items and stuffing our faces, our stomachs felt pleasant after our meal which indicated fresher food with more wholesome ingredients than the norm. As such, we will gladly return to this Herndon restaurant to satisfy the next North Indian craving we have.
