The opening of New Delhi Indian restaurant in 1997, heralded the arrival of Taipei's fourth Indian restaurant, and it quickly attracted a steady flow of regular clientele whose palates were discovering taste buds they never knew they had,

The restaurant's Manager Arthur Hsu, brought over Chef Samal Sen from New Delhi to steer his first restaurant venture onto the road to success. Sen also designed the menu, which includes a number of dishes unavailable anywhere else in Taiwan. "We tried each dish Samal prepared and narrowed the list down to the ones we thought were the best," said Hsu. Moreover, the menu is revamped every six months or so to clear out unpopular dishes, and provide something new for the old regulars. 

The menu carries a vast selection of dishes, from salads to soups to tandoori to vegetarian, with descriptions of dishes written in Chinese and English, many being accompanied by a photograph. For starters my companion and I decided against having the somasas, which tend to be quite filling, and instead opted to nibble on a papadom (NT$70).

The two rolled, crispy papadoms were a little hot and set the tempo for what was to come.
   Long a lover of tandoori dishes, I ordered chicken tikka (NT$280), which consisted of eight boneless chunks of chicken, marinated in a magical fusion of spices and roasted in a tandoori oven, Served sizzling hot on a bed of raw onions with a wedge of lemon, the succulent meat was a delight.
   To complement this, my companion ordered Delhi special lamb korma (NT$360), and a dish of mixed vegetables (NT$250). Served on a heated platter, the lamb korma consisted of tender lamb chops cooked in a strong cardamom-tasting gravy. The mixed vegetables consisted of diced carrots, sweet peas, mushrooms and green beans and was much milder than the other dishes, creating a nice balance between the spicy chicken and lamb.

The best way to eat Indian food, of course, is with freshly baked bread. So we ordered a plain naan (NT$60), which got slightly singed in the tandoori oven.