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Beyond Kung Pao - The Real Szechuan Cuisine

Written and photographed by Girlfriend Actual (Jody McClellan)

Like many white people, I grew up thinking China was just one big country and Chinese food was just a collection of dishes like broccoli and beef or kung pao chicken served in the little white take-out boxes.

Thank chomple I am not ignorant anymore, due in no small part to the delicious special menu at Golden Dragon in Rocklin, CA.

The Sichuan province is located in the southwest region of China.  The region has hosted unique civilizations since at least 15 BC.  It is one of the agricultural, mineral, and industrial centers for China.  Sichuan has been historically known as the "Province of Abundance". 

But enough about that...

...you're here for the food.

There are two major types of Chinese cuisine common in America: Cantonese and Szechuan.  The most common is probably Cantonese judging from most restaurant menus.  And most menus seem to be run off the same photocopier:  add a protein, vegetable, and one of four sauces and you have a dish.  If it's spicy, call it Szechuan. Rinse. Repeat.

If that's the kind of Chinese you've got a hankering for, Golden Dragon can deliver in spades.  Order anything off the regular white menu and you won't be disappointed. 

But if you're up for some real, authentic, delicious Szechuan, order off the pink special menu. You'll be in for a treat!

Yod and I started with some delicious hot tea.

Then, we had Zhong Shu Jiao (chili oil dumplings). These pork dumplings are boiled to a perfect al dente, sauced with spicy chili oil, and topped with sichuan chili peppers.  We ordered these medium hot, but they tend to be on the milder side -- at least until the chili oil is absorbed by the dumplings.

 

A closer look:

One reason why we haven't had real, authentic Szechuan food is that the major pillar of the cuisine, the sichuan pepper, has been illegal to import to the US.  These peppers can carry a bacteria that infects citrus trees and the FDA disallowed import from 1961 to 2005 until researchers found that drying the peppers at 70C will kill the bacteria, making them safe to import.  These peppers are unique for their hot and numbing spice and a slight hint of citrus flavor. The smell is unlike black or white peppers or chili peppers (or so I've been told) and the numbing-tingling sensation is caused by the pepper's hydroxy-alpha-sanshool component.

Next was Yod's favorite, egg flower soup with corn and chicken.

The flavors meld perfectly with juicy chicken, crunchy corn kernels, and a broth that is just the perfect blend of delicate egg "flowers".

Authentic Szechuan cooking embraces the "wok hay" concept, which utilizes an extremely hot wok and wokking techniques to capture the aroma, concentrate the flavors, and deliver delicious meat that tastes smoky and vegetables that are crisp and flavorful.  Our two main dishes capitalize on this technique perfectly.

"Diced Chicken with Dried Pepper" is a deceptively simple name for a deliciously complex dish.  We've tried this with lamb and beef, but the chicken is the best and most authentic.  Our waitress told us we should try it with shrimp next time.  She said that Chinese people order the chicken mostly, but that white people generally prefer the shrimp.  

The chicken is lightly battered in lotus flour and wokked at high heat to create a slightly crunchy armor that keeps the interior juicy and tender. Then sichuan peppers, peanuts, garlic, and scallions are added and wokked together to perfection. We ordered this mild as the heat can get pretty intense on this dish.

Yod, being Thai, has consumed enough peanuts in his life to feed a large elephant and relegated most of his peanuts to the discard pile.

Our final dish was "Szechuan Style Spicy Cumin Sauce Lamb".  This is the authentic version of "Cheng Du Lamb" at PF Chang's.  Once you've had the authentic version, you'll never look at Cheng Du Lamb the same way.

Golden House uses thinly sliced lamb that is tender and juicy, then adds red peppers, sichuan peppers, green onions, and a rich, flavorful cumin sauce to complete the dish. Magnificent!

Golden Dragon is like a gift that keeps on giving.  As I delve further into their special menu and experience more authentic cuisine, I find I love Chinese food, and specifically Szechuan cuisine, even more.  I haven't found a dish that I haven't loved and each new suggestion from the friendly staff is even better than the last dish I had.  An enthusiastic two chopsticks up from me!

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Checking in with Mama at La Flor de Michoacan

If you're even a semi regular reader of this blog, you know that one of our favorite restaurants is La Flor de Michoacan, an El Salvadoran restaurant. We have to go at minimum every few weeks, as Mama (the famous lady that owns the restaurant, alternately called Abuelita and Pupusa Lady by her other customers) gets worried if we don't check in once in a while.

Since we were in the area today we decided to stop in. Unfortunately, Mama was not there, but the woman behind the counter told us she would make sure Mama knew we had come in.

On the way in, we passed this hilariously named restaurant. Insert WWII joke here.

 

If this is your first time here, the menu board on the FAR RIGHT is the one you want. I don't feel that I need to really mention this, but the person ahead of us in line and the 4 that came after us just ordered Mexican taqueria stuff off the other menus as if they didn't know where they were or why they were there. The woman behind the counter even tried to get them to order pupusas, but they all opted for enchiladas, burritos, and tacos. What a shame. I was actually tempted to get up and talk to them and convince them to order the proper food, but hey, this world is full of people that miss out on the good stuff.

 

The other set of awesome stuff is written on the sheets of paper taped around the order window. Note that you can get a pineapple tamale. I have only heard great things about it, but I'm forgetful and always remember too late to order one. I'll do it next time. Mama, if you're reading this, remind me!

 

While we were waiting for our food, I noticed atole de elote on the menu and got some for Actual. This is a thick corn drink sweetened with sugar and vanilla (and other things I couldn't figure out). Actual said it was like a luscious dessert version of creamed corn without the kernels. We loved it.

 
    

The first wave of the food. Two pork and cheese pupusas, two chicken pupusas, and two loroco and cheese pupusas. Loroco is a traditional El Salvadoran food (and pupusa filling) made from a small green flower bud. They all tasted amazing. The hot sauce and pickled coleslaw (curtido) were amazing as always. Two pupusas per person is actually enough food, but we went a little nuts and wanted food to take home.

 

Can't come here without having some of Mama's plantains. The plantains are almost overripe, then fried perfectly and served with crema and great refried beans. They were especially delectable this time around. 

 

Our last course was an order of Mama's yucca. The woman behind the counter put it into a to go box as it was obvious we had waaaay too much food for two people. I told her to please not tell Mama that I had waited too long to come back to La Flor and was craving too many things on the menu. 

This was the first time we had the pork and yucca. The combination of pork and a South American root vegetable I can only describe as the marriage of the best carnitas every created mixed with the best jojo fries ever to grace planet Earth.  Thank goodness this came out last, because otherwise I would not have had any room for any of the other food.

 

Once again, if you haven't been to this place you need to get there RIGHT NOW. Tell Mama the chubby Asian from chomple.com sent you!

   

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Less than one week until the ultimate sushi dinner...

At the 2009 Active 20-30 Club of Greater Sacramento #1032's Monte Carlo event, one of the silent auction items was a 10 course sushi dinner hosted by the Chomple staff. A very lucky person who will remain anonymous for the time being won the auction for the dinner. The dinner is less than a week away, so today we dropped in to finish planning for the meal, set the menu, and go over what we needed to have on hand.

This is one of the owners going through the stack of pictures we brought in. As everything we order is not on the menu, the chefs at Sakuran jokingly tell me that if I ever want to have anything a second time, that I need to take a picture and bring the picture back in with me. Well, that's exactly what I did! Haha!

 

Of course, we weren't just there to talk shop. We want to be fed! He got right to work on a volcano-inspired roll for us. Time to bust out the torch!

 
  

Here's the final product (it took him upwards of 10 minutes to get it all together). The roll itself began with a core of tuna, crabmeat, and cream cheese. This was wrapped in rice and then topped with alternating slices of salmon and whitefish. The roll then went under a salamander so that the fish on top could lightly toast while the cream cheese came up to a less aggressive temperature. This came out of the salamander, then got sliced, then torched. Then back under the salamander, then back out. All of this was then topped with an avocado and tuna salad, then tobikko, then garnished. Was it great? I'll let the picture answer.

 

Then another surprise... seared wagyu beef. Such a deceptively simple dish. Best beef I've put in my mouth since... last time I was here. Seriously though, I wish I could convince these guys to give up the identity of their beef supplier.

 

And for once,  I'm not here during a workday, so they poured me a frosty Kirin.

 
 

Once again, not going to bother pasting a Google map here, you guys know how to get to Sakuran!  

Getting our hot pot on at Koi Palace

Hopped into Koi Palace at Thunder Valley Casino for dinner. On Saturdays they only do dim sum from 11-3, so we actually had to order off of the real menu.

We began with a pot of Jody's favorite pu-erh tea. All the aging and fermenting makes this stuff very smoky and dense. Jody always gets a surprised yet appreciative reaction when she orders this.

 
  

First up: potstickers. These are NOT your garden variety Panda Express potstickers.

 

Next we got some fried rice. Normally we get the traditional Chinese salt fish and chicken fried rice, but they had a new addition: smoked salmon and chicken fried rice. It was amazingly good.

 

Finally, we got their Special Lamb Hot Pot. This is stewed lamb in a hot pot with tofu skins, napa cabbage, and water chestnuts. All of it is in a hot bean paste broth. Not the most completely appetizing looking dish, but hot pots never are. Believe me though, it was absolutely delicious!

 
   

Desperate times call for desperate measures

Written and photographed by Designer Girlfriend

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Or rather, desperate financial times call for desperate financial measures. Thus, the theme for this article was born. I was recently accompanying Yod and Actual to an Asian supermarket. It's always entertaining to grocery shop with them, whether it be in a mini-mart, a mainstream grocery store, an ethnic market, or a discount food chain. On this particular shopping trip, I had an agenda. I wanted to gather up a nice sampling of ramen packages. You know, a girl has to watch her pennies in these uncertain times. And the last time I was watching pennies this closely was college. And isn't ramen the staple in every college apartment? So I was planning a college throw-back theme, minus the Coors Light and the horrors of midterms.

I gathered a nice sampling of ramen packages, different flavors, types of noodles, different ethnicities. I had about a dozen different types. And then I realized I had the opportunity to do some taste testing. I recruited my unwitting Cousin and Yod and Actual. The plan was set!

Here are the ramen packages, complete with their prices. You want to know if you just fell in love with a high-dollar ramen! (I was planning to sample 8 ramens, which we later edited to four.)

Next was a flurry of ripping open packages, tearing open various spice/seasoning packets (some powdered, some liquid), and boiling A LOT of water.

This particular package had a lot of flavor accessories.

So here were our four delectable choices:

Disregard those packages on the right, we didn't taste those. Everyone wrote comments for the four ramens.

Comments on Bowl A:  Mushy, not enough flavor, not enough tooth. Flavor is chicken-ish, but mostly salt and a hint of onion.  Ok if you are getting over the flu.

(Bowl A was the Nissin Oriental Noodle $0.69)

Comments on Bowl B: Smells of pine or mint.  Smells like lemongrass. Chunky things in the broth are odd. Would eat this again. LIked these noodles the best. Do not like the mouth feel of the noodles, they are mealy.

(Bowl B was the Indo Mie Chicken Curry Flavor $0.49)

Comments on Bowl C: This bowl looked the most appealing. It did not taste interesting. Smells faintly like soap and tree bark. Smells like Aveeno lotion. I think this wants to be duck flavor. Not much flavor.

(Bowl C was the Pho Bo Rice Noodle Beef Flavor $1.29)

Comments on Bowl D: The broth was a good color (it didn't photograph well in a blue bowl) and the noodles looked tasty. It smells like sour cream and onion potato chips. By far the best regular noodles. Sort of bland. Good amount of salt, not too much. Would eat again.

(Bowl D was Kung Fu Artificial Onion Flavor $0.59)

And ramen tasting was just Part I of our bargain night!  With our bellies full of broth and noodles, we went to the local Grocery Outlet to search for a meal for 4 for $20.  On this particular day, the fresh produce was unacceptable, so we needed to rely entirely on packaged foods.  This delighted Yod.  He tried to shoo us away from the fresh produce.  Then we saw the condition and the price of the produce, and we went back to food in bags, boxes and cans. Silly us, we thought it was Yod's inherent mistrust of fresh fruits and vegetables that made him shudder when we neared the produce gondola.  He was just trying to save us...

We wandered around the store for a long time, trying to compose a somewhat cohesive meal.  It was nearing closing time, and some tough decisions had to be made quickly. So we got a lot of interesting things that were not cohesive at all.

We have here a "Catering Collection" of appetizers, a tube of polenta, twisty pasta with cream sauce, a green chile marinated pork loin (for about $3.25!), caribbean blend veggies and a blackberry cobbler. And we came in on budget! 

The Catering Collection was impressive for its quantity of food. The stuff was also very tasty. We all had a different favorite item. Left to right we have spinach and cheese quiches, crab cakes, cheese souffles, and mushroom turnovers.

The twisty pasta dish did look a little curious when it came out of the bag...

The pork loin looked and smelled great

And it all came together to make this handsome plate. Thank goodness Actual saved the day while we were at the store, she found Caribbean Blend.  Vegetables made it onto the menu!  It was a good mix of broccoli, green beans, red bell peppers and carrots.  I would buy it again.  The veggies gave our plates some color.

It all looked and smelled good, and the appetizers had been great. We were ready to enjoy our $20 meal. Alcohol had a budget of its own.  Supplied from the cellars of Yod and Actual. I love that bubbly red stuff. I even held onto it in the photo, lest someone try to take it from me.

Satisfied customers

This is Yod's plate.  Note the presence of vegetables!

By consensus, the polenta was good, the veggies were good, the twisty pasta was bland and forgettable and the pork loin was interesting. It wasn't bad, just green chile marinade was an intersting choice for pork loin. But that's what you get at the discount market: very familiar foods with a little twist that didn't go over so well at the mainstream grocery stores.

After ramen tasting, a trip to the store, appetizers, dinner, and generous amounts of spirits, it was time for dessert.

The photo doesn't do the flavor justice. It was great.  Fresh berry flavor, a good amount of sauce and a tasty crust to boot.  I don't think Yod had any dessert, but us girls dove in.  I have had good luck with the Mrs. Smith's brand. I would buy this again.

We had leftovers from the $20 meal!  We could have fed another adult, maybe two.  But that might have been because the evening started with ramen tasting...

Go see what you can make for $20.  I dare you!

Celebrating National Cupcake Day at Icing on the Cupcake!

December 15th is National Cupcake Day! Chomple decided to celebrate it at Icing on the Cupcake, a local cupcakery in Rocklin, CA.

This is the box with all the goodness inside.

 

You actually have to cut the striped seal to get inside. I appreciated this design gesture, as it kept the cupcake vultures away long enough for me to snap some pictures.

 

Clockwise from the upper left: Double Chocolate, Chocolate Macaroon, Pistachio, PB&J, Banana, Chocolate Mint

 

This is the Chocolate Mint cupcake after Saucy hungrily mauled it.

 

The Pistachio cupcake after Actual took a small nibble. I think I see the face of Jesus in there, or maybe Archibald Asparagus from Veggie Tales.

 

And last but not least, the most interesting one of all: the PB&J. Yummers.

 
      

This place is great for cupcakes! Although I would suggest going for the non chocolate varieties if you prefer a moister cupcake (and I think chocolate cupcakes are, so, like, 1985). 

Check out their website (linked in the map below) for their varieties and flavor schedule!

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In-N-Out: Sorry, it's over between us.

So today I decided that I was going to blog the In-N-Out drive thru experience for those of you that don't live on the West Coast.

Apparently In-N-Out had different plans.

While we were waiting at the food window (the second window) I snapped a couple pictures of the window. Suddenly some girl opens the window glaring at me.

Girl: CAN I HELP YOU?!?!?!?

[We weren't sure if this was a rhetorical question. Obviously we were waiting for our food.]

Girl: I WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF YOU DIDN'T TAKE MY PICTURE. IN FACT YOU CANT TAKE PICTURES INSIDE HERE!

Jody: [laughing, thinking she's just being funny, as In-N-Out employees are renowned for being universally friendly] Glad we're outside then!

Girl: [still glaring] NO, YOU CANNOT TAKE PICTURES OF THE INSIDE OF THE RESTAURANT. IT'S A LEGAL THING.

So let me get this straight.

Even though In-N-Out Burger is by far one of the most blogged/photographed restaurant chains in the world, their official policy is that you cannot take a picture of the inside of an In-N-Out, even if you are outside?

And you have to be rude about it?

Thankfully, In-N-Out is not a place I love so much that I would put up with this kind of abuse.

So, farewell, rude purveyor of hamburgers. It was fun while it lasted.

Oh, and my 4x4 Animal Style was perfect, as usual.

La Flor de Michoacan: America's official El Salvadoran embassy.

The short version of this review is that you should go there right now, as fast as CHP will legally allow you to travel. I would even suggest going faster than that, but our lawyers tell me that I could be held responsible if you get caught and end up claiming that this blog spun you into some sort of psycho pupusa fervor and that's what made you drive like a maniac.

I am a pupusa addict, and everyone in town has been telling us to hit La Flor de Michoacan for as long as I can remember. So we finally headed there with Designer Girlfriend.

When we got to the strip mall it was in, we couldn't find it. Turns out the sign you can actually see just says MEXICAN RESTAURANT. The sign that says La Flor Pupusas is the small oval thing on top.

 

Luckily there's a nice green neon sign that clued me in.

 

We walked in and ran into the owner lady (for the life of me I can't remember what her name is). She is the best restaurant owner EVER. She works the cash register while managing the kitchen. Super friendly, and she was extremely patient as I gave her my extremely long and disjointed order. She gave me suggestions as to what else to get and even steered me away from one combination of ingredients I asked for that wouldn't turn out very delicious. Every customer seemed to be on a first name basis with her, which is a great sign. My kind of place.

Things to note here: 

• This place is cash only. 
• Ignore most of the menu board. The stuff you want is on the rightmost panel that says "El Salvadoran Specialties" and the paper signs taped all around the order counter.
• The prices are VERY reasonable. The most expensive pupusa on the menu is $2.50. The total cost for everything you will see in this review is $31.
• Everything is cooked to order. You will wait at least 10 minutes for your pupusas. Be happy about this.
• Clean off your table before you leave. Bring the dishes back to the window, throw away your garbage, and use napkins to clean up your crumbs and spills. If you don't, the pupusa lady has to leave the cash register and kitchen to clean up your mess. Don't be a jerk.   

So, the food. Oh my goodness, the food.

 
 

First up, a plate of fried ripe plantains. These things were perfectly ripe and cooked until they had a great crust outside and tender slightly sweet flesh inside. Most plantain dishes just taste like plain baked potato. Not at La Flor de Michoacan. Comes with beans and crema.

 
 

om nom nom

 
 

Next up, Salvadoran tamales. Steamed in plantain leaves instead of corn husks. These were filled with pork. Salvadoran tamales also contain fun things like chick peas and potatoes. A lot more fun than Mexican tamales. 

 

Almost to the pupusas. This is our bowl of curtido, which is a pickled cabbage relish served with pupusas. Salty, spicy and a great palate cleaner in between dishes.

 

First pupusa was a rice flour pupusa with a bean and cheese filling. This was absolutely spectacular, and would hold the record of "best pupusa I ever ate" for about 45 seconds.

 

 

We got four corn pupusas: chicken/cheese, pork/cheese, bean/cheese, and jalapeno/cheese.     

 

This is the jalapeno and cheese pupusa. Check out that gooey goodness inside. Just the right amount of jalapenos in there.

 
  

And the pork and cheese!

 

These were the best pupusas I've ever had by far and one of the best things I've ever eaten. On top of that, the price is more than right and it's also the friendliest restaurant I've been to in a while. Just a few days ago I was complaining that I hadn't eaten anywhere blog worthy in a few weeks. Well, that certainly changed. 

Run, don't walk to this place. Take a plane if you have to.

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Pizza Antica: My new favorite p-p-p-pizza place!

A review in song, to the tune of Lady Gaga's Poker Face

 
 

I want a pizza like they do in Italy
Knead it, toss it, bake it at some crazy high degree (I'll eat it)
Fennel sausage, portobello, and onions make this pie 
Some of you like Pizza Hut and I think you should die
 

 
 

Yum, yum yum yum, yum, yum yum yum yum yum
Bake it up, show me what you got
Yum, yum yum yum, yum, yum yum yum yum yum
Bake it up, show me what you got

 
 

You can be
You can be
You can be my pizza place
(Even if you're really fancy)
You can be
You can be
You can be my pizza place
(Even if you're really fancy)

P-p-p-pizza place, p-p-pizza place
(mmm mmm mmm mah)
P-p-p-pizza place, p-p-pizza place
(mmm mmm mmm mah)

 
 

Potato on a pizza is something from Japan
Pizza has enough starch, this I understand (I wondered)
But the truffle oil and onions pack a punch
It's so f*cking good I wouldn't share with the Brady Bunch

 
 

Yum, yum yum yum, yum, yum yum yum yum yum
Bake it up, show me what you got
Yum, yum yum yum, yum, yum yum yum yum yum
Bake it up, show me what you got

You can be
You can be
You can be my pizza place
(Even if you're really fancy)
You can be
You can be
You can be my pizza place
(Even if you're really fancy)

P-p-p-pizza place, p-p-pizza place
(mmm mmm mmm mah)
P-p-p-pizza place, p-p-pizza place
(mmm mmm mmm mah)

Our third pizza had three cheeses
Shaved broccoli? Yup believe it!
Pancetta and some onions
Made this pie great beyond comprehension
The other pizzas were good too
A great meal place for me and you
If I find out you had Dominos
You're banned from this blog, I promise you...

 
 

You can be
You can be
You can be my pizza place
(Even if you're really fancy)
You can be
You can be
You can be my pizza place
(Even if you're really fancy)

P-p-p-pizza place, p-p-pizza place
(mmm mmm mmm mah)
P-p-p-pizza place, p-p-pizza place
(mmm mmm mmm mah)

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Tandoori Night: HOLY F***ING S**** THIS IS THE BEST PAKISTANI RESTAURANT IN THE UNITED STATES

I'll just say this up front... the food was f***ing amazing. Out of this world. Mind blowing. 

I've eaten at maybe 100 Pakistani restaurants all over the world. None of them are better than this one. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's talk about the first time I ate at a Pakistani restaurant.

I was working for AIG in Bangkok many years ago, and my aunt showed up at my desk one day before lunch and said "Yod, we go lunch now. You must come with us!"

So my aunt and I gathered up the rest of her friends in the office, skipped the executive dining room and headed down to street level, into the smog and chaos of Bangkok.

When we arrived, my aunt and her three friends told me what they wanted to eat. I shrugged and walked through the cinder blocked building and to the rickety card table that served as the main counter. I started to order in Thai. The Pakistani guy behind the counter had no idea what I was saying. He tried to respond. His Thai was worse than mine.

"Uhh... um... English?" I asked.

He flashed me a grin.

"Cheerio mate, and hello to you, my valued customer!"

WTF?

Now, I've always had a hard time describing this guy's accent every time I tell this story. But I figure if you kidnapped a child from Pakistan, then trained the child to speak English using a combination of East Enders reruns and language lessons from the members of Oasis, the result might sound like this guy.

The meal I had there was phenomenal. Most of the 99 other Pakistani restaurants I've eaten at since then were great too.

But not this great. Not by a long shot. Not by a country mile.

This is their very unassuming storefront next to a sushi buffet.

 

Note their hours. A lot of restaurants close in the afternoon, but none of them explain it honestly like these guys!

 

Now several Yelp reviews of this place mention that everything is cooked from scratch. That the spices are blended in-house. That the owner owns part of a chain of halal meat shops and that's where he sources his ingredients. That this is an offshoot of some phenomenal chain of Pakistani restaurants in the Bay Area.

I believe it. You don't get food to taste this good doing stuff the lazy way.

We started with the sheekh kabob. This is your standard ground beef kabob cooked in a tandoori oven. Except not really. Way more flavor than all the versions I've ever had and topped with fresh herbs and onions.

 

Next came our order of naan. Each piece was about the size of an extra large frisbee, hot, warm, crispy and delicious. There's two pieces in this order but you can't see the second one under the one on top. This was the best $1.00 I've spent in quite a while.

 

This is order of nihari. It's a traditional Pakistani beef stew that is one of their national dishes. The beef is perfectly braised and the flavor of the entire dish is entirely indescribable other than to say it's incredible. Right now would be a good time to mention that these guys are not shy with the spice level--they make it for you just like they would make it for themselves.

 

I thought the nihari was mind blowing... that is, until I had the next dish: their boneless lamb stew. Once again, I'm at a total loss of words for how to describe this to you, other than to say it was amazing and that you should go get some right now.     

 

Witness the impact of two of the most delicious things I've ever put into my mouth: Tandoori Night's naan and their boneless lamb curry (unfortunately this was Jody's bite that I tried and failed to steal).

 
  

Sorry for the complete lack of description in this post, but the food here is seriously, indescribably good. I definitely have to make this statement here:

WHAT IS THIS PLACE DOING IN A ROSEVILLE STRIP MALL???

If you're a fan of tandoori cooked meats or curries, you need to go to Tandoori Night. RIGHT NOW. Don't wait. Just make sure they're open.

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