India in my heart

Its no secret that I like to go out to eat. Every time I come home to Nashville from school for a weekend or a break my dad always asks me, "Where are you gonna go first Mad??" I have my tried-and-true establishments that I must stop by while I'm back in the ville, and I have my tried-and-true items that I am sure to order every time I visit. When I'm in a new place, however, I love to venture out into unknown territories; I like to try new tastes, new places, new anything.

I like almost every kind of food. Even if I haven't tried it yet, I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Thai food? Don't think I've ever been to a real Thai restaurant, but I don't doubt I'd lick my plate. Ethiopian food? I hear you don't use utensils and must get down and dirty, but I'm always up for a messy adventure. Luckily, even though there are many varieties of ethnic foods I have yet to devour, I am presently living in New York City, where every single obscure morsel from all over the world can be found and tasted.

Thursday night, Stefanie--my roommate--and I chose Indian food. I tell people that I like Indian food, and I even tell them that I love it, but the truth of the matter is that I have only actually eaten Indian food two maybe three times in my entire life. Of course I had delicious experiences, but I don't think that those few meals necessarily make me an Indian food lover or connoisseur. Therefore, I turned to yelp.com to help navigate my way through the abundance of Indian establishments scattered throughout the city. I narrowed it down to both my neighborhood and my price range, and after reading a number of reviews and finding a place with high stars, I chose Heart of India.

Tandoori Chicken

When we walked into Heart of India at 7:45, the restaurant wasn't hoppin to say the least; there were 4 other tables with people seated at them, out of probably 18 total. Since we'd had a few drinks at the wine bar next door before dinner, Stef, Erica (who is in town for the weekend) and I went into the slightly desolate joint undeterred. We sat down, took a peek at the menu, and immediately befriended our waiter Sabbir. Throughout the rest of the evening, we could be heard singing "Sabbie!" "Sabbilicious!" "Sab dabby doobie!" and the likes in hopes of getting his attention.

Palak Chaat

As for our food, we didn't take anything lightly. Heart of India was offering a special of the day that offered a glass of beer or wine, appetizer, main course, and dessert for $19.99. All three of us drank, appetized, and entreed, and we all shared everything we'd gotten. I ordered the Palak Chaat for my appetizer, which includes fried spinach drizzled with olive oil and drizzled with sweet yogurt sauce, and date tamarind chutney. For my main entree, I ordered the Lamb Rogan Josh, cooked with fried onions, tomatoes, garam masala and chili, and served with plenty of basmati rice, and the best tandoori naan I've ever had. Erica got the classic Tandoori Chicken with onions and Stefanie the Chicken Tiki Masala, served in a tomato and onion cream sauce, and there was barely a bite left to spare of anything by the time we were done. Although our menu included dessert, we had our eyes on a different spot to fulfill our sweet tooth and therefore swindled Sabbir into giving us a second glass of wine in place of our dessert--of course, he couldn't turn down three beautiful "sis"ters as he called us...

dinner spread

Erica's 1st time in the City/ eating Indian

Although I had to be rolled out of Heart of India, I still left in very high spirits and eagerly anticipating the 6 blocks ahead of me in which I would walk off about one bite of my naan bread and empty out just enough to have a crepe at the sweet shop right below our dorm.


In New York there are simply too many places: too many restaurants to try, too many sweets to eat, and too many temptations to throw you off course. Since I'm only here for 2 months, I figure I better take full advantage of it while I can. You only live once, right??