A question came up at dinner tonight, before we even got our food, as to why the ethnic restaurants in Boston as a whole don't really serve spicy food. There's definately a handful of Indian, Thai, and Szechuan places around town that dole out entrees worthy of all those pepper graphics on the menu, but not many. And I don't even have that high of a tolerance for the spicy stuff...just a medium level is satisfying enough. (Case in point: at Tex-Mex joints, I toss a few jalapenos on my quesadillas; my friend Matt lines his with rows upon rows of jalapenos like they'e ready for battle.) Are Boston restaurants really just catering the mild American palette?
I decided to check out Rani Indian Bistro in Coolidge Corner because I had heard it was one of the few places in Boston that served traditional South Indian cuisine. (The others, Bhindi Bazaar in the Back Bay and Tanjore in Harvard Square, are also owned be Samir Majmudar and his wife.) "Hyderabad, the "Pearl City of India, is famous for the opulence of its cooking and entertaining," the front of the menu reads. "Taking elements from both Northern and Southern India, the Hyderabad style is a regal one of slow cooking and contrasts." Sounded like it was as good a place as any to satisfy a spice lust.
Since beer is often recommended over wine for South Asian cooking, I ordered an Indian Kingfisher, recommended by a companion as "the most popular drink of choice in India." We ordered the garlic naan as one of the appetizers, which was nicely puffed and topped with cilantro. The other was the tomato coconut shorba, or soup. It came with fried wonton-type chips and was delicious even after it cooled to room temperature.
We tried a couple of the Hyderabadi style curries, those being the restaurant's specials. The Bhindi ka Salan, fresh okra in a tamarind-based curry, was very good, and very rich and filling for a vegetable dish. I wasn't, however, a fan of the Hussainey lamb, which was a lamb in a ginger and garlic curry, mostly because the meat was rather tough and dry. The Kali-mirch ka Murg, chicken in black pepper sauce, was one of the better entrees, although it definately didn't warrant the double-pepper rating, the highest spice-level on the menu. A tiny bit of kick? Yes. Made me dive for the Kingfisher? No.
The tandoori chicken was the only non-curry dish I tried. It was barbequed well and served with a tangy raita yogurt, but not particularly amazing.
The chicken with green mango, another Hyderabadi curry, was my personal favorite, partly for the sauce, which had a slight sweet and sour taste, and partly for the chicken itself, which came out even more tender than in the other chicken dishes. If only they could have given the same care to the lamb.
Honestly, despite the care they took to graphically indicate spiciness on the menus, I couldn't tell the difference by simply tasting the entrees themselves. Each dish was flavorful in its own way, but virtually nondistinguishable when it came to heat. (The okra, with one pepper, was just as spicy as the Kali-mirch, which was just a smidgeon hotter than everything else.) Did the chefs perposely "dumb-down" our entrees because we were a mostly a group of non-Indians? Is this racial profiling in the culinary sense?
I would go back for the food, which is still pretty excellent. And decor and atmosphere (one part romantic bistro, one part funky art gallery.) But seriously, where can you go to get some tongue-searage in this town?
Rani Indian Bistro - 1353 Beacon St., Brookline
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