After not eating much Indian food in a very long time, I am happy to say that October reignited my love for Indian cuisine. Last month, I unexpectedly went to a total of 5 different Indian restaurants around Seoul- and that's a lot for me, considering that for some insane reason, the average in the past has been more like once every 6 months (pathetic, I know~).
So I present to you 4 of the 5 restaurants that I visited, in no particular order:
1. Taj @ Gangnam
This restaurant's interior was clean and upscale, and the waitstaff were Indian, so we could order in English. Chris and I ordered the Yellow Dahl and Makki Palak Aur Mutter Ka Salan (basically like Palak Paneer, minus the paneer/cheese).
We specifically asked the waiter whether our choices were vegan, and indeed, he assured us that there were no animal products in these curries. However , when the Palak dish came out, there was clearly some kind of yogurt or cream drizzled over it as decoration! And being the non-confrontational personality that I am, I didn't send it back... I guess I have to be extra clear in the future, and say, "No animal products inside, or on top!" Le Sigh~
The Yellow Dahl
The contaminated Palak curry
The roti
Despite the mishap with the palak curry, everything was really delicious, and I would go here again!
2. Everest @ Dongdaemun
This has always been my favorite Indian/Nepalese restaurant in Korea, and it's hard to believe that the last time I went was over a year ago. Shameful. But returning here reminded me why I love this place so much. It has the triple-threat going for it: super friendly and helpful waitstaff, an affordable menu, and finger-lickin' geeeuuud food.
This was actually my first time going here as a vegan, so I had some questions for the servers. I felt kinda bad interrogating the waitress on every dish, but I had to... and she was helpful and also honest about what is and isn't vegan.
Aalu Kovi (vegan)
Aalu Palak (can be made vegan, upon request)
Dal Makhani (can't be made vegan). This was for the non-vegans at the table.
nan bread (not vegan)
roti (vegan)
3. Dal @ Garosu-gil
Of all the Indian restaurants I've been to in Korea, Dal is by far, the most pricey... and with the smallest portions... I suppose that's to be expected of any restaurant located in the ritzy, somewhat pretentious neighborhood of Garosugil. Lucky for me, my friend was beyond generous and footed the bill! Thank you, friend (you know who you are)!
Unfortunately, there is only one entree on their menu that is vegan: The mushroom curry. Even though it was a pretty small bowl of food, what we did get tasted great. The roti and samosas were also vegan (oh, and the rice too~ haha).
Three pretty samosas on a plate, three pretty sa-mo-sas~ take one down, pass it around...
4. Ganga @ Gangnam
I've blogged about the Ganga by Sulleung Station before, but here are some pics from the one at Gangnam Station, with its modern, dark, and clean interior:
Although prices are slightly high (around 15,000won for a vegetable curry dish), the portions are biiig. They have the biggest bowl of Dal and the biggest roti I've ordered in Korea so far. :)
roti
Dal Tarka
Aloo Gobi
So there you have it. October was my Vegan Month of Indian Food. I plan on eating lots more in the future, so don't worry, this won't be my last post on Indian food in Korea! I feel like I have finally gotten the hang of how and what to order at Indian restaurants, so I plan on putting this empowerment to good use.