Tonight Kim and I met up with world famous Dodgeballers Tim and Meredith for dinner at Tandoor in Bloomington, MN.
We have been looking to get together for dinner ever since Tim’s birthday party at Famous Dave’s in Woodbury, MN but we’ve never been able to get the schedules to work out.
Earlier this week Tim asked if we could get together possibly this Friday. With nearly a week’s notice, I figured we could get something set in stone for once. He asked if we could meet somewhere between us and wanting to check out a place I had never been to, I did some Google searching for something different in Bloomington.
Immediately after hitting “search” I found the winner: Tandoor over near 35W and 494. With 27 reviews listed on Google giving it an overall of 5 stars. I did some more digging and found that even most vegans (who don’t even like real food) were giving it a decent review!
I asked Tim and Meredith if they were cool w/that location and they were all over it. We planned for Friday at 7pm and I spent the week drooling over the idea of some good Indian food. Mmmm.
Kim and I arrived at about twenty to seven and walked quickly across the frozen parking lot towards the door. Kim immediately took cover inside while I tried to snap a decent photo of the sign.
I wasn’t immediately impressed with the location. A typical strip mall in Bloomington, tucked off American Boulevard behind a Wendy’s and next to a Red Lobster (bleh).
After walking inside, I changed my mind. The restaurant was nicely decorated and warm. Great artwork on the walls, nice table dressings, and we were quickly seated.
Tim and Meredith showed up soon after and we began to order. Meredith was the most comfortable with the menu and Tim was simply looking for spicy chicken and rice which he quickly located. Kim went with the Shrimp Madras and I nabbed their Lamb Platter.
Kim’s Shrimp Madras was listed as “a specialty from the backwaters of south India, Tender shrimp cooked in a coconut curry sauce” which comes “highly recommended” on their website. My lamb platter included “Tandoori Chicken & Lamb Curry, mixed vegetables, rice, Nan, Chutney, Dahi Raita, Papadam, & Dal (spiced lentils)” I don’t remember exactly what Tim ordered but Meredith ordered the lamb platter as well.
The lamb platter was *fantastic*. The chicken was perfect, the lamb was great although if someone didn’t tell you it was lamb you wouldn’t have known what it was, and the sides were very very tasty. Kim and I had sampled some vegetarian Indian food at Manu and Padma’s Wedding in California and I had tried some before in Woodbury at the India Palace buffet but I never sat down to a full dinner with it.
I was extremely impressed with my food. Kim, not so much, but that’s very much mimicked our reactions to the now closed Daria’s Mediterranean Deli and Cafe in Apple Valley.
I’d go back but I would guess that if we do another evening with Tim and Meredith, it wouldn’t be at Tandoor — by Kim’s request :(
Check out Tim’s writeup on Tandoor here.
See all the pictures from today here (mobile).
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July 28th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
I went there for the first time today and had their lunch buffet. I was really impressed and would definitely go back there again. I don’t remember everything I had (I tried at least a tiny bit of everything), but it was all good. The chicken tikka masala especially stood out, although I know it’s a westernized dish.
The only downside was that the buffet itself was cramped and hard to move around in, since it was in the back corner. But that’s a minor complaint.
July 28th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Tim,
Glad to hear it. I should get over there for the buffet sometime :)