Surati Farsan Mart - Searching for Good Indian Food in SD Part 3

Date of Dining: 10/7/2011 
Price: About $5-7 per item
Location: 9494 Black Mountain Road, San Diego, CA 92126
website


The Quick Bit:
+ Exciting flavor combinations
+ Fully Vegetarian, but still satiates the appetite
+ Selection of Indian Sweets
Δ Some flavors can be a little aggressive for a western palate
Δ Food can be surprisingly heavy even for being vegetarian
Δ Variation in food was somewhat lacking

Blogger's Note: With next week being Christmas, I will not be updating the blog. I expect to have an update for New Years along with some potential blog changes in 2012.

While I visited Surati Farsan Mart in October, I really wanted to post about it after seeing this amazing video footage (watch the video, really). Unfortunately there were some higher priority posts that had to be done first. At the time of this posting, it is unclear to me whether Surati Farsan has re-opened for business yet. It wouldn't surprise me if they are already reopen at this point, but hopefully a helpful reader can provide an update on the situation.

Getting back to the search for Indian food, Surati Farsan has long been mentioned as a bastion for enjoyable  Indian fare in San Diego. Prior to this visit, I had never actually gone there despite hearing about it several times. The key part that prevented me from visiting is that whenever I mentioned it to some Indian friends, they would brush it off as "just being a snack place." I set out to Surati Farsan to find out if I could eat a complete satisfying meal that was completely vegetarian.

I enlisted a group of friends and coworkers to help me navigate the menu and recommend items for me to try. 

dahi puri

The first item I tried was the dahi puri. The puri is the shell that holds the ingredients and the dahi is the yogurt. The inner filling contained a mix of chickpeas, green lentils, potato, and there was a water infused with tamarind, dates and mint chutney. 

For being a relatively cheap snack item, I was very impressed with this dish. The tamarind, date, mint water was the key component to the dish infusing the elements with sweetness, freshness, and a tiny bit of spice. The key to the water was that it infused a lot of flavor without being overpowering. The puri itself had an enjoyable contrast of textures and flavors between the different components with the yogurt marrying the textures together. This was easily my favorite dish of the night and I imagine it would work as an amuse on most fine dining menus.

pav bhaji

The pav bhaji was an Indian curry mixture containing potato, pea, onions, and a tomato-based curry. The bhaji was accompanied with some hamburger buns spread with ghee and some chopped white onions.

I found this dish fairly aggressively spiced, and otherwise uninteresting. I can see where an item like this is a staple food that people would eat on a daily basis as it contains some cheap and filling ingredients that contain a nice mix of flavors. Ultimately, I feel that while there was nothing wrong with the dish, a Western palate may not take the aggressive spicing well, and that there are more interesting things to order on the menu.

chole samosa

The chole is the curry of chickpeas and tamarind sauce that accompany the samosas, which contained potatoes, corn, and mustard seeds. 

This dish was a great dish for me. There was a large play between the contrasting flavors of sweetness and spice throughout the course. The chole contained an aggressive sweetness from the tamarind infusion to the curry, which was more restrained in the spicing; this mix was juxtaposed with the samosa which had a light sweetness from the corn and an aggressive sweetness from the mustard seeds and other spices. This play on the components worked really well for me. I also enjoyed that the samosas were prepared well as they were fried crisply and cooked well.

selection of sweets

While Surati has some savory dishes, it is even more known for its selection of Indian sweets. Similar to the chocolate display case at Godiva, the sweets are available for order in some large quantities. Fortunately for me, the proprietor took mercy on me for being the clueless Westerner and allowed me to purchase a sample selection of the sweets.

My favorite of the sweets was the item on the upper left, which was a sweet containing mostly dates and mixed with pistachios, almonds, and cashews. I found the different contrast in nut flavors and textures blended with the date to be satisfying and not too sweet.

I also enjoyed the rolled candy on the far right, which I was informed was a cashew filling to a milk based outer shell. 

Conclusion:

While Surati Farsan is certainly a change of pace in relation to the other Indian food places I've been exploring, it does not mean that it cannot be part of the Indian food search. I came away from Surati with some mixed feelings; while I did enjoy the food I did feel there was the "comfort food" aspect of Indian food missing from the experience (which may be a good thing). I also felt that while I was able to take most of the aggressive seasonings, it may not be for everyone. While I can recommend Surati Farsan to adventurous eaters that are willing to experience an "unfamiliar" type of Indian cuisine, I don't believe that it will ultimately hold as the winner of the Indian food search.

Even so, for the exceptional dahi puri (a dish I think that could be served in a high end restaurant with a little more refinement), Surati Farsan is awarded with the bit award.

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BKC (Bismillah Kabob-n-Curry) - Searching for Good Indian Food in SD Part 2

Date of Dining: 9/29/2011 
Price: $6-$13 per appetizer, $10-15 per entree
Location: 5450 Clairemont Mesa Blvd #G, San Diego, CA 92117
website


The Quick Bit:
+ Adequate Indian Meat dishes
+ Strong, aggressive spicing
Δ Tables could be larger
Δ Service could be more consistent


It has been awhile since I've made a post on the many series posts I have running, especially in the Indian Food Search. While I would love to have an excuse like I just didn't visit any restaurants, the reality is that there have just been so many other things to post since October that I didn't get a chance to fit these posts in.
After making the first post about Indian food, I received an overwhelming amount of feed back from friends and coworkers urging me include/try several different restaurants as part of the search. I got three separate recommendations from people that don't know each other to try BKC, so I thought it would be a good second stop. Technically, BKC is slightly cheating as the food seems slightly more Pakistani than Indian. However, I'm going to pretend I'm ignorant of these things and just clump it into the Indian food as most diners would probably not be able to distinguish the differences in the cuisine.
Another reason I chose BKC was that there was a special item on the menu that I thought many of my readers would want to hear about: Magas Masala (Behja Fry). Prior to going to BKC, I did google this dish and found out that there were two varieties - the deep fried and stir fried version. I resolved to try this dish only if the stir fried version was the one served. Unfortunately when querying the waitress, she explained that their version of the dish was deep fried. Further, BKC serves a special Biryani dish after weekend prayer service (I want to say around 3pm Sunday), which I also didn't get to sample due to dining there for dinner. However, I still felt that I got a good feel for the restaurant with the dishes that were sampled.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, we were greeted by an older gentleman waiter that did not take a very friendly demeanor with our group. Luckily we were rescued by a younger female waitress who ended up being our server for the night and gave us excellent service. However, the initial impression I got left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth throughout the meal.


Breads:

garlic naan

As I'm no Indian food expert, perhaps the dish I can judge the best at each restaurant is the garlic naan. This particular garlic naan was slightly below average. There was a nice crust and crispy texture to the bottom of the naan. Unfortunately, the positives of the naan ended there. There was a lot more coriander than garlic, which threw off the balance of the garlic flavor, and the bread was slightly cold and too chewy. 

papadum

As I had not had papadum in the past, the table insisted that I take this opportunity to try it. This particular papadum seemed baked rather than deep fried, which I found positive. However, I seemed to not understand how to properly eat with this accompaniment. While I was using it as a naan substitute, I felt a great desire to have naan instead.

house salad and mint chutney

Perhaps the papadum was meant to accompany what I took for a house salad and mint chutney, but the papadum arrived so late that these accompaniments were forgotten. The salad was a typical side salad expected at any restaurant, and the mint chutney seemed like it had missed its prime by about three hours prior to our arrival.


Curries:
The chief complaint about curry dishes is that some restaurants will use the same base sauce for the curries and then take shortcuts to cut down on prep (even though all sauces should be different). We ordered in such a way to be able to make a determination if the restaurant took this shortcut.

Kashmiri kabob masala - boneless tandoor chicken, cooked in herbs & spices

Considered one of the restaurant's signature dishes, we decided that this would be a good dish to evaluate on the sauce differential. For being a signature dish, this dish delivered on the flavor. The sauce was packed with a nice spicy punch and had a nice thickness to it. The chicken was overcooked, but this is a common thing in Indian cuisine, so I did not hold it against them. By the time this plate was taken away, the plate was largely white as we had used the naan to sop up any extra curry.

paneer tikka masala - gourmet dish made with marinated tandoor paneer & tomato base gravy

To compare the Kasmiri kabob, we ordered the paneer tikka masala. While both dishes contain masala, I was assured that the sauces should have been different enough that a proper cook would prepare each sauce individually. Unfortunately, these sauces were definitely the same sauce. Where the Kashmiri kabob added spice to the sauce, the paneer tikka masala seemed to add sugar to the base sauce.
The curry itself was largely enjoyable as the sauce still contained a nice thick texture that was complimented by some sweetness. However, the texture of the paneer seemed too tough as it was dry to the point where it was actually chewy like overcooked chicken. 


Meat:

lamb karahi - delicately spiced lamb pieces cooked in a karahi (wok)

This dish was the best dish of the night. The lamb pieces included bones including some pieces that included gelatinous bits of bone marrow. The spicing was aggressive to convey depth of flavor, but restrained enough to not overwhelm the palette. This dish also had a nice kick of spiciness that took it to the next level. 


Dessert:

gulab jamun - North Indian sweet dumplings

In addition to the naan, apparently I have been volunteered to sample the gulab jamun at every Indian restaurant.
These particular gulab jamun had been previously frozen and not completely thawed as biting into the center released a large concentration of cold breading. Additionally, I felt the simple syrup was a bit overly sweet and lacked refinement.


Conclusion:
While it may seem like I was overly critical on many of these dishes, I did end up enjoying the the meal at BKC. While I don't think it is the best Indian food in San Diego, it is Indian food that I would return to enjoy again in future. The curries and meats were prepared with ample flavor and were aggressively spiced to be more interesting than the run of the mill curry. However, if I was a vegetarian, I would avoid BKC as their strength seems to lie in mainly in their meat-based dishes.

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Bawarchi - Searching for Good Indian Food in SD Part 1

Date of Dining: 3/4/2011
Price: $20-35 per person
Location: 9520 Black Mountain Rd Ste. A, San Diego, CA 92126
website

The Quick Bit:
+ The garlic naan was good
+ Food was not overly buttery
Δ Servers could have been more attentive
Δ Non-vegetarian Biryanis could be cooked with meat
Δ Spices in Biryani could have been milder
Δ "breading" of the Indo-Chino dishes could have been less disgusting in texture

I'm a big fan of Indian food - from the rich complex flavors of curry to the succulent tenderness of the tandoori grilled meats to actually being able to eat vegetarian and enjoying a good meal, good Indian food is something I would love to have. Unfortunately, I have still yet to enjoy a properly amazing Indian meal, so I can only imagine how good Indian food should be.

As I work with many Indians (who are regular readers of this blog no less), I have asked them to help me find a good Indian restaurant in San Diego. For the first stop of this journey, we decided to pick somewhere in the Indian "hub" of San Diego - Black Mountain Road complex. Now you may ask why they picked Bawarchi vs Surati Farsan Mart, but I was informed that they don't consider Surati Farsan Mart to be a proper place to get a meal - "It's just a snack place." Since I'm no expert on Indian Cuisine, I'll simply defer on that argument and say that while Surati Farsan Mart may be reviewed in the future, it would be part of the Searching for Indian Food series.

I ended up with four others at Bawarchi, so we went ahead and ordered a lot of things:

Pakora

The pakora were completely over-fried to the point that the original vegetables had no flavor at all. This was quite a shame since the dipping sauces were pretty good. Our table didn't finish this dish.

Gobi Manchurian (cauliflower)

The first of the Indo-Chino dishes; Gobi Manchurian appears to be a take on sweet and sour pork except with cauliflower instead of pork. The breading used to fry the cauliflower seemed to be too wet. It's almost like the cauliflower was dipped in some wet mixture and then not finished off with flour/breadcrumbs, so all that adhered to the vegetable was some runny mess of flower and egg. Furthermore, the cauliflower seemed to not be respected as an ingredient as it was overcooked and the aggressive saucing of the dish completely overwhelmed any taste of cauliflower.

Chicken 65

Chicken 65 seems to be an Indo-Chino take on Szechwan cooking. The chicken was deep fried (notice a trend?) and then slathered with some spicy sauce that resembled Sambal. It was also finished with an Indian spice mix to add some depth. Perhaps I'm slightly biased, but I prefer some of the subtleties of good Szechwan cooking over the Indo-Chino version. While there is definitely heat in the Szechwan food, there is also added depth with the inclusion of fermented soy beans and there is also a nice numbing quality from the Szechwan peppercorns. However, this dish tried to pair a Chinese spice with and Indian spice and they seemed to work against each other rather in with each other in harmony.

Garlic Naan

Easily the best dish of the night. The naan was nicely crispy in the center and the outer portions were appropriately doughy.

Matar Paneer

The paneer was uninspired at best. Many Indian restaurants seem to take the shortcut of making one sauce and then adapting that sauce into all the different curries rather than making each sauce separately. I feel that Bawarchi was certainly guilty of this.

Vegetable Dum Biryani

Bawarchi Special Chicken Dum Biryani

I actually tried to order the Hyderabadi Chicken Dum Biryani, but was informed they were out. Since this dish was more expensive, one would figure that it should be more impressive. Instead, I was extremely disappointed in the results. The Vegetable Biryani was the exact same rice base as the Chicken Biryani, which speaks of total laziness in the preparation. One would expect that a meat Biryani is cooked in the juices of the meat in order to impart an additional layer of savory flavor. Bawarchi decided that they would not do that. Additionally, it may just be a cultural thing but I completely missed why there was a pairing of a hard boiled egg.

Rasmalai

I found this dish to be average and at least somewhat enjoyable after the rest of the meal didn't go particularly well. However, I was informed that this dish was in fact terrible. I did end up eating this, but the rest of the people looked at me strangely that I would actually enjoy it.

Gulab Jamun

This Gulab Jamun was simply way too sweet. The sweetness overwhelmed everything else. I would be surprised if the entire ball was not filled completely with pure sugar.

So the first stop of the search for Indian food failed to produce a result to my liking. However, I did find the experience educational, especially on how Biryanis are supposed to be prepared.

Additionally, in the five months since I visited Bawarchi, apparently the food has taken a turn for the worse. This claim is complete here-say, but the coworkers that I visited the restaurant with have all informed me that they refuse to go the restaurant any longer. Perhaps even my beloved Garlic Naan is no longer any good there?

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