Lauren: House of India Restaurant (HOIR) happens to be the birthplace of my Indian-food eating experience. I was but a young lass, 16 and unsure of what to make of the buffet trays of butter chicken and naan before me. I tried each thing separately, and found it all to be underwhelming. It was not until around a year later that I chose to dine at House of India again, this time with a small group of pals. And it clicked. And I have loved it ever since. House of India was rated the Best Indian Restaurant on Long Island by the Long Island Press, and they certainly deserve the title. The décor and the atmosphere are a bit stuffy, but the food is excellent enough to make up for it. Just so you all understand my positive bias, this is probably my favorite restaurant ever.
We decided to order a few appetizers in addition to the pappadam given to you upon seating. Emily and I shared an order of two vegetable samosas. The samosas are mild yet flavorful, and the shell is thick and crisp. We also ordered the chicken pakora; pieces of white meat fried in a delicious, spicy, and bready batter. Some of the pieces were too dry this time, but this has never really been a problem during one of my other 1,284 trips to HOIR, so I’m dismissing it as a fluke.
I ordered the butter chicken as my main dish, as I always do. It is my absolute favorite meal of all time; I crave butter chicken pretty much every day of my life.
Other butter chicken sauces I’ve had are usually a bit watered down or clumpy, resembling more of an Indian version of tomato sauce. But this one is perfectly creamy and bursting with flavor. I usually order mine mild in order to enjoy the flavor of the sauce (and because that’s how I started out ordering it back in the day), but I think it is probably best ordered medium because the flavor is still present without being masked by the spiciness. Yet I think the best part about this dish is that it is cooked with white meat as opposed to dark meat. Dark meat usually has an inconsistent texture and a taste of its own that can be distracting, so I much prefer white meat in dishes like these. The heaping plate of rice that HOIR provides is always perfectly cooked and flavored as well, and the portions are a perfect size. Overall, an excellent experience.
Above: a butter chicken flower
Emily: I was particularly looking forward to stop number two on our Long Island Food Fanfare Extravaganza because we were going to House of India Restaurant in Huntington. Indian is easily one of my favorites, if not my favorite, of all cuisines. I just love the complexity and depth of the flavors and really, anything cooked in a sauce that you can soak up with various starches is a-okay in my book. House of India Restaurant (or HOIR) was unassuming from the outside, but spacious and well decorated inside. The aroma was incredible and induced pretty serious salivation.
To start, I ordered a mango lassi, a yogurt drink made with pureed mango. The drink is sweet and satisfying, not too thick, and a perfect counterbalance to the myriad spices in the rest of the meal. We ordered vegetable samosas and chooza pakora as appetizers to share with the table. The samosas were filled with the traditional combination of potatoes and peas and overall were very tasty. I like samosas that are a bit on the spicy side, and these were quite mild. The chooza pakora (pure white meat chicken tenders breaded in a chickpea flour and spice batter, then deep fried) were perfectly cooked, the chicken still incredibly juicy (for the most part - some of the end pieces were a bit dry, but even that was alright). The breading itself was very thick and flavorful. I dipped both my samosas and chooza pakora in the tamarind sauce that was thick and sweet.
As an entrée, I ordered the chicken tikka masala, a very traditional dish made with a creamy tomato sauce, onions, and peppers. While I was tempted to try different entrées that were more unique (like the mango chicken), I’m always drawn back to my favorite dish when I go to an Indian restaurant I haven’t been to before. I ordered mine with medium spice and a side of garlic naan. The dish was quite spicy, and I could tell that even the mild would have been adequately spicy (even though I enjoyed medium). The onion and pepper flavors were very prominent, and the sauce wasn’t quite as creamy as other chicken tikka masalas I’ve had. The chicken was incredible though – perfect hunks of white meat tandoori chicken. All in all, the dish was good, but definitely not the standout dish of the evening. That title goes to Lauren’s entrée – butter chicken. Butter chicken was everything I wanted in my dish that was just not quite there – a perfectly creamy sauce, the tomato flavors blending together with the other components of the sauce so that nothing was overpowered. The entire dish just melted in your mouth. The garlic naan was both crisp and soft, covered in butter, garlic, and cilantro. The dishes were served with basmati rice, which was full of saffron flavor. The dishes were decently expensive, as most Indian food is, but they were so rich and satisfying that we both left with half of our entrées to enjoy as leftovers the next day … or even later that night.
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