Delhi Palace

By Billy Curtright

Tucked away in a lame strip mall along unfortunate Airport Boulevard, Delhi Palace is not your typical ethnic restaurant in this town. Far from the canned Mexican and Chinese places or the somewhat bland Middle Eastern or Thai spots around, I stumbled upon a truly original Indian café that is short on frills but long on interesting and delectable flavors.

I entered the “palace” with two longtime fans of the restaurant who told me I was in for a surprise. With my expectations already low, any type of decent curry would have worked. The strip mall rectangular space had little ambiance of any kind with depressing white walls and office ceiling tiles lit by florescent bulbs. A T.V. hanging on the wall belted out disturbing Arabian MTV videos that were not wired in by cable but from a video cassette library.

The mood had now been set. We had no where else to go but up with this basic lunch buffet affair ($6.95). The first thing I noticed were the unique dishes: pakoras, aloo matar, basmati rice, and the feature dish, tandoori chicken. Not exactly your everyday meal and I tried it all.

The mildly spiced appetizers, pakoras, were deep-fried vegetable fritters and were excellent with either the chutney or whipped yogurt sauce. Some traditional Indian breads were brought to the table and also went well with the sauces. Naan is leavened bread that lends itself to pita bread and is also made garlic-style. Another was roti, a whole wheat, pita-style bread that had been thrown on the grill and served hot.

I loaded my plate with the various aromatic vegetable dishes consisting of vegetable curry and aloo matar. The classic curry dish was made with fresh mixed veggies, onions, tomatoes, ginger and curry spices. While it was an excellent rendition, my favorite side dish was the aloo matar (I really just like saying it again). This was a spicy serving of potatoes and green beans cooked with tomatoes and onions.

There were more curry dishes to come for the entrees, and chicken was my choice. It was prepared slightly differently than the vegetable version, but was just as good. The other main course was Lamb Vindaloo, a lamb dish covered in a potato and tomato gravy. This one is heavy on the heat!

Then came the tandoori. This refers to the clay oven that cooks the chicken, shrimp, fish and all of the sheesh kabob beef and lamb. When I asked the manager about tandoori cooking, he told me I would understand better if I saw it in action. I was escorted into the kitchen and brought to a brick and clay structure about the size of a washing machine. This type of oven has been used for hundreds of years, and Delhi Palace had this one imported from India.

The tandoori cook had the natural mesquite charcoal fired up to over 500 degrees. The Frisbee-sized hole in the top of the clay box is where he placed metal skewers of various meats inside. This style of cooking is similar to that used with the popular Big Green Egg grill. Both apparatus seal in all the heat and moisture when cooking to keep things from drying out and staying juicy. But the most important thing is the flavor – smoky and delish! (We’ll talk more about the Big Green Egg in a future feature – I’m part of this exclusive grilling cult.)

The first thing I noticed about the tandoori chicken was the color. It reminded me of the neon-pink safety tape used to mark construction sites or sewer repair. With the black & brown seared edges and the crazy pink color caused by the marinade, the tandoori chicken scared me at first. All I had to do was bite into some and “yowza, that’s good stuff!” With a crispy outside and uber-spicy inside, this chicken is the thing franchises are born from. Some spice lightweights should proceed with caution, however. It can make those with a delicate disposition do the “tandoori two-step”.

Delhi Palace ranks all over the board. Only the hand-painted wall murals of belly dancers and the Taj Mahal, along with the effort at native music warrant one star for atmosphere. Luckily, the owners care more about the food and personal service than the décor. I have never had better ethnic food in Mobile. Period.

The next time you pass by the seemingly endless row of strip malls in the heart of WeMo, look hard at that boring white sign that says “Delhi Palace – Indian Cuisine”. We need them to stay in town for a long time.

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