Curryous for Curry

While avoiding traffic on the main road a month or so ago, we passed by this little curry house at Almendras Street in Mabolo and mentally added it to our list of places to check out.

When hunger came knocking last Friday, Indian food pops in my head (probably because I had just recently wrote about Zayka). I shuffle thru my mental list and pick out Indian Curry House.

From outside it looks small... because it is small! The place can only accommodate 20 people plus four outside. They have five tables of 4 indoors and two tables of 2 outside. I do not recommend sitting outside since it's by the road plus there's a construction site next door (unless you want to pepper your food with dust and breathe in some fresh exhaust gas).

Tables of four

Not an expert at Indian cuisine (or any food for that matter), we ask the waitress what their bestsellers are. She rattles off some alien words and my brain only registers samosa. Since we don't need appetizers (our appetites don't need stimulating), we look over the menu again and settle on three dishes.

Menu. Click on photos to enlarge.

We try one of their vegetarian dishes, the mutter paneer. No, this will not make you mutter to yourself, or maybe it will because of its portion size: it's one small bowl of cottage cheese and peas in curry. And yes, spicy.

We've got vegetables, now we need some meat. We skip the pork and the lamb and are left with chicken. They have about ten chicken dishes and because we like yogurt, we choose the chicken tikka which is chicken marinated in yogurt. This dish is spicy, too.

What's a meal without rice? Not this meal! The vegetable biryani is rice with...drum roll please...vegetables! Yup, spicy.

Because I loved the strawberry lassi at Zayka, I decide to try their lassi too, but they only have three: mango, sweet, and khari. I choose the mango and my date, wanting to try something new, orders khari lassi (yogurt with salt and roasted cumin). The waitress warns us that drinking khari lassi is like drinking the sea. We say, "It's okay, we are adventurous people" (haha). She goes, "Are you sure?" And I know in her mind she's saying you've been warned.

Mango lassi and Khari lassi

I could not taste the yogurt in the mango lassi. It's just like mango shake in my opinion. As for the khari lassi, my date finds it okay (it's more yogurty than my mango lassi) but I find it rather revolting. It's a taste I couldn't quite well describe.

All the above dishes are delicious and a bit spicy - a plus since I like spicy food (they can adjust the level of spicyness at your request) but the portions are a big disappointment: it is as tiny as the place. And what about the drinks? Well, I've been warned about khari lassi and I took that warning to heart.

There are still some things to improve. The hospitality is warm, but service is slow. The food is great, but the serving is disheartening. I love vegetarian meals and how I wish there could be more restaurants that serve them here in Cebu. But with Indian Curry House, I did not come out singing "Aal izz well."

Indian Curry House

No. 57 Almendras, Mabolo, Cebu City

0927 383 9546

email: thefamousindiancurryhouse@gmail.com

Mon - Sat 6PM - 11PM

Other branch:

Soon to open at APM Mall (across SM City Cebu)

(032) 268 9145

How a little piece of India tore a large piece off of Mustachio's pocket:

Mutter Paneer Php 130

Chicken Tikka Php 150

Vegetable Biryani Php 145

Mango Lassi Php 50

Khari Lassi Php 50