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Love Tadka! Love! I haven't had Indian food this good since I moved home from London. I am sure there are other good Indian restaurants in the Cleveland area; I just haven't found them yet.
Both Tadka and the Chinese restaurant next door have a sleek modern vibe to their decor (as sleek and modern as you can in a strip mall); probably hoping to cater to new audiences. However, when we walked in - on a Friday night - the place was empty save two small tables. The host cast my mom and I a sideways glance and asked "Are you here for Indian or Chinese? Cos Chinese is next door." We assured him we were there for the curry and were shown to our very long, very low booth.
Our waiter ending being the manager, possibly the owner, so I went with my gut and had him select our courses. He asked our likes and dislikes and went about with suggestions. We started with an "amuse bouche" for lack of a better term of chana masala. It was tasty and pleasant way to start the meal. We moved on to our appetizers: samosas and tandoori lamb. The samosas were perfect - crisp, flaky exterior; soft, pillowy interior - and huge! It was the tandoori lamb that stole the show for the entire evening. Four tender chops heartily seasoned with tandoori spice. I think they were too spicy for dear mom - I do believe her spice tolerance has decreased with age (I hope she's not reading this...). They were amazing - perfectly cooked with just the right amount of gamey-ness in the lamb. And yes, you do need a little bit of gamey with lamb otherwise you might as well order beef (but I guess you wouldn't in an Indian restaurant, but anyway...).
After our starters we split a basket of regular and garlic nan (don't kiss anyone for at least 24 hours after), plain basmati and tikka masala. I know, tika masala is about as authentic as I am, but it's still tasty and a good intro for mom. Everything was amazing and there was plenty to take home for lunch the next day for both of us. Can you believe it all came to under $40?
The manager/owner also surprised us with a complimentary dessert. Now who doesn't love that?
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