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| - Cafe Tandoor is a great little Indian restaurant hidden in a shopping plaza dominated by a Marc's and Sears Grand. It was fairly empty when I visited for a late Sunday night dinner, but it looks like they do a fair amount of take-out business. The dining room has about 20 tables and more tables in what appears to be a party room. They have also added 8 tables of outdoor seating in front of the restaurant, though unfortunately the best you can do is a view of the parking lot and Asuka, Radio Shack, Super Tan, and Caribou Coffee across the way. Inside, each table has a dark red tablecloth topped with glass and lighted by a small candle. A bar sits in the back of the room with three empty stools as if just to prove to patrons that alcohol is available. Background music ranged from (what I assume are) traditional Indian tunes to new age piano pieces.
The Tomato Shorwa was a regular tomato soup with Indian spices and without the slight sweetness you often get with other tomato soups. The soup took an extended time to bring to the table, as if the order caught them off guard. It's a decent soup, but admittedly on the bland and simple side. I would probably opt for something else on another visit.
The Cholle was very good--probably the second best chick pea dish I've had. The chick peas are served in a dark curry with tomatoes and cooked just enough to get a little softness without becoming mushy; so many other places I've been seem to undercook their chick peas. On request, I got the dish at a "mild" spice level (which is exactly how they delivered it), but its mildness did not at all slip into blandness. The dish is great to mix with an order of plain basmati rice and/or together with nan.
The Garlic Naan--a circle (about 8" in diameter) of the traditional bread with garlic and butter--came out of the kitchen piping hot. A must-have in my opinion--the aroma as the nan was being delivered to the table was wonderful.
Service is friendly and relatively attentive, but not at all terribly quick. It appears one server covers the entire restaurant, at least when it's not at all crowded. These aren't high-end or innovative food items, but there should be a place in everyone's palette for solid traditional dishes.
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