Kabob & Curry
261 Thayer Street
Providence
by Bob Mariani
The cheerless, rainy weather on Thayer Street made the smoky scent from Kabob & Curry’s authentic tandoori oven feel especially welcoming on a busy weeknight as the school year starts up again. Through the years, this College Hill institution has been gently expanding the flavor frontiers of American diners by subtly mixing traditional Northern Indian cuisine with some more familiar ingredients.
The exotic spices and curries are, from what I can learn about Indian cooking, slightly toned down from their indigenous state, but still very engaging and intriguing. But now they’re adding entrée items like fresh tilapia in an aromatic curry sauce ($11.95); seafood bhuna-- shrimp, scallops, and tilapia with mushrooms, peppers and onions in a spicy red sauce ($12.95); and salmon korma with cashews and raisins in "fenugreek-cream sauce;" ($16.95). They also serve more straightforward American type dishes like single lamb chops marinated in mint and wine ($19.95).
We began with the appetizer platter ($8.50) which was a sampling of items (presented in a less-than-elaborate style) that included a couple of lamb samosas—round, crusted dumplings stuffed with chopped lamb; a very fragrant vegetable samosa; seekh kabob, which is a mild, ground sausage; pakoras, which are small morsels of ground lamb; and the more familiar chicken tikka in its red, slightly tangy sauce.
My wife’s entrée was something called shashi panir ($8.95), chunks of mild, creamy home made cheese in an aromatic tomato sauce with green peppers, onions, nuts, and raisins. We’d actually tasted this before at Kabob & Curry and found it to be just as succulent and flavorful as the last time. An excellent vegetarian choice, of which there are several.
From the list of about ten seafood curries, I chose the chilli scallops ($11.95). The baby scallops worked quite well in the slightly hot but mostly sweet red sauce, and they were nicely mixed with chopped peppers and onions. I thought this was a good example of how Kabob & Curry marries familiar American ingredients with Indian sauces.
Next month, in their continuing efforts to expose clientele to new aspects of Indian cuisine, Chef Sanjiv Dhar will highlight handi cooking, which is done in earthen pots. Dhar will focus on Biryanis throughout the month, and offer a butter chicken masala as a special. The Butter Chicken Masala is a Tandoor chicken that is baked in the handi on low heat in a tomato butter sauce.
There will also be another highlight at Kabob and Curry. Dhar has been working with wine specialist Connie Gray from neighboring Spiritus Fermenti to sample wines that especially compliment his cuisine. During October, you’ll have a chance to sample four different wines. There will be a fixed price for sampling all four, and the selected wines will sell by the bottle at a discounted price. At the end of the October, on the 26th, Connie Gray will be at Kabob & Curry for one dinner to talk about the wines and the food of India.
Kabob & Curry is open every day for lunch and dinner and there is a Sunday buffet from 11:30am to 3:30pm. There is take-out (273-8844) and delivery (272-DINE). For more information visit their
website.Bob Mariani is a Southeastern New England freelance author. Besides his "Table for Two" restaurant reviews found here, he also writes jazz articles on allaboutjazz.com.
