a taste of india

Over in Jersey City, Newark Avenue between Kennedy Boulevard and Tonnelle Avenue is called Little India. A two block stretch of restaurants, take out, groceries, markets, jewelers, and other shops that cater primarily to the Indian culture. I thought it would be fun to go there for dinner, because I had hoped that it would somehow be more traditional than some of the places that we usually go to. Sometimes I think that the restaurants that are located in retail / commercial areas with lots of other restaurants, maybe trendy or hip areas, tend to be more Americanized. Who knows.. anyway, I felt like getting some Indian food and damn if we didn't find some good food!

The restaurant was called Indian Village (the sign said IVillage), on the corner of Newark and Kennedy Boulevard. This is one of the sit down restaurants in the area and a little more upscale (though it was definitely a bargain). There are a lot of take out places in this area, but we felt more comfortable going to a sit down place. The outside was nice and upon entering, the spicy aroma immediately made my mouth water. We were seated promptly, as there were not that many people there when we were there. It was early on a Sunday evening, not a prime night to eat out. We ordered the Village Chat and Spinach Pakora as the appetizer. Rob told me that he thought my pakora might be better. I'm a bit surprised by that piece of information since I've only made it once! The Chat was very good, some crispies topped with potato, yogurt and tamarind sauce.

Whenever I go out for Indian food, I try and be careful about what I order because it could be lots of calories, fat and sodium. I stay away from paneer, even though it's oh so good. I also stay away from cream or butter sauces and try and stick with things either in a tomato based sauce or a spinach sauce. I ordered Alu Gobi Palak for dinner - potatoes, cauliflower and spinach. It was awesome! I ate it all. I'm paying for it today.

I always feel lucky to live in this area where you can basically get any type of food you want, almost any time of the day. This was a great find. We'll be going back there to try out some other restaurants.

*healthyfoodie*