I have a confession to make: I’m an Indian food freak.
This is me when I find out I’m about to eat Indian food.
Give me a samosa, some lamb masala, some garlic naan, a little basmati rice, some masala tea and a mango lassi and I black out in a state of nirvana-like bliss for a few hours. Eventually I snap back to reality, my belly full and my mind in a stupor, with a sad realization that all the Indian food is gone. Wondering when the next time will be.
One of our most amazing trips was to Nepal (yes, I know it’s not India, but it’s the closest we’ve been!) where we basically indulged in all of Kathmandu’s culinary delights. If it hadn’t been for our 5-day trek to Poon Hill, we would have had to be rolled out of the country. I am anticipating a trip to India for Holi 2019, with our polyglot guest Sweda from episode 7 who hails from Hyderabad. She might have been joking about going together, but I wasn’t! 😂 Aaaanyway…
An outrageous lunch including a yak cheese salad, on top of Swayambhunath (a.k.a. the Monkey Temple) overlooking Kathmandu in 2014 😍
So it was inevitable that my husband (who has the same level of enthusiasm here) and I seek out the Indian restaurants in Shenzhen, and I have not been disappointed. So far we have been to three: Mama Mia (“part Italian,” but it’s definitely super Indian), and two locations for the Bollywood Cafe. I was completely stoked to have my swanky camera phone at the latter and proceeded to torture Seth by photographing all our food when we were there. I will share those pictures with you now.
dat decor, tho’
He might look apathetic, but he’s mostly just hungry. And definitely not tired of being my model.
We started out with some vegetarian samosas. The ratio of crispy to flaky was perfection. Inside were happy little bursts of spicy flavor and peas.
The sauces weren’t bad, either
Oh yeah and that was served with our favorite drink: masala chai. If you haven’t had masala chai, stop reading this immediately and go get some from your local Indian restaurant. It’s a spicy black tea with hot milk and a little sugar. Ruined Lipton for me. Ok let’s be honest I never liked Lipton.
ommmmmm… get it!?
Then our meal came out. I had lamb masala (obviously), and Seth got a butter chicken curry.
I just love these colors so much 😭
The restaurant also has a little altar to Ganesha in the back (Hindu friends, please don’t hesitate to set me straight on any facts here!), in the area leading up to the western toilets — #win!
Ganesha, Remover of Obstacles. Respectfully, please remove all obstacles that stand between me and Indian food.
At the end, we were offered a wooden bowl of sugar and herbs to cleanse our palettes. This was a new experience for us. It was like after-dinner mints but in a very pure form, and not mint. Maybe saffron? Again, Indian friends — I would love some input. In any case, it definitely cleansed our palettes, and our sinuses! Whew!
So yeah. I don’t usually do restaurant reviews, but thought I’d try out a new thing. I also just really like Indian food and so does my mom, and in honor of Mother’s Day quickly approaching, I thought I’d send a little “torture” her way (her words, not mine). Love you, Mom! 😘
How to get there: The place is on the third level of a building with lots of Chinese things. There are big English letters that say “Bollywood Cafe,” thanks God. (As you can see, I still don’t really understand where I am most of the time. I’ve been here for less than 3 months, OK?) All I really remember is we went to the Guomao metro stop and then followed our GPS to this address: 2055-1 XiLong building , 3rd Flr, , Renmin South Rd, Luohu, Shenzhen, China. They also have a second location near a Walmart in Futian, metro stop Yannan.