I hear theres some authentic and reasonably priced Indian food in India too, as much good as it does me here in Taiwan.
Thatās the higher limit because a meal for 2 costs 2Kā¦it could end up being much less, if the eaters arenāt as voracious as the company I keep! 
[/quote]
We were a group of eight a few weeks ago and it worked out to just over 10k. We were all happily fed.
Just went to Saffron tonight for the first time and was very impressed: 1200NTD for two, for a meal that made me contentedly satiated and my wife stuffed. No booze, all courses vegetarian, and the masala tea + lassi served as drink and dessert, so those factors kept the price down a bit.
Note that theyāre closed for three days at Chinese New Year. Iād tell you which days exactly, but I donāt remember.
The mushroom dish: we had āDudhia Khumbā, described as mushrooms in kadai spices. Is that the one you liked? It was very good.
Wikipedia, for what itās worth, has chicken tikka masalaās origins as debated: both Britain and India claim it, but almost definitely it became popular in Britain, and from there began to appear more often on Indian menus.
A longer article on the issue:
menumagazine.co.uk/book/tikkamasala.html
Not so very long ago, what is now Pakistan was part of India.
There is this principle called āThe four Ps of Marketing: Product, Price, Promotion, and Place.ā
No matter how much you may want to rave about Berkeley, most of us are here in Taiwan and Berkeley isnāt the Place were we want Indian food.
Iām told the very best Indian food in the world is found in London and I fully agree. But thatās as useless here in Taiwan as telling us about Berkeley.
Several years ago, a variation on Indian appeared and became very popular in London; itās called āBalti.ā
Does anyone know what makes that different and if itās come to Taiwan?
[quote=āJoschkaā]Several years ago, a variation on Indian appeared and became very popular in London; itās called āBalti.ā
Does anyone know what makes that different and if itās come to Taiwan?[/quote]
Read previous posts.
I do enjoy the curries at Miramar and 101 and Taipei Bus Station. The little restaurant is in the basement of each of these places in the main food courtā¦
Iāve had some pretty decent curries there, though usually I ask for medium spicy. The soup/salad isnāt much to go for, probably just for the local market, but the other dishes are pretty tasty: Aloo Ghobi, Mutton RoganJosh, ā¦ all much better than that sweet Japanese curry that seems popular here for no apparent reason.
Do you know this place? Try it. A set meal for $220~280 plus drinks.
Kenneth
[quote=āKenTaiwan98ā]I do enjoy the curries at Miramar and 101 and Taipei Bus Station. The little restaurant is in the basement of each of these places in the main food courtā¦
Iāve had some pretty decent curries there, though usually I ask for medium spicy. The soup/salad isnāt much to go for, probably just for the local market, but the other dishes are pretty tasty: Aloo Ghobi, Mutton RoganJosh, ā¦ all much better than that sweet Japanese curry that seems popular here for no apparent reason.
Do you know this place? Try it. A set meal for $220~280 plus drinks.
Kenneth[/quote]
Taj shenme shenme also in 101.
[quote=ādiveaā][quote=āKenTaiwan98ā]I do enjoy the curries at Miramar and 101 and Taipei Bus Station. The little restaurant is in the basement of each of these places in the main food courtā¦
Iāve had some pretty decent curries there, though usually I ask for medium spicy. The soup/salad isnāt much to go for, probably just for the local market, but the other dishes are pretty tasty: Aloo Ghobi, Mutton RoganJosh, ā¦ all much better than that sweet Japanese curry that seems popular here for no apparent reason.
Do you know this place? Try it. A set meal for $220~280 plus drinks.
Kenneth[/quote]
Taj shenme shenme also in 101.[/quote]
That one? Hmm, better than no curry at all. But only just.
The one in the basement of the Mitsukoshi next to Eslite is better. Still not great but better than the chain Ken mentioned, IMO.
[quote=āKenTaiwan98ā]I do enjoy the curries at Miramar and 101 and Taipei Bus Station. The little restaurant is in the basement of each of these places in the main food courtā¦
Iāve had some pretty decent curries there, though usually I ask for medium spicy. The soup/salad isnāt much to go for, probably just for the local market, but the other dishes are pretty tasty: Aloo Ghobi, Mutton RoganJosh, ā¦ all much better than that sweet Japanese curry that seems popular here for no apparent reason.[/quote]
Indian(n?) Palace (their website uses both names!) / å°åŗ¦ēå®
sites.google.com/site/indianpala ā¦ restaurant
I agree with you - I enjoy their curries, naan, and chai, and I think the value is good. (Expect nothing from the soup and salad.) Theyāre certainly the best food court Indian Iāve had in Taiwan, and far superior to any of the Japanese curry thatās usually available. Note the stuff that Iāve liked is NOT the cheap lunch set, but rather the next step up.
Joesox: if you mean the Indian place in the basement of A4 (the Mitsukoshi next to the Xinyi eslite), itās the same chain.
I plan to take the wife out for an Indian meal on saturday evening. I know of a restaurant off Chung Hsaio East Rd area (sec 4) and one or two in the Shi Da area.Would welcome any other recommendations, especially ones that serve Cobra or Kingfisher beer (wishful thinking)!
Kunming in Mungchuan/Fuxing or MamaIndia in Shida.
If you can get a table, go to Saffron. Itās a trek, but itās the best.
Last time I went to Ajela (I got that name wrong but the Zhongxiao sec 4 one around the corner from Forkers near Yenchi st.) they didnāt serve beer, or any alcohol for that matter, however the boss man said we could go to 7-Eleven, buy beer and bring it in. 
The food there is pretty good.
One of the ShiDa ones (I believe there are two) serves dosas, this is in my experience the better of the two, but the other one usually has more people, so by Taiwan measures (the Chiang Kai Shek ReNao Scale, or CKSRN), I am in the minority, but it is my belief that dosas kick ass and I will happily give my hard earned xintaibees to the mafakker servin up dosas, AND I will argue the merits of his/her establishment versus any non-dosa slinging slop shop.
Youāre not referring to Out of India, are you? I was just there the other night, and the taste was completely different from what I remembered from previous visits. I know that because Iāve always ordered the same dishes, and now the food is saltier and some of the spices seem to be missing. We questioned one of the servers and was informed in a hushed tone that they had a change of chefs about a year ago. No wonder, my previous visit was about a year ago. So whereās this other Shida Indian restaurant?
And go there with loaded pockets.
If Iād had any business sense, I wouldāve started a catering business or atleast taken cooking classes for those interested. Wouldāve been a rich bitch today.
Youāre not referring to Out of India, are you? I was just there the other night, and the taste was completely different from what I remembered from previous visits. I know that because Iāve always ordered the same dishes, and now the food is saltier and some of the spices seem to be missing. We questioned one of the servers and was informed in a hushed tone that they had a change of chefs about a year ago. No wonder, my previous visit was about a year ago. So whereās this other Shi-Da Indian restaurant?[/quote]
maybe, its been well over a year since I have been there, and it could be that the quality has dipped. there are two on the same small lane off Shida road, opposite the night market, the lane has a burger joint and a Tibetan place as well.
The Shi-Da dosa place: Exotic Masala House, å°ååøéŖęč”13å··19č / #19 Lane 13 Pucheng Street. As far as I know itās the only place in town with southern Indian food, and is definitely worth visiting for that. I really liked a couple of meals that I had there, then unfortunately went there a month or so after a visit to Kerala - which was a mistake! Best masala dosas (one of the finest dishes in the world) in Taipei, but to the best of my knowledge the only masala dosas in Taipei.
Mind you, I havenāt been there in a couple of years. I need to get back. I hope itās still there.
Aaleja advertises itself as halal, which may be why they donāt serve beer. We went there a couple of weeks ago: the main dishes (saag paneer and, um, vegetables kedai?) and chai were good, the naan had way too much āBoy can I believe thatās not butterā on it. Depending on what youāre looking for in a restaurant, Saffron - in Tianmu - is definitely far classier (and pricier) than Aaleja or either of the Shi-Da places.
[quote=āDeuce Dropperā]
maybe, its been well over a year since I have been there, and it could be that the quality has dipped. there are two on the same small lane off Shi-Da road, opposite the night market, the lane has a burger joint and a Tibetan place as well.[/quote]
Iāve eaten at both the Indian and Tibetan places and I enjoyed the food. But that was about 5 years ago, so things may have changed. If youāre going to eat at such restaurants, the trick is to phone ahead and ask the proprietor what he/sheās having for dinner. Say you want that. And some other food thatās not the normal glop designed for Taiwanese palates. They are usually very accommodating.
I went to Ali Babaās a few years ago and found the food a bit ordinary. However, Iām been there on a few occasions recently as a guest of my Pakistani buddies and the food was superb. As one of my mates said, āThey donāt make us Taiwanese food here, Jimi, they make us real Pakistani foodā.
So, Dougster, dude, where did you end up going?