I have been to Cafe India twice now and just thought the food was OK. They may have a real Indian guy running the show, but my veggie curry was definitely designed for local tastes. Perhaps you should ask for your meal to be more authentic.
And I think the Spice Shop is OK at best. I’ve been there six or seven times and have yet to be impressed. Maybe the meat dishes are better than the veggie ones. 
I have gone to Cafe India three times and have on all occasions been treated really rudely by the tall guy with a mustache, so defintately not a place I recommend
Dragonbones wrote:
Glad to be of service. Let us know what you think of this place. I have always been interested but never tried them. They always exhibit at the IKEA gourmet food show and last year their samples were very good.
Went to the new Tandoor location last night and would highly recommend it. Chunghsiao E. Rd Sec. 4, Lane 170, Alley 6, No.7, almost directly across from Himalaya and Papa Giovanni. They were running a buffet to celebrate their first month opening (which I think ends tonight) with all the usual suspects, but I thought the Dhal, Aloo Ghobi and Tandoori Chicken were especially good. They also have a few big screen tv’s running Bollywood movies and music videos; a lot of fun. The owner, Jeffrey, will be more than happy to show you his collection of Indian/Asian artifacts that he has accumulated throughout his travels. A very friendly place. :bravo:
i’ve never been a tandoor fan but guess i’ll have to try the new locale.
We tried Cafe India for the first time tonight, and the food was delicious – really top notch! The Chicken Tandoori was the best I’ve ever had. We also had an extremely good lamb dish, fabulous vegetable samosas, a so-so cottage cheese - spinach dish, good roti and naan, and good service. Definitely worth the $440 per person (we had a party of 5). We’ll be back! 
As someone who loves Indian food, I would like to share my favourite places…
My nr. 1 is Aaleja. All their dishes are deliciously spicy and great taste, and each has its own specific taste. Cafe India would be my second choice. I think many dishes I had at Cafe India all tend to taste kinda similar; I didn’t find very distinct spice tastes which is what makes Indian food so heavenly. But still, it’s excellent Indian food and their meat is very very nice. Also, they make naan bread fresh in a separate kitchen. Their naan breads sure beat Aaleja’s and they have several varieties of it at Cafe India. (Btw. I have to agree with ratbrain that the tall guy with the mustache is ‘grumpy’). Another place I like to visit is Kunming garden, a simple and friendly place with nice good tasting Indian dishes. I want to mention Out of India as a place I don’t want to go again (their Shida branch at least). I think the taste disappoints a bit, and the meat is not good quality (I felt it’s just like rubber), and for that I feel I paid way too much; for what you get it’s overpriced, no doubt. Lastly, Ali Baba for me is ‘off chart’, I’ve been there 2 years ago and was treated rude, rude, rude…
There are still places I want to try (for example, Tandoor, I’ve heard mention of in this thread; or Himalaya), but the above are the ones I’ve tried and share with u.
P.s. you have to try the ‘pickles’ (mango pickles) that is served in most of above Indian restaurants… it’s a thing I have discovered to be heavenly delicious…!!
Addresses of these places:
Aaleja: 1F, No. 6, Alley 5, Lane 70, Yanji St., Taipei City (near Zhongxiao Dunhua mrt station)
Cafe India: 30, Keqiang Rd., Taipei City (Tianmu) (Mingde mrt station)
Kunming Garden: No. 26, Lane 81, Fuxing N. Rd., Taipei City (Nanjing E. Rd. mrt station)
Out of India: 26, Lane 13, Pucheng St, Taipei City (at Shida night market)
Ali Baba: 2F., 56-58 Nanjing E. Rd., Sec. 2, Taipei City
We went to the HIMALAYA restaurant (at Zhongxiao Dunhua) today.
Well, what should I say… pity. THAT’s a place I ain’t gonna go NO MORE. It was lousy tasting food, we wasted a 600 dollar per person, for dishes that were WAY overpriced. It tasted like crap, LIKE CRAP – I am saying!
We got our food, started eating, but it became clear soon enough: this is a farce. After 20 minutes, dishes not even half finished, we just decided to leave. AND we told them we didn’t like it AT ALL. They still charge 10% service – go figure!!!
HIMALAYA: a cowardly attitude towards the Indian kitchen. The very low end of Indian food in Taipei. Avoid like the plague!!!
(20, Alley 6, Lane 170, Section 4 Zhongxiao E. Rd.)
I love Aaleja. Their weekend lunch buffets are awesome!
Whew! I am still recovering from dinner two nights ago at Aaleja. I love their food, but the rest of my digestive system has a different opinion about Indian food. Oy vey!
Out of India now has a branch in the basement food court of Takashimaya in Tianmu. I had chicken curry, vegetables and yellow rice for only $140NT. Their nan isn’t bad either. They have a pretty good menu including some vegetarian dishes.
By popular demand, the manager at Café India has been fired and is no longer working with us. We’re very happy he’s gone. We have a new more professional manager that will be much friendlier to the customers who will be starting with us Monday, the 23rd of October.
We’re also making several changes to the restaurants decor.
And most importantly starting tomorrow (Sunday) our lunch buffet will be NT 400 (all inclusive - no sales tax) and will include 1 FREE BEER!!!
We will also be issuing discount coupons including long term discount cards.
Cheers!
The Managment
Café India
Went there yesterday evening. Really good food. I will definitely be going again even though it’s on the green (red?) line.
(Buttercup gets confused and disorientated if she ventures more than 100 NT in a taxi away from 101)
[quote=“Stray Dog”]I have been to Cafe India twice now and just thought the food was OK. They may have a real Indian guy running the show, but my veggie curry was definitely designed for local tastes. Perhaps you should ask for your meal to be more authentic.
And I think the Spice Shop is OK at best. I’ve been there six or seven times and have yet to be impressed. Maybe the meat dishes are better than the veggie ones. [/quote]
I have been to the Spice Shop three times since the above post, and I tried some different dishes, and I should say that they were all delicious. I’m vegetarian, and I went for the potato curries (one with cauliflower, one with peas, and one more aloo dish that I ordered by mistake and therefore don’t know what it was).
So, to update my last post: the vegetable curry is OK, but the aloo dishes are excellent, especially the first one on the menu, the potato-and-pea curry.
BTW, I always thought the guy at Cafe India was OK - a little aloof, perhaps, but that just made me feel like I was eating somehere really posh. 
To Stray Dog: have you tried the Daal Makhani (lentil curry) at Cafe India? Excellent veggie Indian nosh. Sounds like I’ll have to give the Spice Shop a try, but for the moment Cafe India tops my list of Taipei curry houses.
To Taffy: I shall try it on your recommendation. Thank you.
Which spice shop are you referring to? the one in Tianmu or the one downtown off Dunhua? They have different menus.
Oh, I didn’t know that.
I go to the one in Tienmu.
-Spice Shop (Gaoxiong city, next to Hanshen dept. store): nice place, nice Indian food, service a bit ‘cold’
-Tandoor (new opened branch at Zhongxiao Dunhua, Taipei City): very nice, recommended.
Still, my personal favourite places are still Aaleja and Cafe India (addresses, see my other post)…
Heh… but so the grumpy boss left Cafe India… LOL
(not that I thought it was that bad)
I’ll have to go there soon anyway, as I haven’t been there quite a while. Also must try above recommended ‘Daal Makhani’. And miss their delicious naan bread … 
Just another thing: found a blog page (in Chinese) about a Aaleja visit, funny, with some cute illustrations (他踢圖畫記事本)…
wretch.cc/blog/tatit&article_id=5429899
directions/addresses please?