Cafe Tandoor
While this may not have been the BEST Indian cuisine I’ve ever had, the experience was monumental. Let me explain – Of all the different ethnic foods that are out there, Indian was always one that Mr. Z swore he didn’t like. There was a certain “taste” (seasoning) in almost every dish that he simply didn’t care for; so why should he subject himself to being forced into eating something he KNEW he wasn’t going to like, right? WRONG!!! So one day we happened to see a piece on TV featuring Café Tandoor and this wonderful looking salmon dish they are famous for and, being an avid salmon-eater, he casually remarked…”wow, that looks awesome, even I would eat that”. Well that was all it took. But in order for this to be well-received, it couldn’t be just ANY Indian Restaurant; it had to be that one!!!
So this Tuesday night we drove out to the Westlake location (they also have places in Aurora and University Heights) and the closer we got, the more nervous I became. I SO wanted this to be a good experience for him since it could potentially open up all kinds of other possibilities. We walked into a nearly empty restaurant, so no trouble finding a seat. The wait staff was very nice and since they were so empty, the service was excellent. Now the backstory here is that I had gotten their menu off of their website, printed it and pre-selected what we were going to order. I didn’t want to take a chance that he’d look TOO closely at anything and get cold feel. While we were still looking over the menu (he insisted), I ordered the Shrimp Pakora and Meat Samosas for appetizers. He loved the Shrimp Pakora (basically fried shrimp but the secret was the breading) but did not care for the ‘flavor’ of the samosas (I did)! The funniest thing was that after all the hoopla over the salmon, he ended up ordering the Tandoori Prawns instead – go figure! I chose my usual Chicken Tikka Masala. After all that, he didn’t care for the prawns – there was an odd ‘taste’ to them and to his credit, I didn’t care for them either. I can’t put my finger on what it was, but definitely not something I’d ever order again. My masala though….he couldn’t get enough of it. Thankfully there was more than enough to share (especially after the appetizers). I have to say though, I’ve had it in two other restaurants and this may have been my least favorite. It just came across as somewhat bland (and maybe that was exactly what he liked about it).
In any case, he said that he be willing to try ‘different Indian restaurants” if I wanted, as long as he didn’t have to eat anything with curry! Overall, this was a huge milestone and I’m thrilled we went; but I doubt I’d be excited about going back to this particular restaurant any time soon. It wasn’t BAD, it just wasn’t as good as I’d hoped.
Café Tandoor is located at 30030 Detroit Road, Westlake, OH.
(440) 835-2882
http://www.allmenus.com/oh/aurora/185312-cafe-tandoor/menu/