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Legend of India

There's a new Indian Restaurant in town along Jupiter Street called Legend of India. It is marketed as a Fine Dining Restaurant with a mini-bar inside, flat screen TVs showcasing Bollywood movies, and a mini-Indian dessert sari-sari store. We loved the sauce-y dishes matched with either the naan or basmati rice. I was impressed with the extensive line of Indian desserts that you can buy for take-out.

How authentic is Indian by Nature?

I won't claim to be an Indian expert so I'm asking foodies out there who are an expert on Indian food to share with us if Indian by Nature (IBN) is really hard core Indian food? IBN is the latest Indian place in the second floor of Jupiter Place.

I was not really blown away with the food, and maybe that is a good sign. Some people argue that the Indian restaurants in Manila serve Filipino version of Indian cuisine. (Except probably for Spices in Manila Peninsula). So maybe, we are just not familiar with what "full-on" Indian food really taste like -- specially, for people like me who have not been to India. The Filipino waiters were also not very helpful and knowledgeable about the food served in IBN.

Swagat - The Best Indian Food That Filipinos Would Love

As you enter Swagat, it felt like entering into a dining room in a suburban Indian home with Indian decorations and matching indian music to complete the ambiance. How would you know that it is Indian? It felt like it, and Komal with husband Sanjay Khanchandani would make you feel welcome to their home. Swagat means welcome in Hindi.

This place should be called Indian Gourmet because of the fresh and home made ingredients Komal used for the dishes. She makes her own masalas which is "an intricate combination of freshly ground spices and herbs, each combination devised to suit a particular dish." (source: About Swagat). She makes her own yogurt, paneer (cheese) and bakes her own breads. She cooks all the meal herself in Swagat where you can feel how "clean" the food is. Clean in the sense that it is not greasy, the ingredients are not overpowering one another, and you can taste the spices without any unwanted flavorings like MSG.

Swagat deserves the reputation it earned from the foodie community that it is the best authentic Indian Restaurant in Makati today. The best part is, it is affordable with most dishes in the less than P200 range not to mention it is situated at the heart of Legaspi Village in Makati.

If you have not eaten in Swagat, you should try it because it serves the type of Indian food that Filipinos would love.

Taj-aytay

Aidan meets the Taj Buddha.

I must admit that the Taj banners along the national highway was quite cheesy in a sense that it turns people off and makes one wonder if their marketing claims are true. It shows photos of the food branded as "Not Your Usual Tagaytay Food", or "Exotic Vegetarian Food". For me, I was hungry for something new in Tagaytay so the moment I saw it, we decided to check out this less than a month old Indian restaurant in Tagaytay.

Leonard and Grace (hope I did get it right), friends of OAP, were right. The Mutton Biryani and Mutton Masala were the best seller of the house. My mom immediately concluded that most of the food would increase her cholesterol level, mother's knows best! While I liked the flavorful dishes, my wife didn't at this stage of her pregnancy. The place was not ready for prime time since the glass for the railings were not yet complete (they should have installed it because this is for safety of the kids! There were many kids at this time already!) and they have yet to complete the 6 rooms beneath the restaurant. You could see that they had to open up to catch on the Holy Week crowd and there are obvious glitches in the kitchen operation. Try visiting this in a month or two maybe they've stabilized their operations and rooms will be ready for occupancy.

Queens: Best Indian/Fusion Food I Tasted in a Long Time!

Queens, originally uploaded by antondiaz.

When Queens opened along Jupiter St. in Makati, there was a lot of buzz about how great the food and a bit on the pricey side. It has a fine dining atmosphere, that is not intimidating, and perfect for that dinner conversation with friends. I'm glad Vivian and Marge treated the entire barkada to a Sunday Dinner treat at Queens! It was a perfect dinner event for that priceless reunion with friends.