Tamarind of London

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For my brother's birthday, which happened to be the same day the world was supposed to end, we went to Tamarind of London. My brother, Ted, and I keep a list of restaurants that we want to try and we use every possible cause to celebrate as a reason to try a new place. Tamarind of London was hailed by Orange Coast as being not as good as its predecessor in London, but still offering the best Indian food in Orange County. To start us off, we ordered the Garlic Naan and the Date Naan. The Date Naan was by far the best thing we ordered there. That naan was stuffed with a date and coconut spread that was almost desert like.

The dishes are all served family style in small pots and you help yourself. We ordered the Mushrooms and Spinach, Smoked Eggplant, Lamb Curry, Butter Chicken, and the Prawn Kebabs. Even though the Lamb Curry was too spicy, it did have a great flavor once I got over how tough and dry the lamb was. Unfortunately, both the Butter Chicken and Smoked Eggplant had bitter aftertastes that I wasn't too fond of. The Prawn Kebabs were pretty standard and considering the price, I really think we deserved more than five prawns. If you ever go to Tamarind of London, order the Mushrooms and Spinach. I don't typically eat vegetables, but this was definitely worth a try.

My brother and I each ordered a Mango Lassi, which was incredibly small for $6 and around the size of a kids meal cup at McDonald's. After the Date Naan, this was the next best thing I ordered. The creaminess of the yogurt really served to balance the heat from the Lamb Curry. They also serve a Passion Fruit Lassi, which my brother and I wanted to try, but they ran out of it that day. What a bummer...

Since all of the portions were a lot smaller than we expected them to be, we ended up ordering some Cheese Naan, which was actually pretty good. Was it the best naan ever? No, but it was good. It was stuffed with a mild, creamy cheese that oozed out of the naan, when you bit into it and it was nice to have a blander dish to offset all the strong flavors of the main dishes.

The most interesting dish, which wasn't really a dish, that we got was the complimentary after dinner mints. They were mint leaves freshly dipped in white chocolate. It was definitely very odd and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. The only recommendation I have for the chefs is less white chocolate please, since the white chocolate was overpoweringly sweet. Overall, Tamarind of London was good, but not amazing. If you want the best Indian food in California, I still suggest heading into Los Angeles. The biggest problem I had with Tamarind of London was the itsy bitsy portions. Considering each main dish averaged around $20, I was expecting a lot more meat or at least to be left mind blown at how good the dish was. The most reasonable dishes there were the naan bread, which came with around four slices each and averaged $4. Also, the service was lacking, considering we had to ask them twice for utensils and had to remind them that we ordered the lassis. So the verdict is, skip Tamarind of London and head on over to either the Ritz or Charlie Palmer, if you're in the mood for high dining.