It was a cold and dark Monday night when we marched into Sindhu in the Hannah Plaza in East Lansing. The place was about 1/3 full and the décor was questionable, but we were there on a mission: To eat. Not that hard of a mission, really. I had not been to said Indian restaurant in several years, and that was for the lunch buffet, and I really couldn’t remember anything about the restaurant. But my wife liked it, and I decided to trust her this one time.
Since we had our 6-year old daughter who despises spicy food with us (and will tell anyone within earshot about her distaste for it), we both ordered mild entrees. I can speak to the chicken madras, which was excellent. The sauce had a nice, smooth texture (like butter!), the chicken was tender, and the flavor blew me away. As an added bonus, my daughter did not complain once about it being spicy, so the cooks did a great job of keeping my meal, as well as my wife’s chicken korma, mild. I enjoyed the food so much, I pronounce that this is the best Indian food around. And I challenge anyone who disagrees with me to a duel. I also declare that it is king of the Hannah Plaza restaurants, topping the dubs of Menna’s. Oh yes I did. Snap.
But that’s not all! We didn’t stop with our entrees. In fact, we didn’t even start with them. We actually started with veggie pakoras. If you don’t know what they are, think of it as Indian cornbread shaped like hush puppies. They were alright, and I liked them much better with the slightly spicy mint sauce served with them. Also with the hush puppies was a red sauce that looked like BBQ, but definitely wasn’t. Tamarind, perhaps? And look at those huge fried things on the left? Wow, I wish I could remember what those were. But they were good, too, better than the pakoras. Maybe they were called Oompa Loompas? Not quite sure.
Sindhu appetizers
Our other appetizer was naan, and I was quite happy with the pully (as of now, that’s a word), buttery bread-like substance. Who knew something that looks like puffy pita bread could taste so good, and it was perfect was scooping up the sauce from my entrée. Were it not for the naan, much of the sauce in my bowl would have gone to waste.
Beautiful chicken madras
Finally, the booze. We both had glasses of $4 chardonnay. That’s a good deal, people. I don’t know what kind it was, but it was tasty, and went down smooth. Oh, hold on, I need to insert some snooty adjectives to satisfy the wine people. Uh, the wine was electric, like an effervescent brook across my palate with hints of butterscotch and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. And it was $4 a glass.
Would I recommend Sindhu? Only if you like to eat. All the rest of you people, skip it.
Michigan Foodies 