This story was published in The Weekly, a supplement to The Daily Northwestern.
Bombay Indian Grill, which opened last month at 1728 Sherman Ave., is a mere 0.2 miles from Evanston’s long-standing Indian and Nepalese favorite, Mt. Everest. Luring customers to Bombay was going to take great deals, seriously tasty food and word of mouth. Lucky for hungry (and broke) Northwestern students, Bombay got it right.
Dinner at Bombay is well paced with generous portions, but lunch is their real forte. The packed dining room is a testament to the success of Bombay’s simple lunch menu: authentic, quick Indian favorites with a small price tag. Don’t expect the variety of Mt. Everest, but at Bombay you can find most major Indian and South Asian staples including biryani, saag, tandoori, samosas, daal and masala.
The lunch menu offers different price ranges: $5.99 for most of the vegetarian options, including saag paneer, mutter paneer and mixed vegetable curry; $6.99 for most of the tandoori and chicken options; and $7.99 for the biryanis and some lamb choices. The biryani is served with raita, a cool yogurt sauce, while most of the other lunches are served with naan and vegetable pakoras, which are crunchy deep-fried snacks. Even though they won’t let you substitute it for the naan, order the paratha, a multi-layered bread baked with clarified butter. On a recent trip, my friend and I devoured large portions of lamb biryani, chicken saag, naan and an appetizer of samosa chaat for $20-a pretty solid deal.
For something so quick and cheap, the food is surprisingly authentic and un-greasy. Don’t miss the saag, a spinach-based curry dish served with your choice of meat in a pretty metallic bowl (with handles for easy sharing). Bombay’s biryani is also superior to others I’ve eaten. The basmati rice is well spiced and complimented by crunchy cashews and raita, a yogurt sauce flavored with cumin, coriander and mint to cool it off. Pass on the regular samosas, which were generic and skimpily filled, for the samosa chaat, which are fried dough pockets filled with onions, peas and potatoes and topped with chutney and raita. For about the cost of a Panera combo, Bombay offers a more flavorful change of pace and a solid example of Evanston’s growing ethnic restaurant scene.
