Tamarind

I had only tried Indian food once before so was eager when a group of us went out to try the cuisine again. My friend did some searching for Indian food near downtown Orlando and found Tamarind, located in Winter Park near the Winter Park Village.

It’s a small restaurant in a K-Mart strip mall, but the food smelled really good. We were presented with lunch menus, which is an abridged version of their dinner menu. The prices were great: about $10-15 per lunch entrée. Our waiter was very nice and explained to us all of the different types of items available.

To start out, we split a couple of samosas. The deep fried pockets were filled with seasoned potatoes and peas and were the perfect start to our lunch. The waiter also brought out a trio of dipping sauces: mango chutney, tamarind and mint. All of them were excellent and very unique.

After the samosas, our waiter brought out two baskets of naan for the four of us. The never-ending naan was so delicious. They were light, fluffy and buttery.

I ordered fish goan, which is a mild coconut-based curry sauce with chunks of tilapia. The fish was very moist, and the curry had a lot of flavor. I enjoyed using the naan to soak up all the excess curry.

Each lunch entrée comes with naan, a big bowl of rice and a variety of sides. One meal could have easily fed two people.

Everyone else’s lunches looked equally delicious.

Everything was really flavorful and all the Indian spices really came through.

The next day, the rice soaked up all the sauce and tasted even better.

During lunch, I learned that tamarind is a fruit. For some reason, I had always thought it was a spice. I’m still a wimp when it comes to spiciness, so I kept my lunch pretty mild. Next time I might try to kick it up a little.

How well do you handle spicy food?