I don’t know about you…but when I shop,  I tend to get hungry.  I need energy to continue with the shopping or sometimes, I like to end my shopping experience with a nice meal.   Wouldn’t it be great to have something really tasty, I thought to myself.  NO, I don’t want to quick slice of pizza from the food court, or the greasy fast food….  There are many restaurants in Tysons that I enjoy…but I feel like trying something different, something satisfying.  As I wander around, I see a table of samples, rice and butter chicken, in the mall.  Hmmm, this is unique marketing I thought.  When I looked, I saw this sign on the table:

Now I know that “Tandoor” is a clay over that is used in Northern India…so I was intrigued.  I asked the people at the table about the restaurant and they kindly pointed me in the right direction.  Wow!  An Indian restaurant in Tysons!  This is what the mall needed, I thought to myself.  I could go for something flavorful and spicy, so I decided to try it out…and I am so glad I did.

It looked bright and inviting.  As I looked inside, I could see there was an open kitchen.  Something about seeing your food being prepared is very appealing.  You know the restaurant is transparent in its preparations.  The interior was modern and well lit.

The bar also looked quite attractive and modern.

Appetizers

After all the shopping, I felt like having something savory..so I ordered the CRISPY KALE & PALAK which is fried spinach, kale, savory paneer, crisp Asian pear, tangy tamarind yogurt sauce.  What a great choice!  It was fantastic.  I had a friend with me and we decided that we would also try the SMASHED AVOCADO which was chunky avocado, red onions, lime, cumin, tomato chutney, chili chips.  The waiter was very kind and told us which the most popular items were.  I also ordered the MANGO LAASI.  In other restaurants, all you can taste is mango pulp in the lassi…but this was different..it wasn’t so sweet and I could taste the mango flavor.  The best thing was, the ice was served in a separate glass, so the lassi didn’t get diluted at any point.  Usually, it is so sweet that I save half for dessert…not this time though, it was finished with the appetizers.

Main Course

I always order Daal (lentils) when I have Indian Cuisine at restaurants…just because it always tastes better than when I cook it at home.  It was creatively called Mom’s Dal Mahkani …because after all, who doesn’t like mom’s cooking!  I also ordered SHAHI PANEER which is mild/ fresh Indian cottage cheese in a rich creamy tomato gravy.  When prepared at some restaurants, it can taste almost like a pasta sauce..but not this one, this was spiced wonderfully and the paneer was ohhh so tender.  I ordered a Garlic Naan which was cooked to perfection in the tandoor. A nice touch at this restaurant is that rice is served with the meal and they also refill it for you at no charge.  This is a refreshing change as most restaurants don’t offer this.

All in all, I recommend you try out this find in Tysons Corner.  Now, there are some that tried it out when it first opened…give American Tandoor another shot…they have been learning and improving.

Visit their website by clicking HERE