Kabob and Grill

107 E. County Line Road
Ardmore, PA 19003
(484) 417-6672
Website

Indian food, in addition to being difficult to photograph, generally falls into two categories: good and great. I rarely have great Indian, but Kabob and Grill is up there. It's located right by Hymie's, and has a small bright storefront.

While it is BYOB, they offer a complimentary beer (Kingfisher) if you feel like it. I had both my Ballast Point Sculpin IPA AND a Kingfisher. When in Rome.

It is a bit more expensive than my usual targeted food spots, no matter the time of day, but for lunch they offer several killer deals around $10. I decided to try the Lamb Kadai (left) and the Chicken Tikka Masala (right).

The lamb is actually a Pakistani dish and came highly recommended by the server. The polite enthusiasm was fantastic, and it was just the right level of attention. Kadai, per the menu, features tender lamb cubes cooked with fresh onion,tomato and chief (chef) special spices. It came out like a lamb stew, and was delicious. Deep, rich flavor from the tomato and spice blend kept me coming back for more.

I mean, who's kidding, why would I put 3 only chunks on my plate? I like to start light. The lamb chunks truly were tender, and melted with each bite.

The Tikka Masala was another winner, with tender chicken in a creamy, spicy yogurt sauce. It boasted the standard orange tint, and the portion was spot on.

Look at this tender chicken. Delicious, flavorful and very clean.

An order of garlic naan came glistening with ghee and was crispy yet pliable. Exactly as it should be.

Look at the layers of flaky dough.

I also sampled the raita, a yogurt based sauce that I generally dip my naan in and can help cool down anything that brought too much heat. Luckily the mains here were well balanced with just enough heat to get the sweat started, but not enough to burn you. At lunch it is a steal, for dinner you will not be disappointed.

Imli Indian Kitchen

769 E Passyunk Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19147
(267) 858-4277
Website

A recent invite to Imli on Passyunk meant a dinner out with some local food writers, and a chance to eat somewhere I haven't been. The result was some of the best Indian food I have eaten in the city, and putting some faces to names of the Philly food scene.

Imli greets you with a waft of delicious Indian aromas, and the bright interior is quite inviting. As a bonus, they are BYOB, so you can match some big wines with big flavors.

We were brought out the samosas first, these were large, deeply fried and packed with flavorful curried potato, peas, and served with mint tamarind sauce.

The butter naan was another crowd-pleaser. Nicely browned, and the perfect vessel to scoop up the remnants of the various sauces.

The rashmi kebab presented charred chunks of chicken with sugar threads on top for effect. Served on romaine with red onion, this dish was visually appealing, and interesting, but it was lacking any discernible flavor profile.

The chicken Seekah kebab packed more memorable flavors, including I believe coriander, and garam masla. The textures were nice on this minced tandoori dish, with tender meat and crunchy specks for contrast. It was a sort of chicken sausage, but not really.

Kalmi kebabs were yet another tandoori favorite, with tender chicken thighs.

The baingan bhurta, an eggplant dish stewed with tomatoes, offered a rich repository for wayward naan.

My favorite dish of the bunch was probably the shrimp aachri, cooked in  rich spices and loaded with snappy acidity.

Lamb korma was right up there, though it did not photograph quite as well. If it isn't apparent by now, I got to taste just about all of it. Pure sensory overload.

Let's be honest, there isn't much Indian food that photographs well; it's too bad most dishes look like a thick, monochrome soupy blob. However, looks can be deceiving and the flavors here at Imli really surprised me.

Chicken tikka masala had the smooth consistency that makes it an intro to Indian food winner. The rich gravy perfectly suited the tender chicken morsels.

Basically, you will be hard pressed to not have a good time at this place, no matter what some of the finicky reviewers may say. I really loved the food, and would put it above Tiffin based on my experiences that night. As always, your mileage may vary.

Spice End

2004 Chestnut St.
Philadelphia, PA ‎19103
(267) 639-9405
Website

Remember JoJo Place? Neither do I. That doesn't matter though, because it's no longer a Chinese food restaurant - it's now housing an Indian street-food establishment that serves up kati rolls.

Spice End is trying for a Bollywood glamour feel, but at the end of the day, it's just a fast food joint.

The menu is basic, with a few standard Indian dishes served in roll form. With an offer of $1 off any 2 rolls, I couldn't possibly try just one. Not to mention the fact that the prices are already very affordable.

Here's a little history lesson: kati rolls originated in Calcutta - the original form was a a kati kabab enclosed in a paratha (whatever that means), but today pretty much any filling rolled in Indian flat bread is known as a kati roll. Thank you Wikipedia.

They come with some sort of bland, tangy yogurt sauce, as well as your standard red chili, Sriracha-style hot sauce. Obviously you're supposed to blend them together for maximum dippability.

The rolls themselves are pretty sizable, one would definitely do the trick if you're in the market for a light-ish lunch. The flatbread was charred nicely, as one expects of a quality naan.

This is the aloo (potato) paneer (cheese) application.

It was said to come with 'spicy potatoes' but there wasn't much flavor in here at all. Sure, there was a mild curry tinge, but it was really only there in appearance - aka color.

The stand out was definitely the red onion. They may have had a light pickle, but I couldn't really tell. This thing was D-R-Y. I would have needed 1.5 of the bland yogurt sauce containers in order to cover just this one, but I had to ration this one container, considering I had a whole other roll to go.

Next up was the achari chicken roll, "marinated chicken with a hint of pickle." Now, when they say "hint" they really mean it to the smallest degree. There wasn't any pickle flavor here, save for those same red onions again. I don't know what the green stuff was doing, it added the tiniest bit of moisture and maybe a hint of mild cilantro?

This was another flavorless, dry roll. The flatbread was good, but all in all, the fillings fell very short.

Unfortunately for them, the Spice must have End-ed before they arrived on the scene.

Kabobeesh

4201 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
(215) 386-8081
Website

If you like Middle Eastern food, you can do a lot worse than ending up in West Philly. I wanted to try Kabobeesh, but it is one of those places I would see, think about, and then forget to make time to visit. I finally closed that loop, and made it over to see what this diner-turned-ethnic grill had to offer.

This place is popular with taxi drivers, for both eating, and socializing. Don't be surprised if you see them sitting at a table, shooting the breeze, and watching the news for the duration of your visit.

The ordering process is broken into two components. You can order from the hot buffet, or go with a grilled to order protein out of the side cooler. Made to order meats are accompanied by your choice of 2 vegetable sides. Not a bad way to go.

See below for some of the meat choices.

I decided to try a Resham beef platter, with chickpeas and mixed veggies (at the owner's suggestion) on the side. The bread is fantastic, hot, cooked to order, and a perfect vessel for breaking off morsels of meat or sopping up flavorful sides.

The beef, while still being slightly chewy, was bursting with flavor, and housed the perfect amount of char on the outside, making it an authentic meat-on-a-stick delight.

The chickpeas were perfectly rich and flavored with a variety of spices that blended well, with a bit of a kick. I could eat these all day.

The mixed vegetables were also delicious, with a similar spice laden kick.

This naan was so addictive. I ripped it apart like a civilized savage, piece by piece, with each torn fragment being engulfed in the flavorful dipping components.

I could not skip the chicken kebob roll, as my favorite thing in the world is anything in sandwich form. This was my favorite part of the meal. The spicy green cilantro sauce on the side was fantastic. The plastic container it came in was licked clean.

The chicken was flavored tandoori style, and came with a variety of ingredients, including various chopped veggies all wrapped in a char-grilled naan/pita.

This is what a wrap should look like. Chunks of tender, well seasoned, slightly charred chicken surrounded with, but not overwhelmed by, a cast of supporting stars. Green sauce, nice bread, smoky grilled flavor, perfection.

This place was originally an old diner, probably some mediocre, drab American place. Anyone have any idea what it was called?

Also, the owner alone is worth the trip. He is an enthusiastic, good natured, and funny guy. He had no problem posing for a picture.

Bottom line, you will be hard pressed to find a better wrap in the city. Don't shy away from the platters, and experiment with some of the different combos. They also have daily specials in the hot bar, so feel free to order on a whim.