The Spy has investigated many restaurant rumors that float through the Mid-Shore throughout the year, but when we received news that there was a possibility of an Indian restaurant in Cambridge, there was an instinctive reaction to label it “fake news.” Nonetheless, duty called, and we took a field trip last weekend to confirm or deny this existence of a venue for curry and are pleased to report that those reports have turned out to be entirely accurate.
Here are some of our findings:
1). The Indian restaurant goes by the name of Bombay Tadka and is located at 1721 Race Street in Cambridge.
2). The food is excellent and remarkably fresh.
3) Some staples of Indian cuisine are missing from the menu. Regrettably, Naan bread is not to be found along the favorite Tandoori chicken. It was also a disappointment that Tadka has yet to get their wine and beer license, which we hope will be resolved soon.
4) The service was attentive even during a busy night.
5). Like any new restaurant, there were a few hiccups and odd twists to our meal. It is also safe to say that while the curry dishes were outstanding, they seemed remarkably different in taste and with presentation from your traditional curry house.
6) We conclude that Bombay Tadka is the “real deal” and a welcome addition to the Mid-Shore.
For more information about Bombay Tadka please go here
David Foster says
Thanks for providing the review of Bombay Tadka. Having lived in India for 7 years, just before moving to Chestertown, I really miss the cuisine of South Asia and am very pleased to learn of a good Indian restaurant in the vicinity. As to the absence of Naan, which I also like, you should note that Naan is more characteristic of North Indian food. We should also remember that “Indian Food” is an extremely broad category, roughly equivalent in variety to “European Food.” Thus the cuisine of South India can be as different from North India as Greek food is from Swedish.
Edward Plaisance says
I was in Cambridge today and decided to try this restaurant after reading about it. It formerly was an Italian eatery as you will notice from the scenes of Tuscany all around the walls. I spoke with the owner (also the server) and he said that they have been open about 3 months and still have a lot to do, including changing the decor. I focused on the appetizers, which looked to be quite interesting. The owner explained that these were “fusion” items, but the main menu items were in the traditional Indian format…next time I will try something from that list. He said his cooks were also from India.
I had the Manchurian gobi…deep fried cauliflower florets with a sweet chili sauce, which I recognized as the Thai “mae ploy” sauce I have in my pantry…it was a good combo, I thought. Second item was the chicken cilantro…small pieces of mildly spicy chicken fried and then smothered with what I would call a “cilantro pesto”…again very tasty I thought.
I ordered a puri, which was good, but I realized that naan would have been better to eat the appetizers with since puris tend tto be oily…they are fried, of course….since they do not have naan, I asked for some plain rice…a bowl of perfectly cooked basmati rice appeared…I asked the server/owner which brand he uses and he said Royal, which is a brand I have used many times in the past.
I thought the food was very good and will go back to try the non-fusion items.
As I was paying my bill I asked the owner about his background. He said he had gone to hotel/restaurant management school in the UK…not sure how he came to be in Cambridge. Hope he is successful.
The one problem I can observe is that there was only one person serving the whole restaurant. I got there fairly early and was served ahead of other customers…maybe my order was simpler…or maybe because I was by myself…don’t know…but it looked like service was going to be slower for the crowd that appeared.