Upscale Indian Food at Indika in Houston

As Houston Restaurant Weeks (HRW) is drawing to a close, I thought I'd share my dinner at Indika, one of Houston's top Indian restaurants. Besides the obvious charitable benefit of HRW, I like to use this time to try new restaurants I might not ordinarily visit. This year in particular, I was intent on trying new restaurants from the Houston Chronicle Top 100 Restaurant list.

I like to tell everyone that after planning a wedding, I was left with so much spare time to kill. What time I had used to browse numerous wedding blogs and vendor pages, I now had open. Then I discovered food blogs. Hallelujah, what a find! I turned my attention to both blogs showcasing recipes and those focusing on showing off Houston's great restaurant scene.  For those not familiar with Houston, we have recently been named the most diverse big city in America, overtaking even New York City! This diversity has cultivated an incredible range of restaurants all over town.  Besides the growing number of Houston food bloggers floating around the web, a great source of Houston restaurant reviews comes from our very own Houston Chronicle. In addition to the articles published in our normal daily papers, once a year the Chronicle releases a top 100 list. Last year was the first year I really discovered this list, and oh man did I get excited. My goal for this past year was to try at least half of the restaurants on the list. Somehow, September started creeping up on me, and it is almost time for the new top 100 list to be released. That leaves me with a multitude of restaurants left to try to meet my goal! Thankfully, the entire month of August was HRW, providing me with a chance to try some of the more expensive restaurants I normally avoid.

Last Friday brought me to Indika, number 6 on the top 100 list. To be honest, I have never been a huge fan of Indian food. However, I intended to be as open minded as possible in my quest to eat the best food in Houston. Indika is beautiful inside and out, and as soon as I stepped into the restaurant I was enthralled by the beautiful colors and textures decorating the building. The picture below taken from their website does not do it justice. The room was beautiful!

http://indikausa.com/indikausa/story.htm

Neither my husband Adam nor I were hungry enough to each go with the 3 course HRW menu, so we decided instead to split an appetizer and each order a different entree from their normal menu. We ordered the crab samosas to share, samosas being one of the only Indian food items I am familiar with. I am sorry to tell you, that although the plating was very nice, I dug into my samosa far too fast for a picture. But after a bite or two, it is possible to see the large volume of super fresh lump crab inside of these fried goodies. Yum! 

Then, based on recommendations from our waitress, I ordered the shrimp rangoon, and Adam ordered the lamb chops vindaloo. This time around, I kept my fork down long enough to get pictures.

Both dishes were very tasty (although I did prefer my shrimp to his lamb), and I ended the meal happy with myself for going out of my comfort zone and trying something new. Go me! I can definitely recommend Indika for anyone looking for upscale Indian food, especially for a nice date night or special occasion.

And because I can't leave without adding in a bit of travel inspiration....

Speaking of India, check out this super cool article Adam showed me discussing India's remarkable architecture that is often missed by tourists: stepwells! 

Agrasen ki Baoli, Delhi. Image © Victoria S. Lautman

 "Rudimentary stepwells first appeared in India between the 2nd and 4th centuries A.D... Over the centuries, stepwell construction evolved so that by the 11th century they were astoundingly complex feats of engineering, architecture, and art. " http://www.archdaily.com/395363/india-s-forgotten-stepwells/




Until next time, happy wandering!