Restaurant Review: Passage to India (Orlando)

Orlando is a much bigger city than Little Rock, so while we were honeymooning, I was excited to be able to take advantage of the some of the instant deals on Groupon. We drove by an Indian restaurant on our first night there, and Graham commented that we should have Indian food one night. Then one day I was browsing through deals on Groupon and found one to Passage of India. It had decent/mixed reviews, was fairly close to our hotel, and I had $10 in Groupon bucks burning a hole in my pocket.

When we arrived, I was a little uneasy. It didn't look like the nicest shopping center, but decided to give it a try. When you get inside, the amount of Indian decor is a little overwhelming, but if you look past the ornate decorations, you'll notice a pretty long row of "best of..." awards the restaurant has been the recipient of.

The lady working the front was on the phone, trying to give directions, but once she was off the phone we were seated quickly. The service was excellent, but we didn't have just one dedicated server. I think about four people ended up waiting on us by the end of the night. But as long as my food is good, and my drink glass stays full, I'm okay with that.

We shared an appetizer to start; the vegetable samosas: "Two flaky pastry parcels of mildly spiced fresh peas and potatoes." They came out with two sauces. The menu doesn't say what the sauces are, and we weren't told what they were, but they we're both quite good. The dark one was sweet. I'm not a fan of sweet & savory, so I didn't use that one. The green one though... delicious. I googled "green sauce" "Indian food" and figured out it was some variation of a cilantro sauce. Whatever it was, it was delicious and if I ever attempt to make Indian food at home, I'll definitely play around with that one!

 

For our entrees, I knew I wanted something with some heat to it. My friend Heather is the one who introduced me to Indian food, so I texted her asking for a recommendation. One of her suggestions was the Chicken Vindaloo. The menu description ("Succulent pieces of chicken marinated in vinegar and spices and cooked in a hot Goan sauce with potatoes") sounded fantastic, so I ordered that. Graham had the Chicken Methi: "Boneless Chicken Cooked in Fenugreek leaves and Mild Spices in curry Sauce." They don't have the description of about half of their dishes on their online menu, but I pulled this from Amruth Indian Cuisine (a local Indian restaurant's website). We also ordered some naan on the side.

The food was a little slow coming out, but it was worth it! Both of our meals were absolutely fantastic. My chicken was so tender, and fell apart with the slightest poke with my fork. The sauce was definitely hot, but not so hot that I didn't enjoy my meal. The naan was perfect. The amount of oil on the second piece we ordered (yes, it was that good!) was glistening with a little too much oil. It didn't taste any different, it just made me feel like the five vacation pounds I gained was just going to turn into ten. Graham's chicken methi wasn't spicy, but it was delicious. While mine was bright red (with the exception of Italian food, I always use the darkness of the red as an indicator of spice), his was dark brown. His didn't look as appealing, but the flavor was awesome. The spices mixed together very well.

If I was an Orlando local, I would definitely return here some other time. The portions were huge, the prices were reasonable, the waitstaff was friendly and attentive, and most importantly, the food was delicious!