Taj Indian Restaurant

Next up, we have an Indian restaurant that I had been wanting to try for a while and was recommended by a good friend: Taj. I finally got a friend from work to go out with me and give it a shot. There are a couple of different locations in the area, but I’m not sure exactly where (there’s one in Bundang, I think). This branch is located across from the post office in Yeongtong on the 2nd floor of a building. If you're in front of Yeongtong Kinex and KFC, walk down the same street toward the post office.

The atmosphere is cozy and quiet with soft lighting and statues placed along the wall. The staff dress in regional attire and speak Korean and English.

The menu consists of your typical selection of curries, daal, and naan that you can get here in Korea. As far as price goes, I’m not sure it’s worth it. Most non-Korean/Chinese/Japanese restaurants tend to be more expensive just simply due to everything needing to be imported; however, Taj is one of the more Indian restaurants that I’ve been to. A main dish (curry or daal) will run you about 15000 won - 18000 won and side of rice is 3000 won. My friend that I went with refused to let me pay (I did get to buy coffee after dinner at least), so I definitely owe him a nice dinner.
The food itself was delicious and good quality, but I have had places just as good at better prices. Two things that I have to try at any Indian restaurant are samosas (Indian dumplings basically) and paleek paneer (a spinach and cheese curry) – I pretty much judge a place on how well I like its samosas. The samosas here appear to be handmade and were a nice size.

The paleek paneer was also quite good with a nice amount of cheese curds – I really have no clue what kind of cheese is in paleek paneer, but I love it.

My friend got one of the daals – daal makhani maybe? He seemed to enjoy it well enough for his first time trying it.

Jungwoo trying to pose for a good picture (he didn't like the first one I took)

The garlic naan was also pretty good and not burnt, which is always a bonus. The chicken curries sounded good, but I tend to avoid chicken curry since I don’t like to break teeth on a random chicken bone: every Indian place I’ve been too tends to leave bits of bone in the chicken they use in chicken curry. So, even though I like them, I tend to not order them.

So, overall, the place was very nice – nice atmosphere and good food. If the prices were lower, I’d go here more often, but since they aren’t, I’ll continue to go to Chakraa by my work.