Bollywood Bistro opened up its Great Falls, Va., location about a year ago and has enjoyed steady traffic ever since. The original location is located in Fairfax, Va., yet I have not eaten there and cannot attest to how good its food is.
I’m willing to wager that it’s good, though; just like the food at the Great Falls Bollywood Bistro.
The restaurant has a very “modern” Indian cuisine feel. The plates are square and snappy, the tables are stylish, the decor is pretty neat. The place understands that many folks in this area might be intimidated by Indian cuisine, and they make it accessible to those types. Good on them. Food is delicious other way.
I started off the meal with my favorite bowl of chicken soup that exists:
It’s called Mustard Chicken Soup. It’s chicken soup, but spiced up and with a bunch of cilantro (though an Indian chef might call it coriander leaves) and mustard greens. The soup is peppery. Not spicy. The chicken they use is reddish on the outside, leading me to believe that it is Tandoori chicken. What’s that, you ask? Take a look!
Tandoori chicken is delicious. It has that earthy, spice flavor typical of Indian cuisine and it’s so moist, likely due to the fact that it’s marinated in yogurt. Delicious. It was served with an olive raita (which is a yogurt sauce distantly related to the Mediterranean tzatziki sauce). We ate that in addition to our main course, the Chicken Tikka Masala:
I probably could not accurately describe the flavor of this to you. This specific sauce was akin to Butter Chicken, another Indian dish, but the flavor was a bit deeper and not as tangy. A good thing. That’s how I like Chicken Tikka Masala. But hey, try it for yourself. What’s interesting is that some British folk say that this is the national dish of England. Some sources claim that this dish was made in an Indian restaurant in the United Kingdom. So, what ethnicity is the dish? It’s unclear. But it’s another example of cuisines influencing one another due to past international relations.
We ate our food with basmati rice, of course, featured below:
If you like Indian food and you’re in Great Falls, Bollywood Bistro is worth trying out!
Peripheral Chew 