Khana Peena Is Better Than Ajanta (nyah nyah)
Written: Dec 26 '02 (Updated Dec 26 '02)
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Pros: Great Indian restaurant with an open air tandoori.
Cons: Zero.
The Bottom Line: Khana Peena has great, authentic Indian food.
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| megugrrrl's Full Review: Khana Peena |
I thought it was pretty gutsy (stupid) when Khana Peena opened up across the street to Berkeley's most popular Indian restaurant, Ajanta. Much to everyone's surprise (and my secret delight), the food at Khana Peena is better. It's less pretentious, more authentic, and well, just better.
Interior
Its summer yellow interior with modern touches is friendly, and while the figurines of Ganesh and other elephants are tacky, Khana Peena is inviting and warm; it's a great place to break naan with friends. The architecture is sleek and diners can watch the moustached tandoori tender slap naan on to the oven wall from any table. Towards the rear are three curtained off rooms for small parties to dine on the floor - kinda like private tatami rooms, but not really.
The Crowd
Very Berekely. A lot of middle-aged liberals and ex-hippies turned accountants. To my left was a whiney British man with an attractive lisp and his frumpy partner who recited everything he liked and didn't like about Khana Peena, and by the end of the meal, the whiney British man and I wanted to strangle him.
Starters
The Khana Peena Special Appetizer comes with small portions of all their appetizers; delicate chicken pakoras (chunks of chicken dipped in a garbanzo bean batter and deep fried), two tall triangular samosas, a small tikki (something resembling a croquet) and a thin wafer of spicy papadum. The appetizers are proabably this place's only weak spot; everything was good, but nothing really impressed me. However, the house-made Imli (tamarind sauce) and Fudina (mint) were divine and we spooned this stuff on everything - we could have drizzled this on newspaper and loved it. The sizes of the appetizers are small, so you won't fill up on these.
Entrees and Specials
Khana Peenah features North Indian cuisine. There are many masalas and palaks to choose from, and the menu does an adequate job of describing all of them. I usually opt for a thali or sampler dinner (non veg, of course) which comes with a meat entree, vegetable entree, dal (lentil "soup"), a cool yogurt raita, and two pieces of naan, fresh from the tandoori.
My thali came with chicken tikka masala - chunks of flavorful 'n moist tandoori chicken in a sensual fenugreek tomato cream sauce. My friends always get on my case for ordering a dish that isn't even from India, but I like it, especially at Khana Peena. It's a silky, flavorful curry with blended hints of cumin, fenugreek, and other sultry Indian spices. The chicken tikka masala here is the best in the East Bay - the kind that you make 'mmmmmmm' sounds at and stomp your feet with happiness after each bite.
The other hit is the lentil dal just simply because it has finely chopped cilantro - many time dal is boring, but here it's not; it's flavorful and earthy. I think their secret is the minced onion. Their saag (creamed spinach) is decent and their raita (yogurt) is heavenly. The menu features a lot of dishes - lamb, vegetarian, briyanis - typical Indian restaurant offerings. Everyone in my party had nothing but wonderful things to say about their food. (Entrees hover around $12 a piece and come with nice, fluffy saffron rice.)
The tandoor oven is the star at Khana Peena and they feature all kinds of meats to skewer and cook in the oven; lobster, mahi-mahi, ground meat kababs, chops, and of course chicken and lamb. They all come resting on a small hill of sizzling onions. Of course all kinds of naan (including Kabuli and even almond/golden raisin) come out of the tandoor as well. Everything pulled out of the oven (ok, with the exception of the weird Kabuli naan) is delectable - meats are moist and wonderfully spiced and the naan is top notch. Two thumbs up.
Service
Professional, friendly, knowledgeable and very quick. Everything came out with impeccable timing, as if we were the only diners in the restaurant. Our server, made appetizer and beer recommendations with that friendly Indian side nod and like a baseball game announcer, introduced each dish with too much excitement.
Dessert 'n Drinks
Indian desserts are like condensed milk - thick and creamy - they're probably made with condensed milk. Again, pretty typical stuff, gulab jamun, kulfi, raismalai... As for Indian drinks - they offer your everyday drink but also have Limca and ThumbsUp (Indian sodas, in the bottles even) as well as salted lassi (milkshake-like yogurt drink). I'll stick to the Kingfisher beer, thank you. They feature a healthy wine list and several types of Indian and domestic beers.
Etc.
Tough treet parking, decent lunch buffet on weekends.
Recommended:
Yes
Kid Friendliness: Yes
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
Best Suited For: Friends
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Epinions.com ID:
megugrrrl
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