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Appetites and Adventures

Cardamom Hill

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If you have been reading for a while, you know that I LOVE Indian flavors.

 

Wednesday night I tried a much-hyped new Indian restaurant in Atlanta, Cardamom Hill (1700 Northside Dr.NW #A6, Atlanta, GA 30318, 404.549.7012).

The owner, Asha Gomez, is locally-famous for her underground supper clubs.  She wanted to share her food with a broader audience, thus Cardamom Hill was born.  I’m sad to have missed her Supper Clubs, but am excited to see where she takes the restaurant.

 

Cardamom Hill menu

 

They don’t have their liquor license yet, but they do keep some beers in the back to share.  Thus, I tasted my first Schiltz. It wasn’t as bad as I had imagined… though that’s not saying a lot.  They did have a Sweetwater IPA in the cooler that the server mercifully graciously brought me after I couldn’t handle anymore Schlitz.

 

 

The food was MUCH better than the beer selection. 🙂  I’m really kidding – it was great of them to offer my friend and I anything at all.

 

We started with a beautifully plated salad of arugula, starfruit, radish, cucumber, and papaya.  It was dressed in a tamarind vinaigrette.  Each item on its own was flavorful and fresh; however, my companion and I both felt it lacked something to pull it together.  I also thought it was slightly over-dressed (normally I ask for dressing on the side – my mistake!).

 

 

Our second app was on the house.  Beef and Potato Croquettes seasoned with ginger, garlic, and green papaya salad.  I nibbled on the potato part of the croquette (trying to stick to the veg thing) and wasn’t blown away.  I loved the (pickled?) ginger and garlic served with it.  I wish that had been used in a salad!

 

 

For my entrée I chose the Vegetable Trio, served with coconut rice.

Part 1 of the trio was Sweet Potato Verka sautéed in coconut oil with mustard seeds, shallots, and curry leaves.  It was absolutely fantastic.  A little oily, but honestly… that just made it better.  Perfectly balanced between the sweetness of the potato and the subtle heat from the spices, I could eat this dish all day every day.

 

 

As good as that was, Part 2 of the trio topped it.  It was a “Seasonal” Thoran, which is listed on the menus as a stir-fry but (as the waiter described) this more accurately identified as a soup.  A phenomenal soup.  The broth was just spiced enough with dried red chillies.  It contained bite-sized pieces of carrot, eggplant, potato, and tomato.  I’m not sure what sorts of other spices were in this, but whoa.  My friend and I agreed it was the best dish of the night.

Dear Asha, Please keep this on as an appetizer soup.

 

Lastly, I had a Beet Pachadi.  3 warm beets layered with housemade yogurt (ask for it to be left off to make this dish vegan) and mustard seeds, topped a curry leaf.  It was also good, just not quite as stand-out as the first 2 items.

 

My friend had the Braised Short Ribs with roasted coconut sauce, served over umpa (like fried polenta, but made from semolina).  It was nice… but I was happy I stuck with the veg.

 

 

We couldn’t pass up a traditional dessert.  I have no idea what this is called, but it was a warm coconut milk soup with toasted coconut, cashew halves, cardamom seeds, ginger, and rice noodles.  It was one of those dishes you keep eating but you’re not entirely sure you love.  The flavors were just so interesting!  We wondered if it would be better (albeit non-traditional) cold?

 

 

If you’re in the Atlanta area, I do recommend trying Cardamom Hill.  The service was solid and it has a lot of potential.  This isn’t the typical curry-laden Indian food many of us are accustomed to.  Dishes from the Southwest Indian state of Kerala are laced with interesting spice blends and not heavy on the heat.  It just enough spice to detect.  You know the balance of flavors much be great if I’m not begging for more heat.

Don’t miss the Vegetable Trio, try the dessert for fun… and do make sure to BYOB.  There’s no corking fee while they await the liquor license.

***

I just realized it’s friday the 13th!  Some people shudder, but 13 is my lucky number and this is my lucky day (knock on wood).

Do you like trying authentic food from different cultures?  Panda Express doesn’t count.

Who’s doing something fun this weekend?

 

Comments

  1. Wow, everything looks so divine! I’ve always wanted to be part of a supper club. Need to get on that. I’m a big fan of authentic food from all different places. If it’s gluten-free I’ll give it a go! Can’t wait to go to India and live with all of their food for 3 weeks!

    • Chefs have these underground supper clubs all over ATL. It’s a really neat trend and a great way to meet interesting people!

      Soooo excited to hear about your India trip. That is going to be an amazing experience.

  2. Sounds like a really interesting restaurant – SO different from the typical Indian dining experience! And I’m not a fan of the Indian rice pudding. The textures just don’t sit well with me!

    And Vishnu’s family is from Kerala! His mom’s food is amazing, especially her dosas!

    • We should go here when you are in ATL next! You’d have loved the veggie trio.

      I’m so envious of all the authentic Indian food you get to eat. 🙂

  4. Whenever my dinner club gets back together (we’ve been on hiatus), I think I’m going to suggest this restaurant when it’s my turn. But…Schiltz?? Too funny.

    • I forgot you did that! Lucky girl. We can for-sure go here when you journey down South. Come noooooow!!!

  6. Love all of the flavors in those dishes. And coconut soup sounds amazing!
    Nothing much going on this weekend… my son has his first baseball tournament ever so excited for that!
    Happy Friday the 13th =) And have a great weekend!

  8. Fun! I really want to get back down to Atlanta to go to all these unique restaurants and “underground” establishments. So jealous!

    I have a friend’s b-day party to attend tonight. He’s 31 on the 13th, and we figured that was a good reason to party.

    • You need to! I’d love to show you around when you make it down here.

      31 on the 13th – love it!

  9. Sounds intriguing and veg-friendly, I’d love to try it sometime. And I’d be completely happy if they just always allowed BYOB with no corking fee – what a great way to save money! 🙂

    I’m so impressed with how well you’ve stuck to your veg goal for the month. Harder, easier, or about what you expected so far?

    • You would have loved it!

      It’s really not been terribly hard. I eat a plant-based diets anyway, but I do get tempted at restaurants. Like last night when I tried a bite of halibut… however, NOT pressuring myself and taking bites when I want them makes it easier. Which makes me a bad vegetarian, but a good clean-eater. 🙂

  11. I adore trying real, authentic food from other cultures. I just never know where to find it. Good thing I know you now! 😀 Glad you enjoyed your meal there! Nothing too fun this weekend, but really, really busy!

  14. Oh yes, being an Indian, I will go all out for these you have shared because this makes up for the common meals we have at home. So mouthwatering at this time when I am suppose to get to bed.

  15. Wow….that looks like an awesome place to eat! I love going to new ethnic restaurants…so much fun! I always say that life is too short to keep eating at the same places…well – I said that in Houston. Here, I knida dont have that choice. 🙂

    13 is your lucky number eh? anything lucky happened to you today so far??

    xoxo from Trinidad

    • I complete agree with your restaurant philosophy!

      Nothing particularly lucky… but it was an excellent day. 🙂

  16. I adore Indian food. I have sense I was a child. In my opinion, and this is the one thing Anthony Bourdain and I agree on, the best Indian food is the vegetarian stuff. See. Indian food, not all but most of it, was invented by vegetarians to be vegetarian. In the past, pre-veggie, I tried many meat dishes. Nothing was ever as good as the vegetarian stuff.

    I’m glad you had fun.

    🙂

  20. We love authentic food, too. Those dishes are so gorgeous! Looks amazing. I’m behind in blog reading thanks to a busy weekend, but got my half done today, yay! 🙂

    • Not really… In GA when a restaurant doesn’t have a liquor license they are allowed to give patron’s alcohol, they just can’t charge.

  22. It all sounds (and looks) so fantastic! If I wasn’t snowed in right now I would totally consider getting on a plane and heading to Atlanta… darn snow.

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