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January 2007
All around town, a generation of Indian chefs is busily reworking a spice-stoked, family-style cuisine meant for sharing into something fanciful and light and serving it up in cocktail-fueled settings. Amid this mania for the new, it's easy to lose sight of a restaurant that's as sexy as pantsuit, has no cocktail menu, is awash in browns, golds, and taupes - and serves up some of the best Indian cookinf in the region.
Sudhir Seth, the owner and executive cook - he used to man the stoves at Heritage India & Bombay Club - eschews dramatic plating, isn't interested in the street food that's the rage among his compatriots, and has so far resisted any attempt to mash up East with West. The innovation here is intriguing - a menu that doesn't limit itself to northern or southern Indian cooking, as tends to be the norm, but roams freely to include north, south, east, and west.
The formality of the dining room is matched by that of the kitchen crew, which invests the time required to properly toast its spices, blister its vegetables, roast its gravies. The result? Cooking of depth and distinction. Here you encounter dishes you think you're familiar with as if for the first time - meats from the tandoor emerge fork-tender and uniformly succulent; the lush, elegant Butter Chicken is so seamlessly integrated that you're hard put to separate meat from gravy; the dal is rich, complex, and smooth; and the pickles are eye-openers, as complex and intricately flavored as any curry on the menu.
Moderate; entrees $ 9.95 to $ 23.95
January 2006
THE SCENE. Families and couples from India, Bethesda, and elsewhere switch off their cell phones and hush their voices at this latticed, chandeliered dining room presided over by gentlemanly owner Sudhir Seth.
WHAT YOU'LL LOVE. Seth, who spent years cooking at Heritage India, has crafted a menu all his own, pulling in dishes from across his native India. Sure, you'll find a standout chicken tikka masala, but it's worth branching out to the warming casseroles from the North, biryanis and curries from the South, and seafood and vegetables from the East and West. And the kitchen has a way with the tandoor oven - even seafood comes out soft and succulent.
WHAT YOU WON'T Impersonal, somewhat stiff service.
BEST DISHES. A cold appetizer of crab with masala spices; sev-murmura chat, a crisp salad of puffed rice, tamarind and yogurt; kamal-kakri masala, a velvety stew of peas and lotus stem; tandoori scallops and chicken; garlic and cilantro naan; sliced mango with nutmeg yogurt
Moderate; entrees $ 10.95 to $23.95
April 2005
Good Indian Cooking in a Pretty Bethesda Setting
In the fickle restaurant world there are neighborhood stars that owe much to location. Then there are destination places, ones worth a trek. Passage to India is both.
Carved wooden doors and enameled window panels that bring to mind the intricacy of cloisonné make for a dining room that's exotic enough for a lovers' tête-à-tête and posh enough for a powwow of suits.
Chef/owner Sudhir Seth, once part of the Heritage India group, has struck out on his own with the expertly rendered classic and nouveau dishes on the region-by-region menu.
Start with tender ringlets of calamari stir-fried with Indian spices, lemon, and coconut. Or nip into a heap of jumbo lump crab delicately seasoned with herbs and onions. Both are testament to the wisdom of restraint. Sev-Murmura Chat, a toss of puffed rice, tamarind, mint, and a soupçon of yogurt is one of the best renditions around, the crunchy, orzo-size puffs enlivened with cilantro and dates. The similar Samosa Chaat uses yogurt, chickpeas, and sour-sweet tamarind to good effect.
Seekh kebab is as complex as I've had anywhere, and despite its odd fast-foody name, Cheesy Chicken Kebab is subtle and elegant: ground chicken, sharp cheddar, nutmeg, and jalapeño balled into a fritter. The vegetable fritter platter would be better off with more cauliflower and less spinach and potato. Tandoori scallops seem out of place as a starter--I'd order them as a smallish entrée--but they are delicious proof that seafood cooked in the tandoor need not be as dry as the Gobi.
Vegetables are among the standouts on this menu, making Passage to India vegetarians' nirvana. Kamal-Kakri Masala, a marvelous northern Indian casserole of peas and the distinctive tuber known as lotus root, delivers a jolt of heat with its curry sauce. Panchphorner Parmal Shaak is a lighter affair of fragrant seeds and crunchy baby squash that look like cornichons and taste a bit like okra. Palak Makai is a winning variation on the famliar puréed spinach dish palak paneer, made with corn instead of cheese. Baby eggplants in sesame-and-peanut gravy will have everyone at the table vying for the last spoonful.
Meat and seafood aren't given short shrift either. The northern Indian bone-in tandoori chicken is the most succulent I've had in a long time. Same goes for another northern Indian dish, chicken makhni, commonly known as Butter Chicken, in creamy tomato sauce. Western India also has its moments: a curry of fish--tilapia on the night we had it--pumped up with coconut, coriander, and sauce, and two Parsi dishes-- lamb with apricots and chicken in fiery cilantro paste.
Like the scallops, shrimp is treated with respect, be it prawns in a curry of fenugreek and tamarind or in the unusual eastern Indian malai chingri, fragrant with coconut, cloves, ginger, and cinnamon.
Cooking flatbreads in the tandoor can be tricky, but here they arrive crisp and hot. Try the wonderful garlic-and-cilantro naan and a stuffed kulcha and if you're in an adventurous mood, Missi Roti, an unusual bread made from chickpea flour.
Though the restaurant has a respectable wine list, Taj Mahal beer or a cool mango lassi are the drinks of choice.
Desserts are as refined as the rest: There's dense pistachio Indian ice cream, shredded carrot halwa, a creamy apricot-studded pudding, and an offbeat bread pudding that has the look of nut-brown French toast, baked in reduced milk to cut the lingering sweetness.
Atmosphere: Elegant and lush.
Food: Beautifully done classics plus a handful of rarely seen dishes and house creations. The menu is divided into regional plates.
Service: Helpful though sluggish at times.
Price: Lunch specials, $6.95 to $9.95; dinner main courses, $8.95 to $18.95. Dinner for two: around $60.
Value: Good.
Bottom line: You're lucky if you're local, but it's worth traveling here if you're not. Natives of India seek out this restaurant for some of the specialities.
— Cynthia Hacinli
- Monica Bhide
May 2004
Open daily for Lunch and Dinner
From "Best Indian Restaurants", May 2004
This attractive restaurant, decorated with antique maps of the Indian subcontinent, is a great place to order dishes, you have never tried before. You can get a sampling of the best from the preplanned platters which offer well-thought-meals. The Nawabi Khazana features kababs of fish, chicken and lamb; chicken cooked in sesame and poppy seeds
(Dum Ka Murgh); lamb simmered in yogurt(Yakhni Gosht); and a rich rice pudding for dessert.
The vegetarian Begumi Khazana features vegetable fritters, crisp potatoes in a tangy dressing, mixed vegetable curries, Indian cheese in a velvety tomato sauce(Paneer Makhni), and a sweet rice pudding. Both platters include saffron rice, delicious house lentils and a side salad. Owner and Chef Sudhir Seth’s specialties include creamy spinach and corn(Palak Makai), and an inspired chicken in butter tomato sauce(Murg Makhni).
- Monica Bhide
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