Come and travel Oklahoma with me.

Posts tagged ‘Indian Food in Oklahoma City’

Food Friday: Tikka Craze

Craving some Pakistani/Indian food? Well I found a small place on North Portland Ave that serves some really good food and it’s not a buffet.

We have been meaning to try Tikka Craze for quite a while, honestly keep forgetting. So one Saturday night, while out taking pictures of historic places, we both remembered and stopped in to try it out. Once again, another case of we should have stopped in earlier. Located in a big shopping center, there is a small dining room and you order at the counter. The girl who took our order was super nice and understanding. The have a big selection on their menu so we decided to try the combo meal with 2 entrees. I got sweet butter chicken and spinach with potato while Big K got grilled chicken tikka also with spinach and potato. The combos come with biryani and rice as well as a warm pita. It didn’t take long for us to get our food. My butter chicken was great, had a lovely sweet taste that I had not experienced before. The spinach with potato was great as well, had a buttery base that enhanced the flavor. The biryani and rice did have a bit of heat to it but nothing overwhelming. The highlight was the pita. So fresh and light, just the right amount of butter melted on top. It truly made the whole dinner. Big K loved everything in his combo. He agreed about the pita. The servings are huge and we both took home leftovers.

Tikka Craze is a really good place for Pakistani/Indian food. It helps if you know what you are getting, if you aren’t familiar with the food for this region I do suggest a buffet to try first. I’m giving them 5 strips of bacon.

Address: 4104 N. Portland Ave., Oklahoma City; 301 S. Bryant Ave., Edmond.

Food Friday: Taj Cuisine of India

It’s always a good idea to step out of your box and try something new, so while driving around looking for something different to eat my husband suggested Taj Cuisine of India. I’ve only tried Indian food once before and liked it, so I was up for trying it again.

We stopped on Saturday night around 5p and the place was empty, but there was plenty to choose from on the buffet. I tried almost everything but only remember my favorites. The two most surprisingly good items they had were the vegetable spring rolls and spinach pakoda. The spring rolls were small but packed lots of flavor in them. Normally vegetable spring rolls just taste bland but these had a flavor that was unique to them. I can’t explain it but they were really good. The spinach pakoda was also a surprise in just how much I liked it. The leaves of spinach are covered in a chickpea flour and fried. It was like eating large spinach chips, crispy but good for you. They also serve onion pakoda, it was more of a flour ball with onion in it. Also good but didn’t excite me like the spinach pakoda. Their lemon rice was really good as well, basmati rice lots of different spices with just a touch of lemon. The chicken biriyani was another favorite, chicken cooked with basmati rice and different herbs. I also tried the chicken tikka masala, chicken in a tomato based sauce. I really tried to sample a bit of everything but I will not eat chicken still on the bone, so there were several chicken dishes I didn’t attempt. I also can’t remember the names of everything I did try, I did my best to remember what I liked best.

The service was great but since they were serving buffet, the employees had to handle all of the food. It is an odd experience to tell someone what you want and have them get it for you. I’m ready for buffets to be able to present food like normal. The only drinks were bottled water, so no soft drinks or anything. Now they were good about making sure you had plenty to drink but it was still odd. The downside was everything was served on styrofoam plates with plastic forks. I wasn’t a big fan of that either.

So overall I will give them 4 strips of bacon for the food. I’ll go back and when I can get my own food, I might up that rating.

Location: 1500 NW 23rd St., Oklahoma City.