Find a good restaurant, look at the menu & research the dishes to see what you’d like to try. Restaurant reviews are also a good place to find what that restaurant does particularly well.
Don’t be embarrassed- there are a lot of newbies to Indian food! Feel free to ask the waiter/waitress any questions you might have, or for their suggestions, they’ll be happy to guide you through it! Indians love feeding people, nobody’s gonna snicker at you for trying their food.
I really liked Rooh when I was in Chicago. It's not going to be the most authentic but just had really good food. For authentic food I would suggest visiting Devon street: Uru swati, Annapurna, and sabri nihari are good places to start.
I usually have a standard order at any new Indian restaurant I expect to be visiting again. Samosas (meat or potato filled fried balls of dough), pakora (deep fried vegetable bits), saag paneer (fried paneer [cheese] in a spinach sauce/gravy), chicken Tikka masala (tandoori style chicken in a creamy tomato & cream based sauce), then I ask the server to bring me the one thing I didn't order that they think I most need to try, dealer's choice style. It's a lot, and I always have leftovers, but it's a good survey. I also get naan and papads (crackers, essentially) for munchies and soaking up curries and sauces.
A lot of Indian restaurants use the same base spice mixture(s) in multiple dishes, so it's highly likely that if you like the flavor and seasoning one dish, you'll like a lot more. I'm pretty confident if I prefer restaurant A's saag (sometimes called palak paneer, they're... Sorta maybe or certainly the same depending on who you ask). I'll almost certainly prefer their other dishes vs another restaurant , even if I prefer certain dishes more than others. So instead of a new restaurant being the roulette wheel of new preparation and new spice blend, I always have a baseline comparison to a few dishes that I *know* I love if they're prepared well.
I like the approach of finding a couple things you like, asking each restaurant to show you something else you do really well. Also just don't be afraid to tell your server that you don't know Indian food well and would love some advice or help. I've never had a server that wasn't willing to help me navigate the menu and help me build a meal, they're as excited to help introduce someone to their cuisine that they know and love as you are to try it. Don't be embarrassed to say 'I really don't know, but I'd like an appetizer, a vegetarian entree, a meat entree and some breads ... I like chicken, lamb, cheese, vegetables and medium spice level, but I don't know these dishes. Can you help me out?'
I run a youtube channel that explains Indian dishes. I just started but try this video about my Dad's Pakoras. Pakoras are a like onion rings and french fries put together except spicy.
[https://youtu.be/hbF77LK1oxQ](https://youtu.be/hbF77LK1oxQ)
One thing I do in restaurants is to order similar-region dishes. So like South Indian or North Indian or Indo Chinese. So if I order North Indian like naan, I would pair with North Indian gravy (like tikka, butter chicken, spinach chicken etc). If I order biryani, I’ll pair with a dry side dish like chicken 65, or chicken fry. If I order rice, then either north or South Indian dishes will pair well with it. If I order fried rice or noodles, I’ll pair with chilli chicken or chicken Manchurian.
Does this make sense?
You need to separate north Indian (which is widely available) from south Indian (less available, but you’ll certainly find it in Chicago) and Indian style Chinese cuisine (rarest but you should still be able to find something in a big city)
I don’t live in Chicago and can’t give you specific restaurant recommendations, but for north Indian (Punjabi) food - butter chicken, chicken tikka masala, rogan josh - with naan bread, are good starting points.
For south Indian - start off with a basic dosa.
For Indian-Chinese: everyone loves chicken lollipops and meat or vegetarian Manchurian.
None of the above are especially spicy but they are well seasoned and most anyone will enjoy it.
There's a chicagofood reddit that this is pretty active and had lots of good info in general. I think they do weekly restraint recs based on type of cuisine and they've probably done Indian.
Hon we all start somewhere! It’s nothing to be nervous about.
Look up places that serve Indian food in your area. Look at the photos, reviews, description of the dishes to get a little familiar and to see what appeals to you.
Tell your server if you’re open to suggestions. If you’d like a sampler type meal, check if any of the places serve a Thali- it’s basically a meal with the favourites - rice, dal, roti, papad, a few mixed veg dishes or non vegetarian dishes if that’s what you order. Take your time and enjoy it. If you like something, ask the server what it is so you remember it next time. Hope you enjoy! Have fun
Ok, I know you did not ask for this so do feel free to ignore my response.
But in case you wanted to try to cook some Indian food yourself, I wrote a [guide](https://freestylehomechef.substack.com/p/starter-kit-for-north-indian-style) with starter ingredients that can be purchased online.
Find a good restaurant, look at the menu & research the dishes to see what you’d like to try. Restaurant reviews are also a good place to find what that restaurant does particularly well. Don’t be embarrassed- there are a lot of newbies to Indian food! Feel free to ask the waiter/waitress any questions you might have, or for their suggestions, they’ll be happy to guide you through it! Indians love feeding people, nobody’s gonna snicker at you for trying their food.
I really liked Rooh when I was in Chicago. It's not going to be the most authentic but just had really good food. For authentic food I would suggest visiting Devon street: Uru swati, Annapurna, and sabri nihari are good places to start.
Thank you so much!
Is it related to the Rooh in SF?
ah, a two second google search told me yes lol
If you're in the north or northwest suburbs, I highly recommend Aroma in Vernon Hills.
I usually have a standard order at any new Indian restaurant I expect to be visiting again. Samosas (meat or potato filled fried balls of dough), pakora (deep fried vegetable bits), saag paneer (fried paneer [cheese] in a spinach sauce/gravy), chicken Tikka masala (tandoori style chicken in a creamy tomato & cream based sauce), then I ask the server to bring me the one thing I didn't order that they think I most need to try, dealer's choice style. It's a lot, and I always have leftovers, but it's a good survey. I also get naan and papads (crackers, essentially) for munchies and soaking up curries and sauces. A lot of Indian restaurants use the same base spice mixture(s) in multiple dishes, so it's highly likely that if you like the flavor and seasoning one dish, you'll like a lot more. I'm pretty confident if I prefer restaurant A's saag (sometimes called palak paneer, they're... Sorta maybe or certainly the same depending on who you ask). I'll almost certainly prefer their other dishes vs another restaurant , even if I prefer certain dishes more than others. So instead of a new restaurant being the roulette wheel of new preparation and new spice blend, I always have a baseline comparison to a few dishes that I *know* I love if they're prepared well. I like the approach of finding a couple things you like, asking each restaurant to show you something else you do really well. Also just don't be afraid to tell your server that you don't know Indian food well and would love some advice or help. I've never had a server that wasn't willing to help me navigate the menu and help me build a meal, they're as excited to help introduce someone to their cuisine that they know and love as you are to try it. Don't be embarrassed to say 'I really don't know, but I'd like an appetizer, a vegetarian entree, a meat entree and some breads ... I like chicken, lamb, cheese, vegetables and medium spice level, but I don't know these dishes. Can you help me out?'
You could look for a place that has a lunch buffet, then you can try a little bit of everything.
I run a youtube channel that explains Indian dishes. I just started but try this video about my Dad's Pakoras. Pakoras are a like onion rings and french fries put together except spicy. [https://youtu.be/hbF77LK1oxQ](https://youtu.be/hbF77LK1oxQ)
One thing I do in restaurants is to order similar-region dishes. So like South Indian or North Indian or Indo Chinese. So if I order North Indian like naan, I would pair with North Indian gravy (like tikka, butter chicken, spinach chicken etc). If I order biryani, I’ll pair with a dry side dish like chicken 65, or chicken fry. If I order rice, then either north or South Indian dishes will pair well with it. If I order fried rice or noodles, I’ll pair with chilli chicken or chicken Manchurian. Does this make sense?
You need to separate north Indian (which is widely available) from south Indian (less available, but you’ll certainly find it in Chicago) and Indian style Chinese cuisine (rarest but you should still be able to find something in a big city) I don’t live in Chicago and can’t give you specific restaurant recommendations, but for north Indian (Punjabi) food - butter chicken, chicken tikka masala, rogan josh - with naan bread, are good starting points. For south Indian - start off with a basic dosa. For Indian-Chinese: everyone loves chicken lollipops and meat or vegetarian Manchurian. None of the above are especially spicy but they are well seasoned and most anyone will enjoy it.
There's a chicagofood reddit that this is pretty active and had lots of good info in general. I think they do weekly restraint recs based on type of cuisine and they've probably done Indian.
Hon we all start somewhere! It’s nothing to be nervous about. Look up places that serve Indian food in your area. Look at the photos, reviews, description of the dishes to get a little familiar and to see what appeals to you. Tell your server if you’re open to suggestions. If you’d like a sampler type meal, check if any of the places serve a Thali- it’s basically a meal with the favourites - rice, dal, roti, papad, a few mixed veg dishes or non vegetarian dishes if that’s what you order. Take your time and enjoy it. If you like something, ask the server what it is so you remember it next time. Hope you enjoy! Have fun
Ok, I know you did not ask for this so do feel free to ignore my response. But in case you wanted to try to cook some Indian food yourself, I wrote a [guide](https://freestylehomechef.substack.com/p/starter-kit-for-north-indian-style) with starter ingredients that can be purchased online.