Date Night! -- Part 1

This blog is getting to my head a bit.  I fancy myself a bit more important than I really am now.  I make sure I have my phone for the good pics, don't let people TOUCH the food until I have a chance to get the money shot, and spend at least a portion of the meal (okay, all of it?) thinking about what and how to write.  It's so ridiculous!  Oh well... you're still reading it!

Complementary cracker "bread" starter... complete with tamarind, tomato salsa, and mint chutneys

Restaurant name: Chutney's
Food type:  Indian
Category:  Frequent flyer
Location:  Bellevue, WA
Reason for dining out:  Date Night 
Bonus features:  Repeat of a dish I have obsessed about since our last visit
Food ordered:  Naan, Kabuli Chicken, Lamb Coconut Delight, South Indian Masala Halibut, (all at a 2 star spice level), Basmati rice
Items of inspiration: None... though maybe we'll switch out Basmati for our typical Jasmine sometime?  Not likely...
Chance of repeat visit:  Absoultely

Chutney's is Indian food for foodies. You get the classic *smack* of flavor, aroma, spice, and warmth when you walk in with all the swank of a contemporary restaurant.  And something about it just instantly makes me feel at home.

Sort of a fun background story... The Critic introduced me to Indian well before we tied the knot.  The original details are fuzzy (yes, it's been THAT long) but we seem to recall that perhaps his co-workers treated him to a dinner on the town and he was amazed by the flavors.  Very early on in our dating relationship we went to Chutney's on Queen Anne.  And I'm SURE we didn't appreciate it fully.

Kabuli Chicken

Fast forward to our last adventure.  We get this dish which sounds tasty enough... "chicken medallions simmered in our ginger-cumin-tomato sauce and finished with an assorted nut puree".  This Kabuli Chicken arrived and was beautiful and tasted amazing.  At one point, I have a bite that includes this BURST of sweetness.  I tried and tried to identify what on earth that could have been!  Seemed a bit like a grape in texture but the flavor was so so so much sweeter... familiar, but I could not identify it until... wait a minute... that's not... it is???  Yes!  Maraschino cherries!  What?!?!  Who would come up with that?  But surprisingly it wasn't weird at all... it was delicious!  It's like a deep burst of sweetness, like a packed nugget of brown sugar.  Surprisingly addictive!!  And there are only two in the entire dish.  Guess what?  The Critic doesn't like them. Score for me!

So on date night tonight we decide to return to Chutney's.  We go from time to time, but definitely not every week or anything.  The Critic wanted to take me back so we could have that dish again... he remembered how much I loved it.  We also remembered that we didn't just adore the tandoori items, so we searched the menu for other tasty ideas. 

Lamb Coconut Delight

Nearly instantly we both agreed on the Lamb Coconut Delight.  It was also super tasty... thicker and sweeter than I expected with real shredded coconut flakes on the top (I was not expecting that).  This was a tasty curry to scoop up with the Naan or spoon around with the Basmati rice. 

South Indian Masala Halibut

The other dish was definitely one of the most intriguing of the night.  South Indian Masala Halibut.  VERY subtle in flavor, it was surprisingly complex as long as your palate had not been overtaken by the other two rich curries.  I went back and forth, saying I wouldn't get that again to realizing that given a blank canvas, it was actually quite a shining star and the fish was SUPER moist (something we missed in the tandoori mixed seafood grill we had on our previous visit).  Finally we decided that everything was quite the tasty little dish... but our pairing of the 3 didn't quite work.

Overall it was an amazing meal.  Indian food makes for an amazing date night.  Spicy, warm, comforting, and exotic.  And the food was good, too <wink wink>.

Basmati Rice

Naan