Location: Nashville, TN
Ambiance: Fine Indian Dining, Fusion Indian decor, Family Dining
Price Range: Moderately Expensive
Seat Availability: Extremely Difficult
Parking: Street parking
Metro accessible: No
Website: https://chauhannashville.com/
Worth it? YES
I flew from Washington, DC to Nashville, TN for a long weekend. After 2 days of fun and dining out, I was surely craving Indian food, and luckily, I had made reservations at Chauhan's a few weeks before flying to Nashville and that paid off.
Ms. Chauhan is originally from India, has studied culinary in India and in the United States, worked at a bunch of restaurants and decided to open her first restaurant in Nashville, TN. She shuffles between NYC and Nashville as she is also a part of the judge's team on Iron Chef.
Finding a reservation at the restaurant was extremely difficult. The place was packed even at 8:30 pm reservation, partly because it is a small restaurant with not a ton of tables available.
The service was a bit delayed, there was a delay in seating me and a bit of a delay in someone attending to me. Not a big deal.
The menu is a fusion of southern American food as found in Nashville and elsewhere, and Indian food. The menu is eye-catching and interesting, and I must say, that she designed the menu really well. However, I went for a traditional Indian option.
I ordered the Indian Tiffin which comes with one protein and curry, three sides (poppadums, rice, and naan), and a side of cabbage, yogurt raita, and lentils. The tiffin (Indian lunch box) is a cute design and I adored the fact that parts of my meal were brought into this tiffin. The quantity was huge, and it would have easily been enough for more than one person but not two, so it is somewhere in between.
The plain white basmati rice had a couple of lumps, which could have been easily removed. The chicken curry was a bit spicy and was not explained to me what exactly it was. Maybe the waiter did not know. The cabbage, although very good, was spicy, and I was given a lot of quantity of cabbage, and the same with lentils, it was quite spicy as well. I understand it is the south, and I also am Indian, so I should be able to take a good amount of heat, but here it felt it was a bit too much.
There was no garnish on any of the food elements, which was weird. Lack of attention to detail. I also ordered a Tamarind Soda, which is a Mexican drink, I learned later. The only thing that the soda did not have was Tamarind in it...LOL, I drank it anyway. The straw was short and it kept getting submerged into the bottle, again, attention to detail.
My bill was $36 including tax and tip and soda and the main meal, which is not bad. However, I did feel that the hype was not worth it that much, but would I go there again? Absolutely!
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