I was going to amend my post to point out Rooh - thanks for beating me to it!
Rooh is the “next level” of Cal-Indian, taking all the innovations of local sourced produce, copious use of fire, and interesting cocktails to present a higher end experience within the indian framework. In Palo Alto, we are lucky enough to also host Ettan, which is in the same direction but with a more highly refined dining room, and greater use of fresh veg.
Wasn’t there another indian on the peninsula, Spice Something, around San Mateo in the same direction? I never got there.
If you’re interested in food, eating somewhere that supports this growing trend of locavore-indian-and-not-the-usual-dishes would be interesting. (And it’s an example of why I pooh pooh this “London has the best indian food” thing. I’ve eaten a lot of indian in london and it’s maybe at the same level as what we have here, it’s not clearly better, fight me).
All Spice. I had takeout during Covid from them once. I think they are a lot less Indian and a lot more Californian. And would be a lot more interesting if they are more Indian.
And just one town over, Aurum, which I lump into the same level as Rooh and Ettan- which is, very nice. And my long way of saying that Rooh can be a good Indian choice for SF and Oakland.
I have not eaten high end Indian in London so I can’t compare e.g. Rooh, Ettan and Aurum against their fancy offerings. My impression (albeit an impression from quite a long time ago) of London Indian is that its ok, but I wouldn’t put it at the same level/ breadth as the Indian along the Sunnyvale-Santa Clara-Milpitas corridor (especially breadth). All the talented Indians are coming here to work these days. And the food follows. I am not aware of any recent and large influx of Indian population in London.
With that said, I got my intro to biryanis at a random Indian joint my friend and I ran into wandering in the winter cold near the O2 Arena. So I still have a soft spot for London Indian.
When lived in England many years ago (and we are only starting to explore the Indian restaurants on the peninsula to better compare) we didn’t live (and ate) in London but cities like Leicester (where we lived) which has a very large Indian population beats everything (beside perhaps high end, creative places like Rooh, Ettan) we had in Indian restaurants anywhere in the US
To add another opinion I went to Yank Sing (Rincon Center location) with a large group for lunch a few weeks ago, and thought it was only OK. Some of the things we ordered were the requisite har gao/siu mai, sticky rice with chicken, turnip cake, cheung fun (shrimp and char siu versions), and the “Peking duck” which is actually just roast duck in wheat buns. There were some good things though - I remember the yi mein was quite good. They still have carts that come around but there is also a QR code menu where you can order larger items direct (and drinks) in a mobile browser.
BTW - I am reminded that Campton Place went high end indian a long time ago and has two michelin stars, while Ettan only has one. Rasa in Burlingame closed with the chef focusing on Saffron. London actually has 5, 4 of which are in W1 where the extreme money is. I’ve been to one of these and thought it was pretty good but not better than the bay area articles - on par tho. When most people say “good indian” they aren’t thinking of the hushed confines of W1.
Maybe one could say in the 00’s that London had this kind of high end indian places before the bay area, but we’ve caught up. I mean, where’s Sundar going to eat? It’s not just that we have some indian money, a large number of our largest companies are run by indian-born.
I agree about Indian food north of London! I have a few data points that London doesn’t have the best indian food in the England (with the possible exception of W1), although not full data, for the same reason that SF has poor indian food compared to where the majority of the indians in the bay area actually live.
There’s also a stylistic difference: if you like UK Indian style, we have different dishes here, and one may pine for, and opine for the supremacy of, those dishes. I think it’s better to consider each as their own style, though, and not be swayed.
I’m a little hot on the topic because I was having drinks a few weeks ago with a well travelled friend who said the London canard, but they live in SF and have never ventured down south for indian, so they simply don’t know what we’ve got between Palo Alto-Los Altos-Sunnyvale. This person spends more time in Pakistan than south of daly city, not qualified. Still a very nice person with good taste generally; I have to let it go. Thanks for listening.
I second Xiao Long Bao on Clement, bustling business. I love the radish puff too. I can only hold one, but if you get the deal for 3, they reheat nicely in the microwave. My daughter likes their xiao long bao, very reasonable.
My favorite splurge for dim sum is Yank Sing, 101 Spear location, near Ferry Building. There I always get har gow, shrimp dumplings.
At home. My impression is that the the top execs in silicon valley don’t really like to be in public restaurants. They got business to talk they talk at home. That’s what the second kitchen at home is for. The splashy one with the $40k European range, is for show and for the exec to make coffee/ chai in. The second one, hidden from view, is where the real cooking takes place by their private chefs.
My mother once saw Zuck at the bar at Flea Street, no one really noticed, and if they did, they weren’t talking.
I was at Vesta last weekend and the manager was there. I wrote a long ch post about vesta, glowing, in their first few weeks, and he has never forgotten it. He says Zuck used to come in fairly frequently, and have them one of the 100k (or was it 150k? whatever) covid grants, which he did for a few other places, according to the press.
There is also the difference between Sundar level, and ‘c suite’. I would agree Sundar and Zuck eat at home these days. But an svp at Cisco or Adobe? You might well be eating out often. You can easily be a billionare (or at least 100M++) in the valley and no one knows you. I say that from experience not that i am one, but i do have at least one friend in that category, and I am certain they are unknown.
i will stand by my assertion that we have a ton of native born Indians with a ton of money who want world quality food, I hope that is unremarkable
We ate a table over from Zuck and his wife, years ago, at Henry’s Hunan on Church street. Also used to see his wife and their cute dog in downtown Palo Alto at various coffee shops. I think things have changed now. So many crazy people out there…
Unfortunately Ajanta changed ownership a few years back and the food suffered. We stopped going there at all. Southbay / Silicon Valley is the only area with any density of good Indian food.
Recently (past year) we have liked:
A2B Indian Vegetarian Restaurant
Bezawada
Anjappar Chettinad
Tirupathi Bhimas
Puranpoli (Maharashtrian Street Snacks)
AappaKadai
I think that Tai Pan in downtown Palo Alto is top tier for the Bay Area, at least for food quality. Equal to Koi Palace in Milpitas (I haven’t been to Daly City in a long time). One downside is that it’s a bit more expensive. I was there a few weeks ago and they had lots of outdoor dining options. Service out there isn’t ideal but they’re doing their best and I’ll give them a pass.
Just checked availability for this Thursday night at a couple of restaurants. Ettan, Evvia and Village pub were already completely booked. Rooh and Tamarine both had space. Now I’m wondering why Ettan is more popular than Rooh. Michelin star spillover?
substantially different style. ettan is fancier (more insta glam room), and more on the cal side of cal-indian. rooh has bolder tastes. The outside tables, on the courtyard, at ettan are extraordinarily pleasant. and, the star.
Yeah, we used to go to Three Seasons back in the day and their outside seating was always great. I grabbed a very early reservation at village pub so may just do that. We’ve had Ettan food (to go) and definitely need to check out Rooh. Menu looks interesting. I guess it’s good that dining scene seems to be doing really well up there.
