I usually try to separate any philosophical issues from my restaurant meals because, for the most part, I’m just happy to be eating. But there’s one term that, no matter how hard I try, I just can’t seem to get past: Ethnic food.
This, of course, is the catch-all employed to describe any cuisine from a non-Caucasian or non-English-speaking country. And as a result, it ends up grouping such disparate culinary traditions as, say, Thai, Indian, Ethiopian, and Senegalese all together, regardless of their many differences and the vast distances that separate them.
Thank you, Rudyard Kipling.
So when Ms. M. and I go out for Indian food, we generally go alone. There are a number of assumptions that people tend to make about so-called “ethnic food,” and none of these cuisines suffers from as much misunderstanding as does Indian. Frankly, if one more friend tells me that he “doesn’t like curry,” there’s a good chance I’ll get violent.
Which brings us to the issue of Karma, the beating heart of all things delicious and sub-Continental in Old City. There is, indeed, something different about this place, especially in the context of many of the other so-called “ethnic” restaurants in the city. It’s decorated with more of an eye toward aesthetics than cultural stereotypes – all warm ochres and tans and hand-painted murals – and (the horror! the horror!) its prices are directly in line with the quality of the food, which is to say a bit higher.
Because of this, Ms. M. and I often spend $100 or more for dinner there. But with a little planning and an eye towards the bottom line, we came in well under our weekly goal.
We began with the aloo papri chat ($5.50) a sort of Indian nachos grande. Lentil dumplings (the “nachos”) were topped with potatoes, chick peas, and a sweet-hot chutney that brought the whole thing to life. Ms. M. had to put the kibosh on my gorging and remind me that I am, in fact, a “little man” who could very well explode like one of the characters from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory if I didn’t save room.
And both of our entrees were wonderful. The lamb chettinad ($16.95), a flavorful, just-spicy-enough dish of moist chunks of lamb cooked with ground Indian spices, chili, and roasted coconuts, was deeply flavored and spiced just aggressively enough that my tongue prickled from the heat.
The shrimp maharaja ($18.95), huge sautéed shrimp in a creamy, mildly spicy sauce, were moist, tender, and more carefully cooked than many I’ve had in far fancier restaurants lately. In fact, both dishes were so good that we proceeded to sop up much of the remaining sauce with the wedges of lasooni, or garlic-flavored, naan ($3.75) we had ordered.
We ended our meal with gulab jamun, which are essentially Indian donuts in syrup, but, as with everything else here, so much more flavorful and elegant than that. They took the last spicy edge off our palates and ended the meal perfectly.
The whole evening came to a grand total of $68.98, a heck of a bargain no matter how you categorize it. Hopefully, just not “ethnic.”
Karma, 114 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, 215.925.1444; www.thekarmarestaurant.com
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AroundPhilly Staff
