Laura Zastrow
Dishes like Fish Apollo represent the growing presence of regional Indian cuisines on Madison menus.
There’s just something about strip-mall Indian joints.
Hidden gems, tucked between hair salons and fitness studios, serve family recipes brought to the U.S. from far-flung regions. They’re casual, exotic, affordable, unpretentious and, quite often, truly outstanding restaurants.
Such is the case with Kangchen Indian Cuisines, which opened last October at 7475 Mineral Point Rd. in the former site of Hong Kong Cafe (later called Lee’s Garden). The family-run restaurant — named for Kangchenjunga, a Himalayan peak on the Nepal-India border — serves North and South Indian food with an emphasis on Indo-Chinese dishes.
The Madison area has numerous Indian restaurants that follow a similar format — massive, feast-like buffets over the lunch hour and expansive, à la carte menus for dinner (you can order off the menu at lunch, but why would you?). You’ll find the classic staples — rich curries, roasted tandoori meats, biryani, loads of naan — but the Indo-Chinese influence at Kangchen makes it stand out.
Indo-Chinese is a fusion cuisine stemming from Chinese immigrants to certain regions of India.Think rice and noodle dishes flavored with traditional Indian spices like cumin, coriander and turmeric served with chicken, shrimp, paneer or vegetables doused in spicy Szechuan or Manchurian sauces.
At Kangchen, as at other Indian restaurants, the best way to try it all is at the lunch buffet. The ingredients are mostly local and organic, the waiter tells me, and the selections are constantly rotating. And when you find something you like, order it off the menu at dinner.
One of the best starters is the chicken lollipop, an Indo-Chinese classic made by trimming a wing or drumstick into a bite-sized, on-the-bone morsel. It’s marinaded, fried to a crisp and served with a light, red chili sauce (actually not all that spicy). If it’s not on the buffet, find it on the children’s menu.
Also excellent is the vegetarian pakoda. Thinly sliced morsels of carrot, onion and potato are dipped in gram flour batter, fried and seasoned to your desired spiciness. I ask for medium-hot, which was fine, but more heat would have been welcome. It’s particularly good with the green chutney and tamarind sauces that come with the papadum crackers. Same goes with the samosas, which are perfect, crisp pockets of potato and peas.
Chilli paneer is an unexpected highlight, with cubes of fresh Indian cheese batter-fried to a delicate crisp and topped with a thick, tangy Chinese-style red chili sauce. It’s heavy and rich, and somehow the batter manages to hold a crunch under the weight of the gravy. Order it to share, ideally among four.
For a lighter option, try the tawa fish — thin fillets, marinated and generously spiced with chili and cooked until almost blackened on a large, circular griddle. With its grilled vegetables and lemon accompaniments, the aroma alone is enough to sting the sinuses — in a “hurts so good” kind of way.
A goat curry was hearty and flavorful, but far too salty and full of bones — a common issue with goat dishes, I’ve found. I took most of this entree to go and strangely found it immensely better the next day for lunch — probably because I was free to rip the meat from the bones with my fingers in the privacy of my kitchen.
Chicken tikka masala, shrimp varutha curry, diwane handi (mixed vegetables and nuts in a creamy tomato sauce) and navratan korma (vegetable, nuts and paneer in cream sauce) are all excellent over basmati rice or alongside naan. A vegetable biryani is fragrant and lemony, and hakka noodles, an Indo-Chinese street food, are tender and generously seasoned with loads of fresh black pepper. Order them as a side dish to share.
Sometimes I overlook non-alcoholic beverages, but Kangchen has some winners that are definitely worth ordering — creamy masala tea served hot, refreshing mango milkshakes and yogurt lassi drinks flavored with rosewater.
And is there anything better than Indian dessert? The gajar ka halwa (grated carrots and sweetened milk topped with cashews and raisins) and the beetroot halwa (same thing, but with grated beets) are sweet and complex, but best is the homemade mango ice cream. Kangchen makes it two ways — one plain mango, and the other flavored with cardamom and pistachios.
Kangchen Indian Cuisines
7475 Mineral Point Rd., Madison, 608-841-1619, kangchenindiancuisine.com
Lunch buffet 11:30 am-3 pm, dinner 5-10 pm Tuesday-Sunday, $3-$20; lunch buffet $12.
