Indian food reminds me a lot of growing up in my neighborhood of Upstate New York. Seems odd, I know, but when the best friends of your siblings have parents who hail from India, you get invited over for dinner and eat the curry and the other foods cooked up in those delicious Indian spices.
So, when I started craving Indian food, Dakshin was the restaurant that was recommended to me.
You can’t base your opinion on looks alone. Dakshin is located in a run-down strip mall on the far reaches of Bardstown Road in Louisville, Kentucky. It’s probably the type of place I normally would scoff at. Good food in a strip mall? HA! Right.
But I was told that those in the area from India or of that heritage will take their friends to this particular restaurant when they want Indian food. That, to me, speaks volumes.
What also stood out, upon entering the restaurant, was the number of Indian people who were seated at the tables, feasting on the various foods from the lunch buffet.
Catering to those who like meat (my roommate even tried the goat!) and vegetarians (a lot of Indian food is vegetarian based, after all!), Dakshin offered up a good variety of foods to sample. I piled my first plate up with naan, basmati rice, mushroom curry and palak paneer (soft cheese in a pureed spinach curry). And this only wet my appetite for more. Once I had a taste, my first plate of food was gone and I was ready to go back for more.
I tried a couple of other vegetarian dishes. My roommate found a sizzling chicken dish and added that to the reasons she could never become a vegetarian (Hard Rock Café cheeseburgers and PF Chang’s stupidly good Orange Peel Chicken are on that list as well). We, and our friend who was in town and a connoisseur of Indian food, tried whatever caught our attention. And, despite being full, had a go for some dessert. The bread pudding was raved about, but was gone when my roommate and I got up there. I did sample the rice pudding. And our friend, who had spoken highly of a delicious mango ice cream was THRILLED when some of it magically appeared on the buffet.
We filled our bellies with this delicious food, some spicy, some mild, some just amazing. I had, perhaps, a few too many pieces of the light, fluffy naan. But I would go back in a heartbeat and do it all over again, at risk of gaining 10 pounds in one sitting.
Yes…it is that good.
Dakshin is definitely Louisville, Kentucky’s little secret for good, delicious, authentic Indian food. And yes…I will be going back.
The sooner…the better.
The Celiathlete 