죠티인도레스토랑 (Jongak Location) – Review by Swaroop Gandikota
First up – probably the only restaurant (that SFP visited as yet) that serves a feast of Indian street food, also called as fast foods. We ordered the Pani Puri, Samosa Chat and Masala Papad for starters.
Pani Puri was perfect. I am not going to let the surprise out as to what this dish is – MUST order and try for everyone who visits this place. It was amazing and instantly took me back onto Indian streets, while the waiting staff consisted of only 1 waiter (yup you read it right – the entire restaurant is being supported by only 1 guy – be patient, eventually he will get to you, but when he does – you are attended to immediately. We wanted extra pani for the puri’s got it with no fuss or issues at all – as a refill / service.
Samosa chat as a preparation style was more north Indian – sweet dahi based than the typical samosa chole chat, still tasty and well prepared. MUST try – super yummy and a SFP favorite.
Masala Papad – we call it pizza papad papad with toppings of diced onions, tomato, green chillies, coriander, pinch of salt, red pepper and a hearty portion of lemon. It’s a prefect condiment with any alcoholic beverage, order for these and beer as soon as you get into the restaurant, start off with these as you order the food – starters and main course. Will kill the waiting time with ease.
Now to the main course
We ordered: Chicken Koorma, Chana Masala, Kadhai Chicken, Garlic Naan, Jeera Rice
Since we started-off with Samosa Chat, Pani Puri and Masala Papad – we did not order any tandoori chicken starters.. we jumped straight into the main course.
Chicken Koorma – The most authentic Koorma curry we had Seoul – fresh coconut paste perfect balance between flavors infused by correct usages of spices. Again, it CANNOT get any more authentic than this.
Chana Masala – Chana (water soaked and boiled chick peas) – was little heavy on chickpeas, you would ideally find it with lot more oily gravy than heavy dose of peas – they definitely have 2X amount of peas in the curry – don’t blame me if you get a more liquid / gravyious (yup – not an actual word; felt it fits here well.. you got what I meant) chana masala when you order it next time around when you visit them ? I would recommend adding this to your menu instead of tadka dal or other types of dals… this is spicy and yummy!!
Jeera Rice – finally a jeera rice made with basmati rice!!!!!! And yes, it looks, tastes and is Jeera rice ?
Price point wise, this is on par with Otsal – honestly it’s a tough choice if you have to choose – well, why make a choice? Weekend consists of 2 days right ?. Remember – they have only 1 waiter, so practice meditation, all your sessions will come handy as you wait in the restaurant ??
It is also noteworthy when you see more than half of the restaurant customers are Indian.
Jyoti has 3 locations – Sinchon, Jongak Station and Chungmuro Station
Naver Store Info
Jongak Station (Jongno Gu)
Restaurant Web Site (with Menu)
