Ali Baba

Due to a stomach bug that has been pestering me and Luke for the last week or so, we've been reduced to eating one tasteless meal a day, where we spend the majority of it updating each other on our health status, like we're 80 year old geriatrics. It's been a rather sad couple of weeks for us. We haven't been eating anything very exciting lately, hence the lack of posts. We are starting to feel better though, so hopefully I will have some new restaurants to report upon soon.

Before we got sick, we tried Ali Baba's. We were in the mood for Indian food, but we didn't want to go to Aleja again, so we decided to try something new. But actually, I ended up wishing that we had gone to Aleja instead. It's slightly cheaper, and in my opinion, the quality is better. To be honest, I don't know very much about Indian food at all, so it's hard for me to tell if something is authentic or not. I just know what tastes good and what doesn't. Here is what tasted good at Ali Baba's:

(papadan)

(garlic naan)

(kama matter)

For our appetizer, we ordered papadan (90NT), which was a nice snack to munch on before our main courses came out. It was light and crispy, and topped with chopped onions and tomatoes. The garlic naan (70NT) was also pretty good, light and chewy, not too dense. And of course, garlicky. And I thought the kama matter (280NT) that we ordered as one of our main courses was pretty decent as well - nicely spiced, fragrant.

But the mutter paneer (about 260NT), which is always one of my favorite dishes to order at Indian restaurants, was a disappointment. The sauce was way too salty, and the spinach and cheese had a weird, slightly bitter taste to it.


So in conclusion, I found Alibaba to be pretty much of a let-down. Anyone have any other recommendations for good Indian restaurants?

Ali Baba
www.ali88.com.tw
Nanking East Road, Section 2, No. 56-58, 2F
(02) 2567-7163

Aaleja

So far this past year living in Taipei, I've come to be more and more impressed with the international food scene here. I guess when I first came to Taiwan I expected that the Chinese food would be awesome, (which it is) and that the non-Chinese food would be like refried poo (which it's not). Aleja is such an example of a place that I had not-so-high expectations for, but then ending up really liking the place and returning whenever I find myself craving some Indian cuisine.

One of our favorite dishes here is the paleek paneer, which we order pretty much every time we go to Aleja. It's a spinach and Indian cheese dish, very flavorful, very delicious.


Last time we were here we also ordered the keema mutter, which is minced lamb with peas and spices. God, now I'm making myself hungry.


Each dish is about 200-300NT. It doesn't come with any accompaniments, so you have to order the rice and/or naan a la carte. The rice is 30NT a bowl (and not enough to share, either), and the butter naan is 50NT; the garlic 70NT.


I'm not an authority on Indian cuisine by any means, but Aleja tastes pretty good and authentic to me. The prices are reasonable, and the service is always friendly, so what's not to like? Check it out:

Aaleja
Yanji Street, Alley 5, Lane 70, No. 6
(02) 2773-3227