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    Restaurant Review: Amul India

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    Amul India was an extremely popular Indian (obviously) eatery up on the northern end of Sawmill Road, just outside the curve of 270.

    But no matter how popular a restaurant is, when it’s in strip mall, and that space is wanted for something huge (like a Walmart, for example), the restaurant closes.

    And while Amul India may have lost in the turf battle, the eatery still comes out a winner; it relocated to a new spot on Sawmill Road and re-opened this spring. The new digs are in an especially user-friendly shopping center, a strip mall with the sort of collection that permits drivers-by to see all the businesses right from the road. Amul India is super-easy to spot.

    Inside the new location, you’ll find accommodating servers and plenty of booths and tables for seating.

    It’s easy to get stuck forever in the appetizer section. The kitchen has a way with the deep fat fryer that turns out an incredible collection of crispy, crackling edible options.

    For the traditionalist, there’s big fat Samosas ($2.99): bulging pockets, filled with a savory mixture of mashed potatos and peas tightly packed in a smooth fried shell.

    There’s also Gobi Pakora ($3.49): that’s deep fried cauliflower. The Cauliflower is soft, with a toasty favor, and sweatered-up in a crunchy fried batter.

    And Paneer Pakora ($4.99) is an option too. It’s fried cheese, Indian-style. So, the cheese isn’t squishy, it holds its shape inside the crispy shell.

    See? Amul India has more fried entertainment than you’ll find at the Ohio State Fair. You can keep going with some battered boneless chicken or vegetable fritters, but there ‘s a giant menu of Indian food that also demands stomach space.

    The Chicken Tika ($12.99) comes out on a bed of onions and peppers (add tortillas, and you’d swear you were looking at fajitas). It’s an exceptionally easy way to get a Tandoori fix. While Tandoori Chicken in typically bone in, the Tika version delivers the same moist and smoky red-tinged poultry, in tidy boneless slices: perfect for a pig out.

    Better yet is Chicken Saag ($11.99), it has all the spinachy creaminess of Saag Paneer, with giant soft chunks of chicken in the mix.

    Vegetarians typically find lots of options in Indian restaurants, and Amul India is no different in that respect: there are twenty-ish entree options that are vegetable-only. That includes the above-mentioned Saag Paneer, and also a great version of Mixed Vegetables ($9.99). The curry stew in which those vegetables reside is quite spicy, and it holds a mixture of potatos, carrots, peas and broccoli (the broccoli puts it over the top).

    And there’s lamb for the decidedly non-vegetarian crowd. The Lamb Korma ($12.99) teams the mild meat with cashews and raisins.

    Amul India is located at 5871 Sawmill Road. It’s open for lunch weekdays from 11:30am until 2:30pm (there’s a lunch buffet that has bona fide obsessed groupies). Lunch on weekends runs until 3pm.

    Dinner hours on Mondays through Thursdays run from 5pm until 10pm. It’s open until 10:30pm on Saturdays, and until 9:30pm on Sundays.

    More information can be found online at www.amulindia.net.

    Photos by Walker Evans.

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    Miriam Bowers Abbott
    Miriam Bowers Abbotthttps://columbusunderground.com
    Miriam Bowers Abbott is a freelancer contributor to Columbus Underground who reviews restaurants, writes food-centric featurettes and occasionally pens other community journalism pieces.
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