Say Hello to Delicious South Asian Cuisine in Alpharetta
In Food + Drink
Digging into cuisines from different cultures is always more fun when you have a recommendation from a trusted friend! Alpharetta’s South Asian cuisine scene is quite robust, and we wanted to explore it with someone who knows great flavors! We asked Nandita Godbole, owner of Curry Cravings, LLC., to give us the inside scoop on some great South Asian dining in Alpharetta. Keep reading to find your next night of excellent eats!
Alpharetta has a robust South Asian population. Not only are they part of the dynamic local workforce, but they have enriched the area with their unique and flavorful culinary offerings. Alpharetta’s many South Asian restaurants range from small food courts tucked into grocery stores, casual dining, and traditional restaurant settings, to international franchises with local chefs. The menus are designed to appeal to someone new to the cuisine, all the while aiming to cater to the discerning local South Asian community. Each experience provides a window into regional cuisine, showcasing dishes, spices, and flavor combinations.
An easy gateway into Indian cuisine is to explore South Asia’s many stand-alone, rice-based entrees. Rice is a very large part of the South Asian diet. India produces more than 130 metric tonnes of rice each year, only second to China. Rice is consumed in both sweet and savory versions, it is milled into flour or fermented into a batter and steamed into pillowy idli or ladled onto hot griddles into crispy dosas and spongy appam. While some of these are best fresh from the steaming hot pan, here are three eateries offering just a tease into the wide world of rice-based dishes from India that make impressive pot-luck contenders, fantastic weeknight take out candidates, and most definitely are superb leftovers.
Within the hustle and bustle of Windward Parkway is Pista House. A franchise from Hyderabad, India, this simple eatery offers fast casual style dining. Pista House offers a variety of Biryani dishes – layered rice and protein dishes that are traditionally made as a one-pot dish. The protein selections for biryani include batter fried fish, shrimp, mutton, goat meat, chicken, vegetables, and paneer, and come one of three ways – either as ‘dum’ which replicates a dutch oven cooking, as a regular biryani which is a layered rice preparation or as a pulao – wherein the protein and rice are cooked separately and tossed together before serving. Each is served with a wedge of lemon and red onion rings and comes with a side of raita or a yogurt sauce and salan – or ‘au jus’ made from vegetable stock, and spices. Ask for their mildest version and work your way up to suit your palate but their generous portions can’t be beat. Pair with an Irani chai or a Limca – the Indian version of Sprite. Also look for their weekly specials, a great deal on decadent eats.
Did you know, Alpharetta is home to a completely vegetarian, multi-generational Indian restaurant franchise, with outlets across India, Europe, and Asia as well? Kailash Parbat is tucked between Queen of Hearts and Suvidha, off Highway 9. Plush and inviting couches covered in green velvet and colorful decor are all part of its branding. Serving fast-casual style food with a combination of popular street fare and comforting family meals, this restaurant has it all. Their meals include three flavor packed rice-based preparations: the Indo-Chinese Schezwan fried rice seasoned with Schezwan sauce and best paired with a Manchurian style entree of vegetables or paneer. A steaming vegetable dum biryani includes tiny paneer chunks and loads of vegetables and comes with a cooling onion and tomato raita in a little stainless steel pail. Kailash Parbat also serves the national comfort food of India – Khichdi, a risotto-like preparation of soft rice and lentils, served with a generous dowsing of a takda, or tempering of ghee and cumin seeds. This is served with a side of whisked yogurt and comes with a large, freshly roasted lentil cracker: papad. Wash it down with a guava juice, the refreshing serving comes in a glass lined with cayenne pepper.
East of 400, just off Old Milton Parkway, and tucked into the simple food court of a grocery store, Spice Hut is an unexpected delight for a variety of classic, homestyle South Indian fare. They offer a range of Biryani including a unique Ulavacharu Biryani made with a combination of lentils, protein, and rice, and the Natukodi Biryani that uses free-range meats. They too serve their biryani with a different salan that sings with flavors of peanut and fresh coconut. Their food court is not large and serves primarily as a waiting space as the orders are fulfilled. Cool your heels with a freshly crushed sugarcane juice, complete with lemon and ginger. Also, look for their weekly specials for larger family style meals. You may never cook dinner again.
As we ease ourselves into the cooler months there is nothing better than looking forward to large bowls of comforting and nourishing meals that we did not have to labor over. Good food is never far in Alpharetta!
Ready for your next meal in Alpharetta? Share a photo of your favorite dishes with us on social by tagging @awesomealpharetta and using our hashtag, #AwesomeAlpharetta!