The Bombay Club

The Bombay Club is nestled comfortably along the K street corridor, easily going unnoticed unless you were specifically looking for the establishment.  I have probably walked by it more times than I could count on both hands, but it just doesn’t exude a presence from the outside.  Once inside, however, you’re treated to something that is clearly a favorite haunt of policy makers and lawyers alike.  The atmosphere inside is a cross between a contemporary spa and an old colonial English hunting club.  Candles flicker in pattern-printed glass walls with your gaze to the left, and bagged Bengal tigers on black and white safari hunt photos are worn by the walls to your right.  If there were any uncertainty as to whether everything around you really was fascinating or mildly disturbing, the food erased any reservations I had about having dinner there for Restaurant Week.

Aloo Tikki Ragda

Jen started her three course hunt with the Aloo Tikki Ragda, a dish of potato, white peas, ginger, cumin, and date chutney.  Delicious, fragrant, and very rich, a great way for her to start whittling down her appetite.

Bombay Sev Puri

I had the Bombay Sev Puri – potato, mango and onion puri dumplings, fully coated in a delectably fashion crisp flake and then covered in chutney and spice.  The dumplings were actually very light in taste, allowing the absolutely cataclysm of textures fully overtake your mouth.

Jen’s main course was a wild assortment of exotic flavors: creamy dumplings, spinach sauteed in ghee, spicy curries, and a pride of small dishes that each were presented in sterling silver bowls, brought over on a sterling silver plate.  Clearly such an entree would have to be so rare and different that it came disappeared from my collection of photos, and doesn’t even appear on their menu.  In guise of it’s poorly lit photo, here is a monocle wearing velociraptor riding an old-timey bicycle instead.

For my main course, I ordered the Mixed Grill- an assortment of grilled salmon, chicken and spiced beef, served with a spicy dipping sauce and a bit of rice.  Neglecting the rice, I pounced on the meats…and was fully impressed with them.  The chicken were chunks of dark meat, succulent, juicy, and perfect.  The salmon was also well prepared, soft and giving at the slightest pull of a fork, and charred on the outside, but just so.  The seasoned beef, while tasty, wasn’t particularly outstanding, just a standard preparation that played more of a supporting role than as the star.

Mixed Grill

Our desserts equally made a favorable impression on the both of us, yet once again, Jen somehow picked the better dish.  Hers, the Rabri- a sweet yogurt like dish served with fresh blueberries in a martini glass, a concoction that was just the right amount of sweet in just the right portion.

Rabri

Mine, the Carrot Halwa –  an Indian carrot pudding cake, served with a cinnamon anglaise.

Carrot Halwa

That’s not to say that my dessert wasn’t good and completely obliterated from existence in a scant two minutes, but it didn’t hold a light to the clearly suprerior Rabri.  I swear, the girl always picks better dishes than I do.

Well, unless it comes to meat.  Served in a meat sauce.  With a side of meat.

The Bombay Club simply is not what you’d expect of an Indian cuisine restaurant, and that is a good thing.  While it does have the roti, the naan, curries, chutneys, and other fanciful dishes that make Indian restaurants so great, they serve it at a slightly more upscale experience, which really makes this a destination worth going.  Prices aren’t cheap, but they’re not expensive, either.  Three course price fixe Restaurant Week deals are absolute steal, and I might just have to go back here again to check out their lauded Sunday Brunch sometime soon.  The dishes are, as you can see from the photos, presented in a fashion that isn’t commonplace at many Indian restaurants, and it makes each dish that much more of a delight.  The service is on point, and acclimating to your every request.  While you don’t have to show up in a blazer or haute coutre dress, I wouldn’t roll up in a t-shirt and jeans, either.

Check out the Bombay Club on a map here.

Recommended for:

• Curry Queens
• Naan Noshers
• Vegetarians
• Pescetarians

Not Recommended for:

• Paleo Heads
• Carb Counters
• Steak’n'Potato’ers
• Screaming Children

UPDATE: I found the photo of Jen’s dish after all!