Aditi Indian Cuisine

Jen and I had to really keep an eye out in trying to find Aditi at night. The evening air was electric with life in Georgetown. We almost passed by the restaurant twice in our search for the place, with a tiny awning just above the front door barely proclaiming its existence, squelched to barely a murmur next to the bright lights of Georgetown Cupcake across the street. I’ve roamed up and down M street (the main street that cuts through Georgetown’s Business District) many times, and I can’t say I’ve ever seen or heard of this place. My lack of knowledge, however, should not speak as the brevity of Aditi’s existence, as their menu states that they’ve held their very location for well over 20 years.

The first floor you come to greets you to a hostess stand, with a short set of stairs up to a bar. Another flight of stairs leads you farther up to the main dining area, lined with more floor to ceiling mirrors and dimly glowing lights than a porn star’s bedroom at night. Jen noted that it gave the space a much larger appearance, while I noted that it was great for people watching as from our seats, you could see every single other patron in the room.

Nobody’s going to come running up behind me to stab a knife into my back.

I ordered the Majaraha Platter (natch), a cornucopia of meat, which the French would kindly call “La Degustation”.  Everything from lamb, chicken, beef, and shrimp, this was probably the best way to sample all of Aditi’s meats.  Nothing extraordinary, but the quality was good, with nary a dry meat offering on the plate.  The sauteed vegetables were fairly mediocre, but the fact that the order comes with a small basket of naan makes up for where the vegetables and rice lack.

If I had realized this dish came with it’s own bread, I don’t think we would have ordered a separate basket of mixed breads as well.

Stacked with enough puffed grains covered in butter to give a flock of pigeons all coronaries, the breads here are very good, especially to wrap the meats in the Majaraha Platter.  I particularly liked the onion bread, but given that I don’t eat breads or grains at all during the week, this stuff was little more than a basket of delicious crack to me.

What?

What do you mean crack’s not delicious?

Jen went with her Indian cuisine favorite, the Chana Masala.  I think she’s the region leading expert on Chana Masala by now.  Her verdict?  The dish was good, but it lacked any sort of spiciness that she was expecting.  In fact, it turns out this version of the chickpea dish was about as spicy as a glass of milk.

The service here is reasonable, with several wait staff always hovering about, quick to fill your glass of water and attend to your every need.  The location is also great for that post shopping meal when you’re looking for something slightly more ethnic than pizza, but just ever so.  The indian cuisine here has been dulled down to the basic ingredients and offerings, with none of the exoticness of true Indian fare.  It’s not to say that any of the food here is bad, but the dishes do their best to be as inoffensive to the palette as possible.

The portions and prices here are, however, quite appealing, and it’s nice to have something different than what you’d expect to find in the neighborhood.

See Aditi Indian Cuisine on a map here.

Recommended For:

• Plain Janes
• Vegetarians
• Bread Buffs
• People Who Own Rotating Beds

Not Recommended For:

• A Party In Your Mouth
• Palette Discos
• First Dates
• Wedding Receptions
• People Who Like To Play Bloody Mary