ISHQ means Love

There is a newish Indian restaurant in town, open only 6 or so months, called ISHQ located on 530 Ocean drive. I had walked by once with a friend and we had mentioned that we needed, at some point, to try it. We scratched our heads thinking of other Indian restaurants on the beach but couldn’t come up with any. I don’t believe there are any others.

I hadn’t had any Indian food for a year and for someone who lived in New York for years that’s just a sin. It was the week after WMC, a quiet and windy Monday night, and we were all exhausted to even attempt another night of partying before my friends left back to NY on Tuesday.

Sitting in my apartment in vegetative states, we started talking about getting dinner, but where should we go? We went through the usual list of favorite suspects: Tapas Y Tintos, El Chalan, Sushi Samba (not my favorite btw, in fact I can’t stand the place), and Doraku. Given my friend Sophie is half Indian I suggested the new Indian restaurant, fully noting I had not yet been there, that the time I had walked by it was empty, and thus had zero idea if it was going to be any good. I suppose we were feeling adventurous that night or just wanted to try something different. The four of us were on board.

We arrived at the restaurant, and though pretty empty, the three tables taken were by Indian people. Surely this is a good sign. We were greeted by a small Indian man who appeared to be the owner, quietly and respectfully pointing us to our table. We sat down in the candlelit table, the trees swaying with the wind around us, and classical Indian music playing in the background. It was a relaxing and very romantic atmosphere. A smiling waiter approached to take our drink order. “Two Taj Mahals please”. “Certainly,” he replied. Within two seconds our chilled water was on the table. Moments after the beer. Granted it wasn’t that crowed, but it’s the friendliness and attitude that really counts when it comes to service.

Our smiling waiter Marcus returned to the table to take our food order. I had been staring at the menu, never knowing what to get, because everything looks so dang good. The four of us decided to share entrees because we were broke after an expensive WMC weekend. But not to worry, none of us went hungry. The plates are indeed large enough to share, coming with a bowl of rice, and our chosen sides dishes. I turned to the waiter and said, “How spicy is my dish?”. Him, “Pretty spicy.” Me, “I want it Indian spicy.” He laughed nervously clearly questioning my decision, but nonetheless brought me exactly how I wanted it.

We started with Naan bread and Vegetables Samosas as Appetizers. Followed by Lamb Curry and Chickent Tik Masala for Entrees accompanied by Steamed Basmati rice, and 2 orders of their Hariyali which is sauteed arugula and spinach in garlic (we started with one order but had to get a second it was that good!), and one order of Bhindi, crispy okra with pomegranate and cumin. To add even more fire, we ordered their spicy sauce called Pickeled Mango, which was amazingly sweet and zesty. The thing about Indian spices is that they are not just “heat” but have a lot of flavor created to amplify the senses and raise intensity to the palate at reasonable levels. Of course if you douse your food with it, you may need a glass of milk to help you cool down

We all barely spoke during the meal except to utter the words, “This is so freaking good.” Everything was absolutely mouth-watering and we nearly licked our plates at the end of dinner.

For desert I wanted to try the Gulab Jamun which are super sweet balls of dough, like a mini donut, in a sugary sauce. Yes, it’s extremely sweet as my Indian friend had warned me, but you don’t eat a lot of them with only 2 being served and just 1 will suffice your sugar craving. It’s very tasty and absolutely worth a try. We also ordered the Chocolate Crepes, chocolate mousse filling inside a sweet flat bread, vanilla sauce, and sprinkled with baker’s sugar. Yummy.

We sat there for a minute after dinner staring at each other, and all we kept saying was, “That was damn good. Mmmm.” The total bill was only $90.61 with 18% gratuity included for the four of us. At about $25 per person, this incredibly scrumptious dinning experience is worth every penny plus some.

Ok. This post just made me really hungry, now craving Ishq.