MALHI’S INDIAN CUISINE
ADDRESS: 39438 Trade Center Drive, Palmdale, CA 93551
WEBSITE: https://malhiindiancuisine.com/
It had been quite some time since my friend Hoang and I linked up to try a new spot in the Palmdale area. Both of us actually ended up craving for some Indian food, and Malhi’s Indian Cuisine was a spot that we had talked about stopping by in the past. One night after work, we headed over to their Palmdale location to give it a try.
The funny thing was that I had driven by the Palmdale location of Malhi’s so many times in the past, but I had never stopped by. When I was taking my business trips out to the Palmdale area from 2018 all the way up until COVID hit in March 2020, I stayed in the Embassy Suites just down the street. My morning routine would consist of hitting up the Starbucks that was right next door to Malhi’s before heading into work. The place had been on my list to give a shot since then.
The dining area of the restaurant has a good amount of seating available, mostly booths along the side walls of the restaurant, but also a number of tables in the center. Given that we were stopping by in the middle of the week, only about a quarter of the tables were filled. It also looked like a number of people were placing to-go orders for pick-up as well.
In terms of dinner food, the menu spanned across seven different pages, encompassing curries, biryanis, food cooked in the tandoor, chicken, vegetable, and Punjabi Indian breads. The choices were certainly a lot to take in, but I had done my research before coming to the restaurant. Looking through the food photos and reviews on Yelp definitely helped me to have a bit of a game plan in my back pocket. For an overall balance of flavors, I had looked at one curry and one dish from the tandoor, accompanied with some naan. I pitched the idea to Hoang and he was all for it. The next time our waiter came around, we put in the order for the mix tandoori (lamb boti kabab, chicken tikka, and sheesh kabab), Sri Lankan style chicken curry, and two orders of the garlic naan.
General note that if you end up going for the mix tandoori, it’s about a 20 – 25 minute wait for them to cook everything in the tandoor. Our waiter swung back out to our table just to double check if we were okay with it, and we weren’t in a hurry. It’s definitely nice of them to come out to double check with us, though. The advertised amount of time went by and, sure enough, the heaping platter of meats made its way out to our table.
There were bold colors of orange and fire-red with the different meats in the mix tandoori, with the chicken tikka and lamb boti kabab standing out the most. For being cooked in the tandoor, the pieces of meat still looked really moist and tender. I tried each of the three different types of meats on the platter, and they were all bursting with flavor. The various marinades really did well to impart flavor into the meat itself and the cook in the tandoor helped to give some of the pieces a nice bit of char. If I had to rank an order for which ones I enjoyed the most, it’d probably be the lamb boti, chicken tikka, then the sheesh kabab.
Next up was the Sri Lankan style chicken curry, with its bright orange color helping it to fit right in with the fire-red colors of the meat on the mix tandoori. It definitely had a nice, smooth texture to the curry itself, probably helped out with the coconut milk that got mixed into it. The curry came with servings of basmati rice, which were a perfect complement to spoon over some curry on top. The curry flavor definitely had real depth, and the heat from the spice was enough to make your mouth tingle, but not overwhelm (we ordered mild spice level). The curry ended up being so good that we decided to get another order to split.
The garlic naan was our last component on the table, where Hoang and I both used it primarily to dip into the curry. I did get the garlic flavor from the naan, but at the same time, also found that it ate a little bit dry on its own. There have been other naan I’ve had where the pieces were slightly thicker, so I think that resulted in them being less on the crispy side. Pairing the naan up with the curry for each bite did end up being just right.
Malhi’s has been on my list for a long time to give a try, and I’m glad that I finally did. The mix tandoori didn’t disappoint after the wait time, with all of the meats being really flavorful. I was also definitely impressed with the flavor inside the curry, as both Hoang and I couldn’t get enough of it. If you’re looking for a place to get your Indian food fix in the Palmdale / Lancaster area, definitely give this place a shot.
Let’s now take a look at the Malhi’s Indian Cuisine Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.
** Mix Tandoori **
Lamb boti kabab, chicken tikka, and sheesh kabab, cooked in their Indian clay oven at over 800F. Served with basmati rice.
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** Sri Lankan Style Chicken Curry **
Boneless chicken pieces cooked in a coconut curry sauce. Served with basmati rice.
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** Garlic Naan **
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And finally, here are my rankings for Malhi’s Indian Cuisine:
Food: 4.75 / 5
The mix tandoori and Sri Lankan style chicken curry were undoubtedly the stars of the night. It was a great balance between having the grilled flavors and also the depth from the curry flavors as well. There are plenty of other dish styles on the menu to explore too.
Atmosphere: 4.25 / 5
The dining area is certainly brightly lit, with yellow and brown being the prevailing color schemes with the overall décor. The tables were also spaced out well enough to help provide you with a good amount of distance from the other diners.
Service: 4 / 5
Even though the staff didn’t really interact with us too much, they were polite and stopped by a couple of times to see if we needed anything else for our meal.
Price: 4.5 / 5
If we stuck to just the one mix tandoori, one Sri Lankan style chicken curry, and two orders of garlic naan, that ended up being $22 per person. Certainly a solid amount of food for that price.
Overall:
17.5 / 20
(88%)
Categories: California, Restaurants
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