The Royal treatment
New owners mean new dishes to try at Royal India restaurant on Milwaukee's south side.
On my way to a new restaurant last year, I passed Royal India on S. 27th St., across from Southgate shopping center. “Now, there’s a place I haven’t been to in years,” I thought. “I should stop in sometime.”
Not much later, a reader emailed to say he and his family had enjoyed dinner at Royal India and found out the restaurant had new owners. With timing like that, how could I take it as anything but fate? Time to plan some dinners — right after I made my way through a lengthy list of new restaurants already on my calendar.
It’s easy to dart from one new restaurant to the next and overlook the places that have been around for years. But it pays to stop in at long-established places such as Royal India to see what’s up. In this case, what’s up is some terrific chicken dishes, among other things.
After Paramjit Kaur became the owner in May 2017, she began making changes. She redecorated the space with spring-green walls and modernized the way the restaurant did business, adding delivery services, online ordering and catering for up to 1,000 people at a time (!). She also introduced cocktails, such as mango margaritas and mango lassi-tinis.
Her brother, Jaswinder Singh, is the chef. Singh cooked in India and worked in hotel management in Australia, Kaur said.
A couple of dishes are noted as chef ’s specialties: Afghani chicken ($16.99) and chicken musallam ($15.99). I haven’t seen those on many menus. Actually, I didn’t see it on the menu handed out in the restaurant, either — the dishes were listed online and on the takeout menu. New, complete menus are on the way, Kaur said.
For both dishes, the chicken roasts in the tandoor after marinating. Afghani chicken first rests in cashew paste and yogurt before cooking, while coconut paste coats chicken musallam. Chicken musallam arrives at the table in a sauce, and the flavor of coconut lingers; Afghani chicken arrives plain but is so flavorful that I let out an involuntary
mmm. Both dishes were moist even after the high heat of the tandoor.
Royal India is among the few restaurants around Milwaukee serving another excellent chicken dish, chicken haryali ($13.99), vivid with mint and cilantro.
Bread is a must-have with an Indian meal, and the bread that I must have more than any other at Royal India is the lachha paratha ($3.50), for its texture — layers rich with butter. For bread with enhancements, there are kulcha stuffed with red onion ($2.99) and bullet naan ($3.99) made with green chile, among others.
A bread lover should have the channa bhatura ($10.99) for a shareable appetizer. This is chickpeas in masala curry, served with fried bread to tear apart into wispy pieces and use to soak up the sauce.
And Milwaukeeans should gravitate toward fish pakora ($9.99), a plateful of swai fillets, each the size of a few bites, coated in chickpea flour and fried golden brown. Have that with another appetizer, honey chile potato ($9.99), crisped potato sticks coated in a sweet-hot sauce, and you practically have a Friday fish fry.
An essential appetizer at Royal India, though, is the keema samosa ($4.99); the pair of flaky pastries are filled with seasoned chicken chopped into fine, precise dice, and they’re excellent.
Spices run through the dishes, and you might suss out cumin here and coriander there, but the seasonings largely are in balance, working together for a harmonious whole.
Dishes of greens like spinach, or saag, often are a smooth puree; the saag Punjabi ($11.99) at Royal India is more textured, and it’s a pleasure — different bites reveal mustard greens, then spinach, and, oh, there’s a bit of ginger.
Another vegetable dish that’s pure comfort food — soothing and delicious — is mushroom matar ($10.99), mushrooms and peas in a buttery tomato sauce.
Many of the dishes on Royal India’s menu, like the saag Punjabi, are from northern India; that’s where the owner and chef originally are from. But southern India is represented with several dishes, such as vindaloo ($12.99 to $14.99), with its background note of vinegar. The diner can choose the entrée’s meat, chicken, lamb or goat on the bone, or shrimp or fish.
Biryanis were a mixed bag; the rice dish with hard-cooked eggs ($11.99) one day was excellent, fragrant with spices. Lamb biryani ($13.99) another day didn’t rise to its level.
Aside from mango ice cream dotted with ice crystals, Royal India’s desserts were another highlight. Shahi tukda ($4.99), bread that’s deep-fried in butter
and sweetened, and served standing in a bowl of cardamom-rich thickened milk, is utterly craveable. Gulab jamun ($3.99), the little round pastries served in syrup, were the lightest I’ve ever had.
These were sweet notes to end the meal, and they made me wish I’d stopped in at Royal India sooner.
Look for Carol Deptolla’s restaurant news column, Side Dish, in Friday’s Weekend Tap section. Contact her at (414) 224-2841, carol.deptolla@jrn.com or on Twitter, @mkediner.