Indian food to die for in the heart of Moscow

On one side of the lane stood an orange marquee. On the opposite side was a restaurant with tinted windows. Two red-coated guards stood at the door, looking out at a herd of BMWs. This was Goa, a fashionable Indian restaurant on Myasnitskaya Ul., right in the center of Moscow. Deciding to sit in the restaurant rather than in the open-air tent, we glided past the guards and followed the waitress to a table.

We sat down and took in the scenery. Wooden planks stood at the entrance, strung with a web of fairy lights. Next to this strange construction stood a statue of Ganesha the Indian elephant god. On my right was a screen of sticks and plastic roses. On my left was a ‘50s-type American-style bar. The bathrooms, as I found out, were fitted for Louis XIV, with a gigantic mirror and recordings of birdsongs playing in the air.

The waitress handed us large menus. Each dish was photographed and described in English. There were three cuisines: French, Indian and Japanese. The price for main-course items was from 230 to 3,900 rubles, and an average dish cost about 400. A separate menu listed a wide range of drinks, including many cocktails and liqueurs, and, among the non-alcoholic beverages, there were some interesting iced teas. It took some flipping through the menus to find the beer section but, at last, we ordered glasses of Gosser all round. They were frothy, and, although they were colder than room temperature, they weren’t "summer cold."

Our companion, who was born in Nantes, decided to be patriotic and order a French dish. His salad of oakleaves, rocket and Parmesan cheese (330 rubles) wasn’t especially French, though, and could have been improved with less oil – but it was fresh and the Parmesan of rare quality.

My husband and I decided to go-a Indian: Vegetable biryani (380 rubles) for him and dal makhany (230 rubles) for me. We each also ordered a cheese nan (90 per piece). The biryani met with my husband’s approval. Served on an oblong dish, this was a type of Indian fried rice with peas, fried cubes of cottage cheese, cardamom seeds, roasted cashews and carrots. It came with a small side salad of tomato and cucumber, along with a small bowl of yogurt sauce. It was so rich that he couldn’t finish it. My dal was a creamy lentil concoction without a hint of spice, and beside it lay a pile of rice that had somehow been colored green, yellow and pink. It all tasted good, and I ate it quickly, but my lips felt very greasy afterward.

Meanwhile, our friend received his second course, a pasta dish consisting of the soft belly of a salmon and turbot on Tuscan fettucine with eggplant and puline sauce (400 rubles). It was presented beautifully, with strips of salmon and turbot woven in a trellis pattern. Around the fish lay eggplant and green sauce. Again, there was too much oil, and all of the vegetables were overcooked. That said, the dish was nice and hot, the pasta of bite-worthy consistency and the sauce a delectable combination of rosemary and cream.

At the end of the meal, we all felt pleasantly full and drowsy. The waitress brought gum with the check, demonstrating the same promptness and efficiency she had employed throughout the meal. As we left, I thought that I needed to visit again because I hadn’t yet tried the sushi.