Don't judge a book by its cover, and don't judge a restaurant by its appearance. The clutter in the photo above might turn you off, but then you'd be missing some of the best grilled chicken in Los Angeles.
The place is Swadesh, a Bangladeshi market that serves food to eat there or take out, and that obviously has a storage problem.
The chicken, though, is better than divine. It's violently colored tandoori chicken, either on the bone or in boneless pieces (chicken tikka). The meat is soft and moist despite grilling that produces a good char--the crunchy blackened portions are the best part, actually.
The marinade has an exotic nuance apart from the usual tandoori spices. It made me think of kewra, but I could get no information from the guys at the order counter. They can only explain the basics--this dish is fish, this one is beef, this one is goat, this dessert is made with flour and sugar.
You order from the display, not a menu. Above are one day's vegetable accompaniments.
Along with cauliflower and eggplant, they included pumpkin with peas, and red potatoes cut in thin strips with a little of the peel attached, which made the potatoes more attractive. You could order a single vegetable or a combination of two, as in the bowl above.
Breads are roti and paratha, which look the same except that parathas are cooked with oil, which makes them tastier. The small dish at the upper left holds a spicy blend of yogurt with, I'm guessing, green chile, cilantro and a dash of sugar. In the photo at the top, you can see a chicken puff, which was marvelously light and fluffy.
The dessert counter is full of goodies. Sweetened curd (yogurt) tinted pale orange is perfect after a spicy meal. Others that I saw were ras malai, gulab jamun and the Bengali sweets chum chum and sandesh. Tempting as these were, the one thing that I wanted to take home was the chicken. It's $5 for an order, which is about half a pound.
Swadesh, 4153 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90020. Tel: (213) 386-7799.
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