Royal India - Austin

I grew up in Dublin where Indian restaurants, very good Indian restaurants, abound. I absolutely love Indian food and was quite disappointed to find that Austin didn't seem to have many Indian eateries. The Star of India has long been my favorite, and for many years, only, go to for my curry fix. (I must tell you about the Star of India in another blog).

Thanks to Groupon, we discovered another Indian restaurant had opened in Austin, and not too far from home. They are located in the strip mall at the corner of Balcones Woods and 183.  Armed with our Groupon we headed to try it out.


Wow! Amazing. It is in a strip mall, so not terribly impressive outside, and strip mall restaurants tend to be very much alike on the interior, however there is an atmosphere in Royal India that can only be attributed to the staff and the very high standards. I highly recommend this place. And they take reservations online.




In the tradition of Indian food, everything is served in a serving dish and so mix and match is very simple, you get to taste a little of everything.

As there were five in our party, we had two appetizers. We started with Royal Reshmi Kabab - essentially a ground chicken sausage, spicy and delicious, and Chicken 65. Both were delicious. We also had Naan Bread which I really have to say was amazing. We ordered Garlic Naan and Jalapeno Chees Naan. Everyone enjoyed it.

For main course I had Dhaba Mutton Curry. They offer a spice level from one to five, with five being the hottest. I settled for 3 and it was perfect. In Ireland mutton = old sheep, in India apparently, it is goat, but either, it was wonderful! On the side I had spinach which I love in any shape or form.



Nya ordered the Butter Chicken at a level two and was very pleased with it. Travis showed us all up by ordering, and eating, a level 5 Chili Chicken.

Larry chose the Kakori Kabab and while he said it was delicious (and I affirm as I got to taste it) he was not too keen on the fact that it was ground lamb - also in a sort of sausage form. As he has only recently discovered lamb and likes it in its whole form best.





Our drive home was enhanced by a beautiful sunset - while nothing to do with the restaurant nor the great food, it was a lovely way to finish the evening.