Royal Cuisine: Indian Food in Elko, Nevada

The Royal Cuisine in downtown Elko is one more step toward the diversification of northeast Nevada's culinary offerings. Now, there's at least one more option besides the typical American, Mexican, Chinese and Basque dining options. Although a Greek or Middle Eastern restaurant would've been more welcome to me, Royal Cuisine still serves up delicious traditional Indian food at reasonable prices. The restaurant is located at 232 Silver St., next door to Star Hotel. It's in the old Cloud 9 bar building, of which the owners did much renovation to bring the structure up to modern codes. The interior decoration would make one think the building was brand new. The dining room seating is ample and spacious; not cramped like other places that try to cram in as many people as they can and deliver sub-par service as a result because there are more diners than they can handle.

There is Indian decor on the walls and Fridays there is belly dancing. Although the restaurant had an unstable start with training wait staff and getting the menu in good order, everything's on track now.

The wait staff is friendly, knowledgeable and the menu is immense but focused with a variety of offerings ranging from curries to kebabs, vegetarian dishes, appetizers and even Indian desserts. They even offer Greek souvlaki and gyro as an aside.

The appetizers are all made fresh to order. The veggie pakora is the Indian version of pub battered veggies with a kick! The orange tint to the batter on these bad boys should serve as an indicator that there's some serious spice going on.

In addition, the menu offers naan and prathas. Naan is traditional clay oven-baked flat bread. Pratha is pan-cooked bread stuffed with vegetables. Although simple, there's nothing better than freshly baked naan -- except if it's freshly baked garlic/herb naan!

The lunch hour features daily buffet specials, which usually features a variety of curries, kebabs and other items. This is a good place to start for those who have never had Indian food before, as there's plenty to pick from. In case you try something you don't like, there are plenty of other things to try.

Like any buffet restaurant, the food is best when fresh from the kitchen. If you don't come at the noon hour, you can always try a vindallo, kebab or curry if you want to order something relatively safe. The menu also features seafood and steak, as well as burgers and chicken fingers for the kids whose palates might not be ready for Indian food yet.

Vindallo is a tomato and onion-based sauce or gravy flavored with the stock of whatever meat is in it. Beef vindallo, chicken vindallo and even goat vindallo are options. This is surprisingly familiar of some country-style stews I've had here in the States. Very hearty stuff indeed. The chicken tikka kebab is chunks of chicken marinated in spices and grilled. It's simple enough, but extremely flavorful. And the curries are equally flavorful. Indeed, the signature dish of India is well-represented at the Royal Cuisine with chicken, goat, lamb, beef, fish and even shrimp curry.

Desserts include gulab jamun, ras malai and traditional rice pudding simmered in saffron-flavored milk and Indian ice cream. For those not in the know, Indian ice cream is a mixture of fruits with pistachio. Gulab Jamun are golden-fried soft balls of milk dough soaked in syrup. Ras malai are milk-dough patties soaked in sweet cream.

And if that isn't enough, they also offer original, mango and strawberry lassi shakes, which are whipped yogurt.

Everything is rich and flavorful. Menu items are made to personal taste -- mild, medium and hot. Understand, please, that Asian hot is different from Mexican hot in that one has an almost immediate burn which some Asian versions of "hot" come on gradually.

Stick with the standard until you've become a connoisseur.