Indian Restaurants in Krakow

Indian restaurants keep springing up almost everywhere in and around Krakow's city centre, as its popularity is increasing. The most popular dishes are North Indian ones, like Korma, Balti, Tandoori, and Kadhai, served with roti, naan or rice.

The levels of spice are reduced considerably to accommodate European taste buds and the variety on offer in most of these restaurants is quite similar; but you can find a few that serve South Indian dishes as well like the Masala Dosa – a crepe made of rice flour and served with a potato filling. Samosas are quite a popular snack made of flour, like the Polish pierogi, and often stuffed with mixed vegetables or meat and are enjoyable with a nice hot cup of Chai at tea time or just as a starter. The most under-rated drink however is the Lassi. Lassi (yogurt based) is known to promote the digestive enzymes in your body and aid digestion. One can enjoy it sweet, salty or with the pulp of sweet mangoes, which is quite refreshing.

Indian food is synonymous with the word 'Spice' or 'Curry'. In some cases, when you ask a foreigner who has never been to India, if they have eaten Indian food before, you would most likely get the reply, "Yes, I have had Chicken Tikka Masala!" However, Indian cuisine is more than just curry or Tikka Masala. Like the nation, Indian food itself is a diverse hot pot of tastes and flavours, ranging from sweet, sour, mild and very spicy dishes. It has its influence from foreign invasions, the spice trade and even colonialism. A vast majority of the Hindu population, in India, are primarily vegetarian. When Mughuls invaded India around 16th century, they brought with them the influences of their style of cooking. Popular Mughlai dishes include Biryani, Mughlai Parathas, Murgh Mussallam, Fallooda, Gulab Jamun, Jalebi etc. Another point to note about Indian cuisine, is that it is regional. In India, one may find restaurants that cater to specific regional cuisines, the popular ones being:

North India - Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Rajasthani, Mughlai;

South India - Telugu, Karnataka, Kerala, Hyderabadi, Mangalorean, Saraswat Mangalorean Catholic; 

East, North East India - Assamese, Bengali, Manipuri, Odia, Sikkimese;

West India - Goan, Gujarati, Marathi, Sindhi Parsi and

Other Influences - Indio-Chinese, Nepali, Anglo-Indian, Chettinad.

Traditionally, Indian cuisine does not have a soup dish for starters, but these days Rasam (a tomato, spice, lentils and water based dish) is served as a soup. It is fluid in consistency and is traditionally eaten with rice in the Sub-Continent. Starters are very popular in India and can be either vegetarian or non-vegetarian in nature. Indian sweets or desserts are countless and are often milk based products. As more and more Indian restaurants continue to open in Krakow, both locals and visitors are now finally getting the chance to really enjoy the richness and diversity of Indian cuisine.