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Dear customers,

Indian regional dishes make the Sub-continent’s food incredibly rich, varied and quite distinguishable.

The real Indian cooking has much more to offer then what is served up in so many Indian restaurants outside India.

Having travelled all over India and learned from book written by great Indian chefs such as Camellia Punjabi, Sunil Vijayakar and my mother, I have great pleasure in creating this new menu.

The dishes in this new menu, as in the old one, are partly based on the principals of Ayurveda, which is the strongest influence on the Indian cuisine, for at least 80 per cent of the Indians –the Hindus. Ayurveda is an ancient body of knowledge related with health and the well being.

Its distinctive flavours and aromas define Indian cuisines. We use fresh ingredients, dried herbs, spices and flavourings to create sauces and marinades and the colourful diversity of the ingredients bring each recipe to life.

History has played an important role in the development of flavours and the introduction of new ingredients into the food. The Mongol invaders brought with them their Persian style of cooking, while Portuguese, who ruled Goa on the west coast, for four centuries, introduced ingredients such as chillies, peppers, tomatoes and cashew nuts. The British colonialists of the Raj also left greens such as cabbages, runner beans and broad beans in their wake.

In this menu I have included the most popular dishes from the previous one and have added some new ones. I have taken great pleasure in creating this second menu for Tamarind and I hope it is to your liking.

Why an Indian meal: the world’s eating preferences are becoming unified. First, it was the high protein diet that won a following, then the white meat variation of the protein-dominated diet, took over. Now the world has moved towards the Mediterranean diet, dominated by carbohydrates, flavoured with olive oil, tomatoes and basil.

Thai cuisine, with its aromatic blend of herbs, chilli, ginger and lemon flavour is becoming increasingly popular. Indian cuisine combines all of these characteristics.

Chef Hardev

Indian cuisine is defined by its variety of aromas and flavors.

At Tamarind we challenge the notion that Indian haute cuisine can only be created using age old recipes.

We believe that Indian food should constantly evolve adapting new flavors and new ideas.

Our cuisine is partially based on the principals of Ayurveda, which has the strongest influence on the Indian cuisine.

Ayurveda, a system of self-care originated in India more than 5000 years ago, which is becoming very popular all over the world, views each and every person as unique, with an unique mind-body constitution and an unique set of life circumstances.

According to Ayurveda, because we each have an unique constitution, our health prescription must be unique to us.

This means that in order to be healthy, you need to eat certain foods that are beneficial for your body type and stay away from others.

Ayurveda means “the science of life.”

Inspired by this philosophy, we based our recipes on the theory of the 6 flavors (sweetness, acidity, salty, sourness, pungency, astringency) and the 6 qualities (hot, cold, dry, oily, light, heavy). Ayurveda is a personal growth process leading you to better listen to your body with its needs aiming an always higher balance and well being.

The most important part of Ayurveda is to learn or be remembered to take better care of ourselves!

Namastê.