Restaurant: Kapoor’s Akbar
Location: 701 W Cesar Estrada Chavez Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Date: March 13, 2018
Cuisine: Indian
Rating: Great, Fresh, Indian
I’ve been going to various Akbar Indian restaurants since 1997 and it has always been my favorite LA Indian restaurant.
Recently, chef, owner, and friend Avi Kapoor closed up his iconic Pasadena location and relocated to downtown. And as such, the new Kapoor’s Akbar is born.
It’s tucked just north of DTLA proper between the high rise zone and Chinatown.
Along comes this crazy Bollywood mural.
The kitchen.
And the giant table set for our my Hedonist group feast.
Spicy pickles, mint chutney, and the coconut based one.
Mango chutney.
Crazy good cheese naan!
New to the menu at this location, Lamb Sliders. Ground lamb & aromatic spices, onion, mint chutney.
Brussel Sprouts !?!
Poutine du Yarom. The big guy requested this one. Fries with curried lamb and fried egg! Good stuff, and certainly not on the vegan diet!
Tandoori Salmon. Wild salmon marinated in spices, garlic ginger.
Butternut Squash Soup. Roasted butternut squash, mild spices. Very creamy.
Tandoori Lamb Rib Chop. Spring tender lamb rib chops marinated in ginger. Incredibly soft and full of fabulous lightly spicy flavor!
Paneer Makhani. Paneer prepared in tomato butter sauce. Basically Chicken Tikka Masala without the chicken but with cheese!
Pork Vindaloo. Pork prepared in tangy tomato-based sauce with potatoes.
Crab Curry. Blue crab claw meat prepared in coconut, tamarind curry. This was a new dish, in what I think is a more Southern Indian style. It was delicious and very creamy.
Saffron Rice. Aromatic rice suffused with saffron.
Akbari Biryani. Curried lamb, chicken and shrimp cooked with rice in Moghul style. Clearly closely related to similar Persian dishes (hence the Moghul style).
Mango cheesecake and Gulab Jamun. The classic sweet dough/cheese balls in syrup.
By my special request a portion of rice pudding — love it!
This is one of the best Indian restaurants I’ve been to in the city. Too many Indian places focus on low cost buffets of very over cooked food, but Akbar cooks everything to order — even baking their own Naan when you place the order. They are focused on the cuisine of the Punjab (Northern India), with very good curries and kormas. You can get anything from extremely mild to blow the top of your head off if you ask — which is the way I like it. But most importantly the flavors are really balanced and fresh. Yum!
Tonight we tried out some new things, of which the Crab Curry was my favorite — I love curry.
For more LA dining reviews click here.
Too much of a wine zoo to bother writing them up, but most of the wines are pictured below:
