A Taste of India

The Marriott has opened another hotel, very close to its subsidiary property, the Renaissance Hotel on Xiao Yun Road on the northeast side of the city. Maybe that's why the new hotel is creatively called... Marriott Northeast.

It's a strange neighbourhood for this hotel to be in, as it's a completely local area, which probably explains why there aren't many people who have discovered this place despite the many promotions it has going on.

One of them is for its Indian restaurant called Tamarind, where if two diners come, one can eat for free, and for the three of us who went on Friday night, it was one-third off.

Located on the second floor of the hotel, Tamarind is a warm and inviting place, with a wood-paneled ceiling, green candelabras, cozy booth seating and a giant open kitchen at the back complete with a copper tandoori oven.

The menu is presented on nice parchment paper, listing numerous dishes that are divided into vegetarian and meats so that there is no confusion.

For appetizers the tandoori broccoli was a fiery start to the culinary feast, with spices and seasoning, but my friend was disappointed there weren't more florets to eat.

Thankfully that was the only disappointment.

We had a clay pot filled with rice and vegetables that was covered with a dough and then baked. The ingredients inside were piping hot, cooked perfectly and tasted delicious.

The cauliflower stuffed flatbread was also good, but a pity that one serving only had four pieces.

Nevertheless, the Indian butter chicken was divine, the meat tender and the sauce even better with the aforementioned vegetable rice. We also ordered stewed black lentils called dhal makani that were hearty and thick.

The lamb shank marinated in seasonings was great, almost falling off the bone. Our server helped us dissect the meat off with not too much difficulty.

When we finished the relatively small-portioned dinner, it was just enough, but also left room for dessert.

My friend ordered a mango ice cream that he quite enjoyed, while I tried gulab jamun, basically deep-fried dough balls served in a syrupy sauce.

In the end our bill came to about 244 RMB ($35.70) for three, which was a great deal. There were only two or three other tables occupied that night which meant the place didn't have much atmosphere. But it also means there will definitely be a table for us when we come back again soon to sample more Tamarind dishes.

Tamarind
2/F, Marriott Northeast
26A Xiaoyun Road
Chaoyang District
Beijing

5927 8888 X 8328