Restaurant Review: Tiffin
Scoping out Indian Cuisine on Devon Ave.
JANE YOO, '09
Issue date: 11/6/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment
Devon Avenue is a study of contrasts. Walk East along Dev-on and you will no-tice Jewish and Rus-sian businesses; cross Western Ave., and you suddenly enter Chicago's version of South Asia crammed into a few city blocks. During our monthly shopping trip to Devon, my friend, a native of Hyderabad, suggested that we try out Tiffin (2536 W. Devon Ave.) for lunch. We arrived on Friday and immediately noticed the restaurant's close atten-tion to detail: the plates were placed upside-down on the tabletop and the cutlery was covered with a napkin (ap-provingly hygienic ways of setting a table). The unlimited buffet was the only option at lunch, and we got up to check out the offerings.
We started off with yogurt (a.k.a. raita), mint, and tamarind chutney, a condiment that is generally made from fresh fruits or vegetables. There were samosas filled with potatoes and seasonings, which I found tasted bet-ter with the raita. Chana dal, my favorite dish at Tiffin, is a type of lentil I mopped up the sauce with some complimentary naan bread. The egg-plant curry was spicy, and the eggplant I could taste the tomato paste and chili powder. Saag paneer, a spinach curry dish with dense cheese, is a dif-ficult dish to make if not executed properly. Tiffin however, judging by the color and texture of the spinach, took a shortcut by using frozen spin-ach. Lamb curry is another dish that is difficult to make, and Tiffin's hearty version had hints of turmeric.
The food that Tiffan served is gen-erally fast and easy to make. Although the dishes have roots in different re-gions of India (e.g. raita, naan, and tandoori are more typical of Northern Indian cuisine while saag paneer and the chicken and lamb curries are more typical of Southern India), you'll find the dishes at Tiffan at restaurants in out is to order food that I cannot easily make at home. Although most of the the home cook to prepare, it can be difficult to buy the proper spices given the inaccessibility of Devon Ave. The neighborhood is on the far north side of Chicago, and driving during the week is definitely recommended; parking is awful during the weekend.
We started off with yogurt (a.k.a. raita), mint, and tamarind chutney, a condiment that is generally made from fresh fruits or vegetables. There were samosas filled with potatoes and seasonings, which I found tasted bet-ter with the raita. Chana dal, my favorite dish at Tiffin, is a type of lentil I mopped up the sauce with some complimentary naan bread. The egg-plant curry was spicy, and the eggplant I could taste the tomato paste and chili powder. Saag paneer, a spinach curry dish with dense cheese, is a dif-ficult dish to make if not executed properly. Tiffin however, judging by the color and texture of the spinach, took a shortcut by using frozen spin-ach. Lamb curry is another dish that is difficult to make, and Tiffin's hearty version had hints of turmeric.
The food that Tiffan served is gen-erally fast and easy to make. Although the dishes have roots in different re-gions of India (e.g. raita, naan, and tandoori are more typical of Northern Indian cuisine while saag paneer and the chicken and lamb curries are more typical of Southern India), you'll find the dishes at Tiffan at restaurants in out is to order food that I cannot easily make at home. Although most of the the home cook to prepare, it can be difficult to buy the proper spices given the inaccessibility of Devon Ave. The neighborhood is on the far north side of Chicago, and driving during the week is definitely recommended; parking is awful during the weekend.
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