Refuse to eat bland and boring food—try Indian cuisine!

Taste of India, just off of Memorial Boulevard on the north side of town and owned and operated by Guriqbal “Paul” Singh, offers a wide array of the Indian classics, and can serve as an approachable introduction to classic Indian cuisine—Indian favorites like butter chicken, goat rogan josh, lamb korma and chicken tikka masala, with a wide range of vegetarian dishes, curries and biryani.

The space, within a fairly new shopping strip on Eleanor Way, strikes a comfortable middle ground—well-decorated and just modern and elegant enough, but still relaxed, calm and casual.

Cricket plays on the television and Singh personally attends to kitchen duties every day as his wife, Rimpy, and his sister keep things running with the restaurant.

The naan—traditional Indian flatbread ideal for dipping into curries and sauces—is exceptional. The freshly made bread arrives just a little crisp on one side, similar to a pizza crust, from that side’s contact with the tandoor, but super light, fluffy and bubbly on the top.

Taste of India tops this naan with garlic, chili peppers or simply butter, or nothing at all, based on the diner’s instructions.

As delicious as all of the entrees are, for many the naan is the highlight of the Taste of India experience. Try the naan dipped in the saag, a creamy, garlicky spinach dish. Magnificent.

The broad Taste of India menu also contains a naan stuffed with spiced minced lamb, known as keema naan, and another stuffed with a sweet cherry pie-like filling, resulting in something along the lines of a gourmet Indian Pop-Tart.

Among the plentiful entrees, dishes like the chicken malai kabob [pictured at top] deliver a gentle blend of smoke and spice, featuring well-seasoned chunks of chicken grilled in the tandoor and served alongside a subtly sweet and tangy, barbecue-like sauce.

The lamb korma—lamb cooked in a creamy sauce made with cashews, almonds, yogurt and cardamom—draws high praise from local diners.

“One of the single best Indian dishes we’ve tried (and we’ve been to Indian spots all over the world) was their lamb korma,” said Adam Riddick after an exceptional Taste of India experience. “That lamb was so tender, but the star of the show was the korma sauce! It tasted so fresh, homemade and soul-warming, much like a Southern gravy with Indian-style spices. A complete home run.”

He added that the chicken vindaloo was tasty as well and “the grilled paneer tikka was fantastic and served on a sizzling fajita style plate with onions, peppers and limes.”

Another pleased customer, Coco Rorelle, agreed that “the lamb korma was genuinely phenomenal,” describing the whole experience in a posted review as “perfect in every way. Everything was clean, everything was so tasty! As soon as I walked in I could smell the amazing food.”

The goat rogan josh is another popular entree—“A Kashmiri masterpiece: goat slow-braised in a vibrant red sauce of Kashmiri chilies, yogurt, and aromatic whole spices. Deeply flavorful, moderately spiced,” according to the menu.

“Try the malai kofta—you will not be disappointed,” said Nathaniel Palmer.

This one places soft dumplings made from paneer, potatoes and nuts in a creamy golden gravy with cashews and raisins.

The Taste of India menu has an entire section of dishes made with paneer—cubes of a firm cheese that hold their shape when cooked, rather than melting into the dish.

For newcomers, the lunch buffet offers an easy entry point into Indian cuisine. The buffet, served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day but Monday, features a rotating selection that typically includes several chicken dishes, creamy saag (spinach), chickpeas, rice, naan, salad and a few desserts. It’s not an overwhelmingly huge spread, but it offers a solid variety to explore and more than enough for the largest appetites to get their fill, and a great value for food of this quality, and quantity, at $14.99.

“A really nice buffet with plenty of vegetarian options! Each dish was distinctive in flavor and tasty. Spice level was present but not aggressive,” local diner Andrea Dawson reported. “Garlic naan was crispy and flavorful. Gulab jamun was warm, soft, and sweet. Service was very friendly and the ambience was comfortable and relaxing.”

On one recent weekday the buffet contained four different chicken dishes—butter chicken, mango chicken, chicken korma, and those bone-in, smoky, red tandoori chicken pieces.

Another diner said they found the mango chicken “perfectly balanced with sweet and savory flavors.” The butter chicken was “incredibly creamy, rich, and packed with authentic spices.”

And there’s always that delicious creamy spinach dish, saag, on the buffet.

“The tastiest Indian lunch buffet I’ve ever had,” said Byungkook Lee.

It’ll put you in a chicken korma.

Everything is so flavorful in its own right! But if you need even more punch, there’s a delightful minty yogurt sauce. Most of the dishes have complex, bold tastes, but nothing is overwhelmingly spicy, as far as the buffet items go.

It contains a few sweet items as well—the popular gulab jamun (spongy milk-solid dumplings deep-fried golden and soaked in warm rose-cardamom sugar syrup), rice pudding, and halwa, a sort of bread pudding made with semolina flour, almost the consistency of finely ground grits, but sweet and tasty.

For the younger diners, the restaurant includes a thoughtfully designed kids menu for those unwilling to try the authentic tastes of India, featuring chicken tenders, fries and a house-made cheese pizza built on naan-style dough, rather than a frozen pizza. In at least one case, though, the naan itself proved to be a big hit for one picky local 5-year-old, earning a spot on his personal list of favorite foods.

To drink, a mango lassi—“India’s favorite refreshing drink,” according to the menu—a chilled yogurt-based smoothie blended with sweet mango purée, offers a refreshing counterpoint to the spices; chai tea, various Indian beers and other beers, juices, and soft drinks round out the beverage menu.

The service also earns frequent compliments, with the staff friendly, accommodating and willing to adjust spice levels or dishes to suit individual tastes when possible.

Butter Chicken

“My daughter has very low spice tolerance (like breakfast sausage is too spicy for her), so she had a hard time finding something she liked on the buffet. They made her a special bowl of chicken korma with no spice at no extra charge,” Melissa Baker said.

Like many scratch kitchens, made-to-order meals here can take a bit of time to arrive. But most diners agree it’s a tradeoff worth making.

Taste of India holds its own within the increasingly broad Murfreesboro global dining scene, offering an excellent lunch buffet and a wide selection of flavorful dishes.

“Excellent authentic North Indian (Punjabi) food served in a comfortable nicely decorated space,” Tina Gupta Patel posted. “Daily buffet at lunch is hot and fresh and at least four meat options and four to six vegetarian options. Nice service. I am Indian and my 79-year-old mom agrees 100%, and my cousin who was recently visiting from India was very impressed!”

Try it out for a quick hot lunch, to explore something new and exotic, or for a warm and comforting meal of tikka masala and naan.

Taste of India
120 Eleanor Way, Suite A
Tues.–Sat.: 11 a.m.–3 p.m., 5–9:30 p.m.; Sun.: 11 a.m.–3 p.m., 5–9 p.m.
615-624-7275
Butter chicken: $14.99; Lunch buffet: $14.99; Goat rogan josh: $19.99; Chicken malai kabab: $14.99; Shrimp and fish biryani: $16.99; Chicken vindaloo: $14.99; Goat biryani: $17.99
tasteofindiatn.com