Ajanta is a favorite restaurant of chef Alice Waters and has been voted best Indian restaurant in the Bay Area by several different organizations. The restaurant features a monthly changing menu with which utilizes natural, organic and hormone and pesticide-free meats and sustainable seafood. Its extensive menu offers something for everyone, including meals for struggling gluten intolerant diners and vegetarians. The elegant interiors feature a unique lit ceiling which doubles as an acoustic device, softening the ambient noise of diners.
Vik's has come a long way since the days when it was housed in a corner of a warehouse not far from it's current location. The new home for Vik's restaurant is a celebration of its roots -- a reworking of another old warehouse space in the West Berkeley neighborhood. The colors of the new building alert you to the spicy scent of cardamon, coriander, saffron and cumin before you even enter the building. Inside, the high walls, painted blue and gold, give way to a vast skylight providing natural light to the interiors. Walls are covered with natural fiber insulation to keep the noise level down, which has only moderate success as this restaurant can serve up to 2000 people a day. The tables and ordering counters are all covered in stainless steel giving the place a clean, modern look.
The adjacent retail store sells all sorts of packaged Indian food, from frozen meals to bags of fresh spices and various cooking ingredients.
Heading toward the residential end of Sacramento Street, locals with a hankering for authentic North Indian food can stop in to Mehak Indian Cuisine, an eatery small in size but large in options. Open for lunch and dinner, the quiet, casual restaurant features such traditional Indian favorites as chicken tikka masala and lamb and chicken curries, as well as unique flavors, like ginger lamb and chili chicken. Also on hand are a variety of breads, with such additions to the standard plain naan as kashmiri naan (stuffed with cherries, raisins, coconut and other nuts) and onion kulcha, stuffed with onions and spices.
Mehak also offers an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet for $7.99, which includes many of its most popular menu items.
Bombay Cuisine has served Northern and Southern style Indian food since 1985. Customers love the Bombay Thali, Lamb Biryani and other favorites such as the Vindaloo and dosas. Bombay Cuisine carries a few appetizers that are unusual including patra, which are crushed chickpeas, tamarind and spices in a Taro leaf. Don't forget to wash your meal down with a tasty Mango Lassi.
Udupi Palace is a South Indian vegetarian restaurant best known for its dosas - thin rice crepes stuffed with various fillings - and its uthappams - rice and lentil pancakes topped with your choice of ingredients. Udupi Palace is open seven days a week and offers a lunch buffet that includes curries, dosa, fruit, salad and desserts.
While excellent Indian restaurants seem to be on every other Berkeley street corner, Himalayan Flavors provides some diversity for local food lovers by combining the cuisines of India and Nepal, which tends to work on the same flavor palette, but is a little mellower. This restaurant has a limited delivery area, a private room available for guests and catering services available, but coming in to the restaurant has its privileges: The restaurant occasionally plays host to live entertainment and to Bollywood dance lessons. Check its website for more information as well as to learn more about its associations with Karma Clinic and Karma Kitchen.
