Friday, January 6, 2006

Tajmahal offers authentic East Indian foods

Kenn Rodriguez News-Bulletin Staff Writer; krodriguez@news-bulletin.com

Belen Henry Haider said he moved to Belen to retire after 20 years of supervising a pair of Indian restaurants in Los Angeles. Instead he and his wife Shirley ended up opening an East Indian restaurant, Tajmahal Zesty Curries, in the Hub City.

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The two-month-old eatery at 325 South Main, Suite D, is the only restaurant of its kind in New Mexico, serving a lunch buffet and sporting a dinner menu that features over 100 entrees.

"I came to retire and ended up opening a restaurant," said Henry Haider as Shirley Haider and a few workers worked busily — and occasionally noisily — in the kitchen in preparation for dinner. "In this area, there's no authentic cooking style, except New Mexican food — which isn't bad food. But you don't have any authenticated food from anywhere else. So we wanted to bring some authenticity to the area."

That authenticity is attracting food connoisseurs from as far away as Rio Rancho, Mountainair, Socorro and Albuquerque to sample the restaurant's East Indian cuisine. So far it's those out-of-town visitors who are making the restaurant a success. Haider said he and his wife get more business for dinner than lunch but he hopes that lunch will gain popularity. The restaurant's advertising touts coupons for Belen business employees as well.

"We have a very good name so far," Haider said. "Being a Indian restaurant in a small town it takes a while for people to understand what kind of food because this is a new kind of food and a new kind of cooking style, and people — locals — are a little hesitant. But it will pick up, slowly but steadily."

While the restaurant's advertising touts "Indian Cuisine," Haider pointed out that there are three distinct types of cuisine from the country of India — North Indian, South Indian and East Indian.

"In North Indian food, the spices can be seen and felt," he said. "With East Indian food, the spices are not seen or felt. Indian food must have three factors — one is tone, another is temperament and the other is flavor."

Haider said the restaurant doesn't use any high cholesterol items and uses meat that is fat free.

"It's very healthy — our food is very healthy," he said. "We use only special parts — the beef is only the shoulders, our chicken curry is only the breast, our pork is only the belly. We do that for the flavor."

Haider said he believes the restaurant may be the only one in New Mexico that serves both vegetarian and diuretic dishes — dishes that have sugar and starch removed from their ingredients. Tajmahal serves more than 67 vegetarian dishes, making it a non-meat eater's delight.

Haider said that fish curry, pork vindaloo and biryani — a dish cooked with basmuthi rice ("the best rice in the world" said Heider) clarified butter and herbs and the meat or fish of the customer's choice.

For it's specialized menu, Tajmahal imports many of its spices and herbs, though Haider said he is also getting some ingredients from local store Back to Basics.

Haider said he expects business to be solid by April as local customers become open to the idea of Indian food from the Indian continent and not from the Pueblos.

While Tajmahal has a good spot on Main Street, Haider said location is not as much an issue for Tajmahal.

"With this kind of restaurant, you don't need a prime space," he said. "We could be in the middle of the mesa and we'd still get customers. We have people coming in from Rio Rancho or Albuquerque. They don't know what street this is. Socorro, they don't know. They've heard about us, and they come specifically for the food."

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