Foodholic Niko @ Taipei

"TAJ Indian Restaurant" offers authentic North Indian cuisine. The owner is Pakistani, and all the chefs have been invited from India to Taiwan. It is a restaurant certified halal.

Located near Zhongxiao Fuxing Station, it takes about a 6-minute walk from Exit 5. The exterior features large fluorescent green lettering, making it quite eye-catching, and the interior decor has a strong Indian vibe, with Indian music playing.

On Friday around 6:30 PM, the restaurant was nearly full. If you plan to dine here, it's highly recommended to make a reservation to avoid disappointment.

Tandoori Bread
We ordered three flavors: plain $65, butter $70, and garlic $80. Each serving comes with four pieces, which are perfect for dipping in curry. The plain one is quite tasty, but my favorite is the garlic one, which has a strong garlic aroma. It's best enjoyed hot.

Indian Curry Dumplings (2 pieces) $100
Quite large in size, the outer skin is fried to the point of being a bit hard and requires some effort to eat. The filling is packed with mashed potatoes and some vegetables (I saw green peas). It's quite heavy, and I recommend dipping it in ketchup to balance the richness; I probably wouldn’t order this again.

Taj Red Yogurt Grilled Chicken (half serving/4 pieces) $300
This dish is the signature item, and having tried it, I understand why. Although the price is a bit high, it's well worth it. Although it looks very red, it's not overly spicy, and the seasoning is excellent. The chicken is tender and retains its juices.

Bell Pepper Spiced Curry Chicken $350
It contains green and sweet peppers, but I feel the pepper flavor isn't too strong. The dominant flavor is the spiced curry, which is mildly spicy. The chicken is in large pieces and remains tender; this dish is delicious and worth ordering.

Yogurt Curry Cheese Balls $320
The curry flavor has a hint of sweetness. The cheese balls are different from what I expected; I thought they would be cheese balls, but they resemble something like mashed potatoes mixed with vegetable puree, which I didn’t particularly like. The curry itself isn’t heavily salted, so I wouldn't order this again.

Spinach Curry Lamb $350
This was my favorite among the three curries today. I generally don’t like spinach, but this spinach curry is incredibly delicious. It doesn’t have a strong vegetable taste, and the lamb is tender and doesn't have a strong gamey flavor. It’s great whether dipped in bread or served with rice.

Indian Milk Tea (Iced) $100
This was my favorite today! The milk and tea flavors blend perfectly, with neither overpowering the other. It has a rich and creamy taste, and for a large cup at $100, it's far superior to the milk tea served in many cafés.

Sweet Lassi (Yogurt Drink) $110
This was ordered by a friend, and I took a sip. It tastes like yogurt but is also infused with a strong spice flavor. Personally, I didn't enjoy it; the traditional milk tea is more to my taste.