Yeah, I know, I may be crazy to expect any food court food to be good. But in the last year or so, I’ve eaten Indian food from several restaurants in mall food courts. It’s not great chicken tikka masala, but it’s better than no chicken tikka masala, and it’s definitely better than most of the other food options.
But the naan! I’ve tried it once from each mall restaurant, and it’s uniformly awful in a uniform way: slightly fluffy (but tough, probably because it’s microwaved before serving), rectangular, of a uniform thickness with no big air pockets, and sweetened. I don’t expect Indian restaurants in a mall to have a tandoori oven, but I’d think they could come up with a “popularized” version of naan that’s better than what they serve.
It’s not hard to fake. The reheatable stuff that I get from the supermarket is far closer to the real stuff than what you describe. However, even reheating it needs close attention to stop it from burning. Far easier to use a crappy microwavable substitute instead.
That’s a good point – I have purchased naan from grocery stores, and it’s utterly unlike what food court restaurants serve. It’s edible, and it actually resembles naan as I know it from regular Indian restaurants.
I’m less surprised that food court naan is bad than I am at the fact that it’s all bad in the same way – even crappy french fries exhibit more variety, frankly.
An Indian bread, quite flat, served with curries. Real naan is cooked on the inside of a tandoor, a large (floor-standing) clay oven, and so isn’t the easiest of thigns to replicate.
Last photo here shows a tandoor in use, and here includes a naan being cooked (the orange thing at the top of the picture - only orange from the heat!).
Sounds interesting. Where are the food courts that serve this kind of thing? In my part of the country, food courts are usually full of pizza sellers, corn dog joints, and donut factories.
I susspect very few if any food courts have a propper tandoor oven. Reheating naan is possible but takes care, keeping naan hot on a warmer plate ruins the naan. Too many Indian buffet restaurants rely on warmer plates to store the naans leaving them horrible and rubbery. Seek out a place with a tandoor and have yourself so fresh naan.
I’ve come across three Indian restaurants in Seattle-area malls. I first noticed it in the SuperMall in Auburn, actually, when I worked across the street. There’s also an Indian restaurant – different name, so not a chain, I assume – in Westlake Center downtown.
Pizza sellers, corn dog joints and donut factories are all represented as well, as are BBQ, Chinese and Thai places.
At Great Lakes Crossings in Auburn Hills, MI they have some majorly sucky food court that is absolutely huge.
The worst of the lot is or was Hot Dog on a Stick. I never saw anyone eat there and the employees had to wear a uniform that looked like it was directly out of some teen comedy movie. I always suspected it was a front for the mob.
I often wondered about that…I mean, do they pay $50/hour to work there? What teenager in their right mind would ever, and I mean, EVER put on that outfit!!! It just screams, “Dork”!
If I ever got a job working there, relatives and friends would fly half way around the world to get a photo of me wearing that ridiculous outfit, and the mall would be filled with people rolling on the floor in hysterics.
Regarding good naan…others have pointed out the main factor is to have the correct clay oven. Consider yourself lucky to have the rest of the good Indian food available. There is supposed to be a great Greek restaurant at a local mall here in Las Vegas I have been meaning to try, but sadly no Indian food in the food courts.
Hot dog on a stick is great. Their lemon aid is good. If you can keep the oil at the right temperature there is not much that can be done to screw up a corn dog.
Among the awkwardly recreated ethnic foods that have been found in Trinidad food courts…
Lasagna that consists of lasagna noodles, ground beef, ketchup, with soy sauce on top served ice cold!:eek:
Ravioli that is stuffed with ground beef, in a sauce that is obviously ketchup by taste.
Gyros that consist of pressed lamb(shocking right?) with ketchup and mayo wrapped in a tortilla! That is if you are lucky some places serve strange cubed meat gyros that taste like goat?
Hummus that is from a can(and sure tastes it!) I made a thread on this horrible hummus.
I’m pretty sure food courts are not the place for authentic ethnic foods as standards will only be as high as customers demand. And you’re not likely to find many Indian expats dining at food court Indian restaurants, mostly people who couldn’t tell good naan from bad… Also what does the naan from the grocery that is passable COST? That is the biggie right there, in my experience is an ingredient is too pricey it will get replaced with whatever is cheapest.
There is a small local chain of mall Indian restaurants her in the Boston area that serves a pretty decent naan. It’s not rectangular, and I don’t think it’s microwaved – there’s a delay before you get it, and I think it’s actually made fresh. The piece is rioughly circular, with bubbles and small locally crisp and browned areas. It’s definitely not “sweet”.
Unfortunately, they’ve withdrawn from the mall closest to me, but they’re in other area malls.
that is, if you can find fresh pita!! 