TCP: The Curry Project

In a most unexpected location sits the Indian restaurant where I have eaten more platefuls of curry than in any other Indian restaurant on this planet. The name on the sign reads “Anand’s” but unless you know it’s there, you won’t find it. Actually, the biggest problem is not locating its well-hidden lane, but locating the 34 square mile island that Anand’s calls home. Again, unless you know it’s there, this tiny speck of land is terribly easy to miss.

Several years ago I was working on board a major cruise ship that docked in St. Maarten every Thursday for seven straight months. And so, every Thursday, as soon as I had some free time, I would sprint off the ship and down the pier, along the white-sand beaches and past the dozens of restaurants in the center of Philipsburg, eventually heading down that narrow lane, known as Hotelsteeg, that led to Anand’s.

As soon as I walked through the door of the restaurant, I wanted nothing more than a feast of a lunch. I actually always ordered two feasts – one to eat right then and there and another to take back with me to the ship for dinner. Yes, it was that good.

Anand’s is a tiny place, with only enough room for about 20 customers. The floors are concrete, the walls a basic white stucco. The only decorations are the trails of sand on the floor left behind by flip-flop wearing customers who had just come from the beach nearby. There are always customers though – cruise ship passengers, Indian crew members looking for a reminder of home and enough locals to convince any outsider that this restaurant is of the highest quality.

As far as the food is concerned, after 30+ visits to this restaurant, I have tasted virtually everything on the menu, including samosas, pakoras, naan breads, kormas, vindaloos, dals, biryanis and my favorite of Anand’s dishes, the spicy chicken jalfrezi. And in all honesty, not once was I or any of my cruise ship colleagues that accompanied me on these Indian food binges, ever disappointed with any aspect of our meals.

Every item on the menu is prepared fresh by the family that owns the restaurant. Anand himself helps out in the kitchen in between  visits to tables where he genuinely asks for feedback regarding all aspects of a customer’s dining experience.

While the service and coziness of the place was certainly appealing, it was always the remarkable quality of the food that caused me to so eagerly anticipate my weekly visits to this island. And even though the rank of my job position on board the cruise ship allowed me to dine in any of the five-star passenger restaurants on any given night, I preferred instead to sit in my small cabin after the ship left St. Maarten and dig into my second Indian meal of the day. Ahhh….the memories!

Ok, ok…I understand that there are clearly some issues involved with writing a review based upon somewhat distant memories of what my dining experiences entailed. However, as luck would have it, I recently had an opportunity to travel to St. Maarten again and as you can imagine, Anand’s was the first destination on my list.

Less than an hour after my flight landed, with suitcase in tow, I once again walked through the door of my once favorite Indian restaurant. Not only was I greeted by the same basic interior design, but by the same smiles of the same family that I had known from my earlier visits.

Before long, I was sitting there in a state of ecstasy, eating my near-perfect samosas and my absolutely perfect chicken jalfrezi. At one point, Anand approached me and asked if I had ever eaten in his restaurant before. After explaining that I had once been a regular customer, he somehow miraculously recalled which cruise line I had worked for and he was able to describe some of the people I often brought with me to his restaurant. Then, in typical Anand fashion, he asked me if the food was as good on this occasion as it was during my dozens of prior visits.

“Oh yes, exactly how I remember,” I told him.

I was about to order another dish to take back with me for dinner, until I realized that I no longer worked on board a cruise ship and that my hotel for the next three nights was located only four blocks away from the restaurant. When the urge for Indian struck, at least for the following few days, all I had to do was take a short walk down the road.

Restaurant Details:
Anand’s
5 Hotelsteeg, Philipsburg, St. Maarten
599-542-5706
ananpalace@hotmail.com
Hours: Monday to Saturday – Open for Lunch & Dinner