TCP: The Curry Project

While wandering around the narrow cobblestone streets of historical Xela, something remarkably strange suddenly caught my attention.

Staring right at me, only a few feet from my face, was a small sign no larger than a shoebox nailed to a telephone pole. It simply read, “Indian Food” with a tiny arrow pointing to the left. My first thought was that the mountain air of Guatemala’s second largest city was causing me to hallucinate.

I looked to the left and there was no Indian restaurant in sight, nor was there a table on the footpath with platefuls of my favorite Indian dishes. But I was curious and so I walked off in the direction of the arrow. Two blocks later, when I came upon another sign, I followed the arrow pointing to the right.

A third sign directed me down a narrow and quiet alleyway, at the end of which was a large gate leading into a garage. I walked in and after a few more steps, loud steps thanks to my flat feet, out popped a young, smiling Guatemalan girl from around a corner.

“Bienvenidos a Sabor de la India,” she said. All I could say was “gracias, gracias, gracias!”

Any time I read the word ‘thali’ on a menu, I get a little too excited. So after knocking over my glass of water and half-heartedly reading through the extensive list of chicken, beef, fish and seafood items, I ordered the vegetarian thali without hesitation.

While waiting for my food, I had plenty of time to soak in the atmosphere as it took slightly over one hour for my meal to arrive. I felt as if I was sitting in the dining room of the owners’ (an Indian/Guatemalan couple) home. Actually, I was sitting in their dining room, or at least one of their dining rooms, and it was well-decorated, airy and with impressively comfortable plastic chairs.

The restaurant was relatively crowded, with six other foreigners scattered around the room. Had I been the only customer, the seventy-minute wait for my food would have been somewhat more difficult. I don’t usually associate Indian restaurants with the need to bring a book, but a 300-pager would have come in incredibly handy.

When the food arrived, it looked perfect. The large white thali plate overflowed with generous helpings of dal, baingan bharta (eggplant curry) and mixed veg curry, with a small salad on the side. The rice was plopped down in the middle and the naan was in its usual place – a basket off to the side.

However, after a few bites of this beautiful-looking food, it became quite evident that this meal was a classic case of ‘never judge a thali by the layout of the thali plate’. The taste of the food was quite disappointing. While the vegetables were as fresh as possible, the curries and dal were bland, as if the chef forgot to add the spices. Each of the items tasted more like a salad than the actual salad, which was at least tossed with some sort of dressing.

So, I spent $10 USD to chew on some ultra-fresh veggies, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing given the lack of vegetables in your typical Guatemalan fare. I just wished the dishes tasted more like Indian food.

Towards the end of my meal, a group of fifteen foreign volunteers entered the restaurant. I actually overheard some of them telling a few of the new arrivals that Sabor de la India was their favorite restaurant in town. All I kept hearing was “Everything on the menu is excellent.”

Maybe I was given a bum thali. Maybe the chef literally forgot to add the spices. It happens, maybe. But I suspect that after spending months or even years living in Guatemala, the expats get excited over eating something different, anything different, even if it isn’t so authentic.

I’d only been in Guatemala for two weeks. So while I was happy to have tried out Sabor de la India, I was also happy to have my next meal back at Bertha’s Quesadillas one block off the main square.

Restaurant Details:
Sabor de la India
2a Calle and 15a Avenida A 19, Zone 1
+502 7765 0101
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday from 11:00am – 9:00pm &  Sunday from 5:00pm – 9:00pm