la.foodblogging

I like India Sweets and Spices, but sometimes I wish that their shop was a little cleaner and that the women behind the counter were a little (ok, a lot) nicer. Well, I may have found my answer to those desires.

Last weekend we tried out Bharat Bazaar in Culver City. The set up is similar to India Sweets and Spices (ISS). It’s an Indian grocery store that has a hot food counter. The counter serves a number of different vegetarian dishes, most of them pre cooked and kept warm in steam tables. There are also some different cooked to order items, such as their heavenly samosas…

In contrast with ISS, Bharat Bazaar is clean, welcoming and the women (and men) serving the food are incredibly friendly and accomodating. I had a few questions about what certain dishes were and not only did I get the native and translated name, but I was also offered samples if I wasnt sure if it sounded good. Also, compared with the ISS in Culver City (there are several locations around town), Bharat Bazaar has ample indoor seating.

Of course, there are a plethora of places that look seedy, have surly servers and limited seating that serve some of the most incredible food I have tasted. Just because Bharat is clean, friendly and spacious doesn’t mean that you should go there. Because Bharat also serves fantastic vegetetarian Indian food for cheap means that you should go there.

We opted for a couple of the daily specials, three vegetable selections, a large portion of rice, two pieces of chapatti and yogurt sauce. I chose the spiced vegetable mix, spinach and corn, and a mushroom & pea dish (yes, I know that I have skipped the authentic names of all of these dishes). The mixed vegetables did in fact pack a punch, but the sauce itself was very light, not thickened like some of the curry based sauces. The vegetables were sauteed, cooked through, but still crunchy. The mushroom pea dish had a delicious earthy taste (which I like, especially in mushrooms) and the mushrooms were firm and cooked. The spinach dish was the heaviest of the three, but still not as greasey as some of the quick order Indian places.

My wife also opted for a paneer curry dish, which she enjoyed and said that it wasn’t as heavy as some paneer dishes can be.

In addition to the combo plates, we each also ordered samosas. Damn, these were some of the best samosas I have ever had. Part of the reason was that they were cooked to order, so that they were hot-hot and crispy. No sitting around for these dumplings to get soggy. Another reason why I liked the samosa was that the dough was thin and flakey, sometimes there is too thick a layer of dough and it just doesn’t cook up how I like it. These samosas were exactly how I like it.

And just for reference, here is what the Chapatti looks like. Each combo came with two pieces and the flat, tortilla like bread holds up very well to the sauces on the vegetables.

My wife has already requested a return visit and she will get no argument from me. Not only is the food fantastic and the atmosphere comfortable and welcoming, but the prices can’t be beat. We got all of this food, plus a mango lassi and a ginger beer (no alcohol) for a few cents under $20.

Bharat Bazaar
11510 W Washington Blvd,
Los Angeles, 90066
(310) 398-6766

By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.