HowChow: Rest

Showing posts with label Rest - Akbar. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Akbar In Columbia Appears To Be Closed

Akbar in Columbia has closed and may reopen as a different Indian restaurant, according to some folks with reliable information.

Plus, no one answers the phone during the middle of dinner service. The Akbar on Snowden River Parkway was a little sibling to the Baltimore restaurant of the same name. It was a nice place, but there are so many great Indian restaurants in Columbia that I don't think we had eaten there in four or five years.

Does anyone know the plan for the space? Nichi Bei Kei also closed in the same shopping center, and they're aiming to reopen near the Columbia Mall. The Akbar folks still have their other restaurants. Does anyone know if someone will really re-open the Columbia space as an Indian restaurant.

Honestly, Indian kitchens have some tough competition. I can think of five other good Indian restaurants in Columbia -- House of India, Mango Grove, Royal Taj, Flavors of India, and Nepalese-Indian Curry & Kabob -- plus quick service Tandoor Grill on Johns Hopkins Road and the Polo Club opening soon in Fulton.

Click here for all the posts about Indian restaurants. What do you recommend on the local Indian scene? Any places? Any special dishes? Hat tip to my brother in neurology research.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Indian Restaurants in Howard County

Columbia offers more variety for Indian food lovers than for pretty much any other kind of cuisine.

Mango Grove and House of India are my top two, but the truth is that there are a half-dozen good options for people who like Indian food.

For the traditionalists, you can start with the northern Indian or Pakistani cuisine. These are the naan, the curries and the tandoori chicken offered by the majority of Indian restaurants. House of India in Columbia is my current favorite because it delivers both the basics and unusual dishes like whole fish and a bhel puri appetizer. But both Akbar and Bombay Peacock have their backers, including Mrs. HowChow who loves the kheer (rice pudding) at Akbar. (Update: In 2009, Royal Taj opened on McGaw Road in Columbia (briefly as "India Delight" until it chaged its name), and it serves a terrific lunch buffet -- along with a white tablecloth menu for dinner.)

For southern Indian food, you must try the vegetarian food at Mango Grove in Columbia. The broad menu has the standard vegetarian curries like baigan bartha and palak paneer. But Mango Grove offers the masala dosa of southern India, along with a dozen other of the crepe-like dosas and the rice and lentil pancakes called oothappam. This kitchen also does spectacular specials. Never pass up the jack fruit if it is on the menu. An unripened fruit cooked down to a tender texture and the spicy flavor that can only come from talented chefs.

Next door to Mango Grove is the fusion alternative -- Mirchi Wok. Chinese food has travelled to India and come out new on the other side. Mirchi Wok serves up the standard meat dishes unavailable at the vegetarian restaurant. It also serves up fusion dishes like a rice bowl cooked with chicken and spice. It was almost a jambalaya, almost a biryani. Really something different and a way to excite anyone who has been bored by too many meals of tandoori chicken.

All of these restaurants serve takeout. Except for Bombay Peacock in its commercial development, they're all the classic Howard County shopping center restaurants -- casual, friendly, but not dressy. The most-dramatic is House of India, which dresses up its space on Snowden River to the point that I was shocked to walk inside. Your guests will think they were in a city spot if you just blindfold them and drive them there in the trunk of your car.

For the post about the best restaurants in Howard County, click here.

For all posts about Indian food, click here. For Indian groceries, check out the full list of ethnic groceries or focus on Desi Market in Columbia or Apna Bazar in Laurel.

This is part of the "What I Learned" series of posts. They're organized in rings. See below to continue on the ring about different cuisines. Or click to switch to the posts about shopping in Howard County or posts about areas and ideas.

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Akbar Restaurant
9400 Snowden River Parkway
Columbia, MD 21045
410-381-3600

NEAR: This is on Snowden River Parkway south of the Home Depot. That is between Rte 175 and Rte 32. It's on the west side, so you need to be southbound to enter the shopping center.

Bombay Peacock Grill
10005 Old Columbia Road
Columbia, MD 21046
410-381-7111

NEAR: This is just south of Rte 32 off Eden Brook Drive. It's actually very easy to reach, although it is tucked into a commercial development without much chance to see it from the road.

House of India
9350 Snowden River Parkway
Columbia, MD 21045
410-381-3844

NEAR: This is on Snowden between the Home Depot and Broken Land Parkway. It's one shopping center closer to the Home Depot than Akbar. If you are coming from Broken Land, you reach both of those centers by passing them on your left and then U-turning on Snowden.

Mango Grove & Mirchi Wok
6365B Dobbin Center
Columbia, MD 21045
410-884-3426
www.themangogrove.com

Near: On Dobbins Road just south of Rte 175. It is in a outbuilding of the Wal-Mart shopping center next to the McDonalds and the Chik-Fil-a.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Akbar in Columbia

The Akbar restaurant is old-school Indian. Old-school if you're looking at an ancient culture and learned it from restaurants 15 years ago.

Akbar in Columbia serves northern Indian food, the curries and breads on most menus and certainly the main dishes -- chicken tikka, palak paneer, etc. -- that introduced us to Indian food. (Mrs. HowChow first ate Indian at Akbar's Baltimore branch. She ordered spicy because that seemed like a good idea, then sweated so much through the meal that her boyfriend's parents were concerned about her.) These are the menus that make restaurants like Mango Grove's southern cuisine seem unusual. But Akbar's is still a menu worth visiting.

Start your meal by planning to have dessert. This is heavy food. If you don't plan right, you'll be full and won't try the rice pudding. Kheer is a small bowl of rice pudding -- sweet with the flavor of milk, soft rice just firm enough for texture, but smooth and refreshing.

Back to the main attraction: curries and meat from the oven. We had not been to Akbar in a while, so we went basic on our recent visit -- chicken korma and baignan bartha. We ordered both medium, but they're not "jalepeno"-spicy dishes. The spices are more subtle, and they're both delicious with the complex taste that makes Indian food so wonderful. The chicken has a yogurt-based sauce, and it is rich without being overwhelming. The eggplant was sweeter than I remembered. Maybe with tomato? They come with a yellow long-grained rice.

But it's naan that makes this meal. A warm piece of lightly-browned bread. A touch of butter melted on top, but it stays crisp even as it cools. Ready to tear and scoop up meat and rice. In the end, Mrs. HowChow will take naan and a chicken korma over masala dosas or even the fusion food at Mirchi Wok. I still love variety, but there is nothing better than the naan. I should have ordered a second to take home with the leftovers.

Akbar's is really old-school. The colors and decor come straight from the 1980s. It's the kind of place that has white tablecloths, but the chairs have gotten scuffed over time. Not that there is anything worn about the menu, which ranges out to shrimp, lamb, and a full array of vegetable options. There are specials, and I'd love to go back with a large table to taste them all. I'll still save room for that rice pudding.

One final thought: If you want an appetizer, try something new. We started with samosas. I'd suggest you try something else. They weren't spectacular, and there must be something more interesting to try.

If you like Indian, definitely check out my post about Indian restaurants across the county, including Mango Grove and Mirchi Wok in Columbia. You can also buy Indian groceries at Desi Bazaar in Columbia or Apna Bazar in Laurel, which has an array of frozen breads.

If you are at Akbar, you are in the shopping center at Pho Dat Trahn, a nice Vietnamese restaurant.

Akbar Restaurant

9400 Snowden River Parkway

Columbia, MD 21045

410-381-3600

NEAR: This is on Snowden River Parkway south of the Home Depot. That is between Rte 175 and Rte 32. It's on the west side, so you need to be southbound to enter the shopping center.