Kyle and I went to Tabla on Friday night and boy did we stuff ourselves! Somehow we managed to order so much food we actually couldn’t even finish it all (that never happens when we dine out!). We are the plate clearing kind of eaters 😉
I’ve we’ve been wanting to go here ever since we moved to NYC, and I’m so glad we finally made it! When I made the reservation, I told them that I was vegan, and the waitress was so great to navigate the menu and guide me through my ordering.
After we ordered the chef brought out a nice little tasting sampler. From left to right, spicy curry popcorn, pickled carrots, and roasted seasoned chickpeas. Holy mother of deliciousness, I wanted to eat a pound of these and these alone. Screw our order, does the chef have more chickpeas please?
Rather than booze the night away, we decided to go EtOH free (I have a feeling we will be doing the wine thing a LOT while my parents are in town). We shared a Pombupani. Which is described as Limbupani topped with Pomegranate Juice. As if that explanation helps at all. All I know is it was VERY sweet.
Then we had some rosemary flatbread. It was warm and fluffy and the crispy burnt bottom was so tasty. Is it weird that it reminded me of pancakes?
Up next was Cauliflower Pakora, which was chickpea-battered cauliflower with mint chutney on the side. Oh baby. Imagine fried veggies but instead of flour they use chickpeas. My kinda dish for sure! Kyle managed to sneak a few one.
While I went to town on my fried cauli, Kyle dug into his Tabla’s Crab Cake. They came on a bed of pea shoots with goan guacamole, papadum & tamarind chutney. He left a few pea shoots on the plate and nothing else, so I’m thinking he liked it.
We then split the Pumpkin Rasam. A soup made from Paffenroth Farm pumpkins, tamarind & coconut. It looked nothing like what we were expecting, but tasted ah-mazing. So so so good.
Finally we got our “main courses” which for Kyle was Goan Fish Curry made with coconut, green mango, chilies & had some steamed basmati rice on the side. He wasn’t as big on this dish as the crab cake.
Yours truly got the Wild Mushroom Fricassée which was so awesome, I wished it would never end. Underneath the mushrooms was semolina polenta with coconut & black cumin.
Best dish of the night. Seriously. BEST.EFFING.DISH. So this is what polenta is supposed to taste like!? Wow. I need to learn how to make polenta.
But it didn’t stop there. I got TWO more dishes, too. Apparently, I thought I was ordering for the next month day.
Roasted Cherry Lane Brussels Sprouts with toasted lentils, shallots & ginger. Ooooo, yeah. I made my way through almost 3/4 of this before hitting a wall. Well, to be honest I hit the wall one bite into this, but it was so tasty, I literally couldn’t put the fork down.
Still, I wanted to at least try the other dish.
I had a bite of the Paffenroth Farm Leek & Fingerling Potato Curry with tamarind, ginger & mustard seeds. I liked it, so I have no doubt it will be appearing in a future lunch.
By the way, don’t you love how I ordered THREE main courses, and Kyle ordered one. I love food! The dishes also came with serving spoons but I just ate them straight from the platter. Such class.
After this meal, I can easily say that Tabla made it into my fave NYC restaurants. So if anyone is looking for a place that is great for vegans and non-vegans alike, this is a must-try.
Yum! Ari will LOVE this.
food all looks so great!
Those dishes all look delicious!
ugh i ALWAYS pass there and want to go so bad! seriously everything looks amazing! those b sprouts put it over the edge though i would have died and went to heaven.
glad you had a nice date night girl 🙂 enjoy the rental time!
You are in NYC, right? Because I want to go there for Christmas dinner. Maybe next year 🙂
That looks like an AMAZING dinner! Yum!
WHOA! This is the best post EVER. What amazingly beautiful food, you are so lucky you got to eat there! The cauliflower pakora looks AMAZING…..the pumpkin rassam….EVERYTHING looks delicious!
Yum, all of those dishes look amazing! Have fun with the padres this week:)
The chickpeas AND the pumpkin action dish look amazing. Wow. And someone who’s happy to accommodate vegans…LOVE!
Mushrooms and polenta – a dish after my own heart. Glad you went balls to the wall with three dishes. Everything looks soooooo good it’s borderline illegal.
awesomeness… everything looks amazing. I LOVE places that are accommodating to special diets. I woulda gladly finished those brussels for ya!! 🙂
wow that place looks amazinggg! ive never had indian food, so sad!
I love indian food! yum yum 🙂
all your food looks amazing!
Yay for the vegan food! That’s awesome that the waiters were so friendly and accommodating. You took the leftovers home right? Looks waaay too good to leave it. 😉
Lucky!
This place looks amazing!
Happy SNOWED IN SUNDAY!
Katie
http://katiechangesforkatie.blogspot.com/2009/12/slim-secrets-bars-giveaway-extended.html
Everything looks delish! I have to make those roasted chickpeas – I think they’re pretty easy. I really have no excuse.
Glad you got to enjoy a night out!
tres gourmet! you so glammmmie 😉
Wow, I need to go there, stat!
I JUST finished the book called “Setting the Table” by Danny Meyer, who is the restaurateur who owns Tabla! So I was soo excited to read this post! I almost feel like I’m personally connected after reading. So cool you got to go!
Oh man, as if I wasn’t already dying to visit NYC, you had to show us these pictures. Everything looks amazing!
Ahhh!!!! I have to go here! Even if I go by myself! I’ve just finished staring at the menu. It’s almost too much. Almost. GAHHHH.
Ooo…so much deliciousness on this blog! I think I’m gonna make a trip to my fave Indian spot in Los Feliz with K this week and try to mimic the flavor sensations you just described above…haha…It’s almost lunch time here and I’m not so fond of my mexican salad now. I can’t for more eats and vino shots…mmm…besos amor!
that all looks amazing. so many options 🙂
MMMM!!! Agreed! The hubbie and I went to Tabla last summer. Amazing foodgasms all around!!
i want to eat every single thing in this post.
that’s all i have to say.
LOVE YA 🙂
that meal looks amazing!! i love the indian flavors!!!
Dude, that’s seriously mind-blowing. I have been to Bread Bar (the downstairs resto, I believe) and that was mighty good so I can only imagine how Tabla would be!!!
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yup. youll love it!
of COURSE!!!!!! im a hippie, so clearly i took the leftovers home 🙂
i saw the book there and almost bought it!! how cool for you. now you have to go!!
wow everything looks deliiiish esp the flatbread and mushroom polenta!!
idk if youve seen this but i just read it and thought of your post right away 🙂
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/dining/23menus.html?em
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