The Spice is Right

The Dish: Curry Chicken, Tikka Masala, and Mango Chicken with sides of rice and Garlic Naan
The Place: Flavors of India
The Location: 4515 N 16th St, Phoenix, AZ 85016

By: Clayton Porter

You might be quick to judge when you see the standalone building just off 16th street and away from a major intersection, but don’t. Just sit down, order your meal and find yourself pleasantly surprised.

For a long time in the history of food appearance didn’t matter. A potato just needed to look like a potato, nothing more. But thanks to now an abundance food and the popular social app Instagram, appearance has become almost as important as taste. Actually, I’m going to place most of the blame here on Instagram. Even Chili’s has changed the appearance of its food to better show up on the app. And let me just say, if you are instagramming your food at Chili’s, stop. Delete your account. Then tell your friends to do the same. Unlike Chili’s, Indian food has been picturesque even before it was trending. It features dishes full of bright and rich colors to match its bold taste.

I’ve come to the restaurant this time with two friends and while we each order our own dish I conveniently, and with no regrets, have eaten all three before.

There is Mango Chicken, a dish cooked in onions, cream and fresh chunks of mango. It has a brownish-orange color to it with cilantro sprinkled on top and specks of spice throughout. It is a sweeter dish and perfect for mango fans nationwide. While you can order it at at any spice level because of its sweet mango flavor is better enjoyed as is.

Then, the Tikka Masala. A common Indian food dish done very right here. Chicken cooked in tomato sauce and served at the spice level of your liking. I recommend medium, but if you are adventures this is a perfect dish to turn up the heat. The meal looks distinguished with a copper-red color and shimmer. If you’ve never had Tikka Masala before it’s delicious and like, I hope food police don’t arrest me for this, an Indian spaghetti sauce. Tomato based but with a lot more added spice to raise the heat index in your mouth.

My dish for the evening is Chicken Curry. The dish is rich and spicy. Its strong red color is as hot as its flavor. I asked for the spice level at medium, what I normally order, but this time it was medium with a capital “M.” My mouth burns and my forehead sweats. For anyone who loves spice, you know that what I am saying is a compliment.

Accompanying our main courses are a couple bowls of rice and some garlic naan, a soft bread cooked with garlic on top to give it added flavor. I know the reasons are plenty as to why rice by itself is a fine dish, but let me tell you why its really at the table. Our Curry/Tikka/Mango dishes have a lot of sauce and the rice is great at soaking up that extra goodness. Then for what the rice can’t capture there is the garlic naan, also very tasty and enjoyable on its own, an extraordinary tool for wiping a plate clean.

The next time you need a little spice in your relationship life enjoy Flavors of India. It is some of the best Indian food I’ve ever had. Also, I’ll only judge you for posting pictures to Instagram from here if you go with a hashtag other than #NoFilterNeeded.