Restaurant Review - Swagat

At least one of the two owners will likely be there to greet you upon entry of Swagat, the new Indian restaurant on North Broadway. "Swagat" means "welcome" in Sanskrit, and you are certainly are here.

The turn-over time between this business and the last Indian restaurant (Café Tandoor) before it was relatively fast, and the space has retained much the same spare feel. The renovations are subtle – a new red and purple patterned carpet, a few large framed mirrors, and a coat of white paint over the former aging mango. The comfy purple upholstered chairs, blue cloth napkins and white tablecloths remain.

There was a quiet, pleasing, but not elevator-esque soundtrack of mostly Indian music playing, but we were able to easily overhear the few other diners commenting on how this was their first time coming and they're glad they did. While the dining room was almost empty on this chilly and damp Wednesday night, there was a promising stream of take-out customers approaching the desk and saying hello to Abu by name.

Abu Syed has run Joy Curry and Tandoor in Manhattan since 1994. Judging from the many comments on Yelp.com, it garners a huge lunch-crowd following for its affordable, traditional food. Syed told me he was attracted to Tarrytown for a second location for its energy and events, the traffic both by car and foot. He partnered with Ibrahim Husain, former employee of an upscale French restaurant in the city, to open this sit-down venue. Both commute here from Long Island, but luckily at least one of them, Husain, is looking to move closer.

According to Halal restrictions, there is no alcohol served, which leaves more room for the delicious specialty drinks. Unable to choose, we sampled three: the standard mango lassi; "Dough" a yogurt drink lightened with club soda and freshened with mint; and the "Tin Ranga," a lively mix of mango, cranberry and seltzer.

When we asked Abu for his recommendations, he presented us with a sample of his favorite dish, eager to see what we thought. "Fish Bahar" consists of delicately spiced chunks of flounder sautéed with onion, pepper and tomato. Spritzed with its accompanying lemon wedge, the dish was flavorful and simple, perhaps the best of the tasty ones to come.

Presented in the requisite small copper bowls were our entrees: "Bhagery Baigan," baby eggplant with sesame and spices making for an aromatic sauce; "Chicken Shaki Korma," chicken chunks in a creamy sauce dotted with raisins and almonds; and "Saag Bhaji," a side of spinach cooked with onions, tomato and green pepper. From an ample list of breads, we opted for the whole wheat, cauliflower-stuffed "Gobi" paratha.

There are two cooks here, the main chef and the tandoor. It seems, with the exception of our clay oven bread, we shafted the tandoor man on this night. Our meal came with a bowl of basmati rice, a welcome sponge, along with the delicious bread, to the sauciness of Indian fare. There was a slightly bitter flavor to my two baby eggplants that I found appealing. But the winner by far was actually the side of spinach, which tasted so much fresher, with bonus texture from the slightly crunchy onions, than the usual soggy saag.

Despite being full to the gills, we sampled the "Ras Malai" from the short list of desserts. Lighter than the pistachio ice cream (also an option), it was a sort of cottage cheese ball, bathed in milk syrup, dusted in pistachio bits, and better than it sounds.

You know it's a good sign when you're still reading the menu at the end of the meal to see what you'll order next time. Perhaps we'll venture into spicier territory (super-hot vindaloo?) and give that tandoor man some more work.

Welcome to Tarrytown, Swagat, we're happy to have you too.