Many people think that all Indian food is spicy/hot and full of calories. This can of course be true, but many dishes do not have any chillies whatsoever and those that do can be ordered without them. So never be afraid to try Indian food just because you do not like fiery tastes, talk to the waiter and you will be surprised by the choice available. In fact the dishes I will be mentioning later are all extra mild. With regards to the calories it is true that some dishes are well endowed but there many, such as tandoori dishes, that are cooked without any oil being added. Again talk to the waiter if you are watching the calories and ask for recommendations. If you are a vegetarian you will be well catered for. In fact in India it is more normal to eat vegetable based dishes and I think the menus that you see here in Ireland and the UK were designed to keep us meat eaters happy.
I noticed a while ago that this restaurant was closed for a short while but now it has re-opened under new management with a new coat of paint outside. There are several Eastern tandoori restaurants in Ireland but most are now run by different owners. They all have a similar look inside, and it is one that I like, it is a bit dated but still has a nice warm feel to it. When I lived in Dublin I ate in the Eastern Tandoori at least once a week for many years and never had a bad meal.
The menu remains much the same but there are some new additions that you should try. One of the reasons that Indian and other ethnic menus remain pretty much the same over the years is that we are not an adventurous nation of eaters. Ask any ethnic restaurant what we order most often and you will find that it is the same three or four dishes over and over again and that is why they are sometimes reluctant to bother putting on new dishes.
I started off with tandoori whole fresh mackerel and it was absolutely delicious. Mackerel is a fish that seems to stink up the house if you do it at home, but it is very good for you, lots of good fish oils, so order it when you see it on menus. We also had a selection platter of starters, tandoori chicken, boti kebab, and chicken shashlik. One starter I do recommend is prawn puri, chopped prawns in a slightly spicy sauce with pockets of bread to scoop it up with. However if you are watching the calories stay off the samosas. We also had some delicious onion bhajis. For main course we had chicken naveratan, shorshe chengri (a tiger prawn dish ), and chicken rezala. Both of the chicken dishes can be eaten by someone who does not want any fieriness, they are creamy and absolutely delicious. However you must remember to order some naan bread as this is really the only way to eat Indian food. Pull off a bit of the warm naan and scoop up the meat and sauce with it, no rice needed. However if you do like the taste of rice order some pilau rice and mop up the sauce with it. My prawn dish was not as successful and next time I will go with a vegetarian dish.
The restaurant has a great deal on Sundays with a starter, main course with rice and naan bread, dessert, and coffee for €11.95 inclusive. Don’t expect too much from the desserts but to be honest that is not something Indian restaurants do well. It is still a great deal. One thing which I do have to mention is that they use Irish lamb and beef. Lastly, if you want to look at the menu on the web, you need to be precise and enter the web address correctly, a Google search will only pull up the old menus. The correct address is www.eastern-tandoori-galway.com The phone number is 091 564819.
