Two Good Indian Restaurants in Camarillo
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 08:36PM I'm no food connoisseur but I know when I like something and I like to write about it. I'm happy to report that I LIKE the only two Indian restaurants I've frequented in Camarillo.
Cafe India is located at 1775 E. Daily Drive in the LazerStar/Presto Pasta strip mall. I've eaten there probably 10 times and have never been disappointed. The first time I went there was with an Indian friend who, with my full approval, ordered a vegetatian dish and a chicken dish with rice and naan. I asked him 4 times the name of the dish but between my ignorance for retaining Indian words and my practically lapping up the delicious sauce from my plate like a dog, I can't remember. He mentioned it was an Indian cheese sauce. The chicken was delicious too.
An update: My friend indicated we had Shahi Paneer, which is paneer (a homemade farmers cheese), nuts, raisins, cooked with fresh tomatoes, ginger and garlic with fenugreek (whatever that is). He says this Makhni Paneer is good too! I'll be back soon!
I've had good success with the lunchtime buffet at Cafe India, where you can get an assortment of all well prepared Indian goodies that will certainly please most palates. There's usually a salad, several veggie dishes, a meat dish or two, chicken, rice and a yummy Indian rice pudding dessert (I'm a sucker for good rice pudding).
The seating is comfortable in Cafe India and the place is very clean! I've not been there for dinner but I would love to do so sometime!
Visit their website at www.thecafeindia.com or call them at 805.987.8537. Their online menu is pretty cool, with turning pages. Quite useful actually as it shows pictures of each and every dish!
On the Mission Oaks side of Camarillo is The Curry Leaf, located in a Vons strip mall at 5253 Mission Oaks Boulevard, kind of in the middle of nowhere if you ask me. But worth going out of your way for!
A very good friend of mine told me to meet him at this great new Indian place in basically a residential section of Camarillo in early 2009 (the place opened in February I believe). This is probably my most anal retentive friend (you know who you are) who would never steer me wrong. Anything he recommends, I don't do any research on. I just buy, do or eat. In this case, I ate.
And boy did I eat! Every single morsel of food on the interesting "variety pack" lunch plates, where you get to sample multiple tastes. The curry, the Chicken Korma, the lamb and veggie dishes, the yogurt dipping sauce, rice, naan. All was consumed and inhaled with joy. I've been back there 3 or 4 times since then and the quality and consistency has always been very good.
The Curry Leaf is a pretty small restaurant with fairly spartan but tasteful decor. They don't have the cushy booths that the more traditional Cafe India has but there is a calm, clean look and feel about this place buried in the middle of a strip mall in the burbs of Camarillo.
You will not break the bank at either of these places. You will leave satisfied and with a wallet that is not significantly damaged.
I'm not aware of a website for The Curry Leaf but you can call them at 805.482.8880.
Reader Comments (1)
i think KARMA THOUSAND OAKS exceeds the qualtiy and level of both of these RESTAURANTS and is certainly the best in conejo valley.