Dining Out: IndiGo Indian Bistro

My wife and I pretty much knew we'd like the new IndiGo Indian Bistro on Spencer Street in Manchester, because we already loved Sheen Mathew's previous restaurant, Utsav, in Vernon. Sheen's new venture features a full dinner menu, lunch and weekend buffets, and takeout lunch boxes, along with party platters and catering services.

Sunday night, we went to IndiGo for their weekly Tandoor and Dosa Night buffet, which was excellent. The buffet line — much more convenient and accessible than at Utsav, where the buffet is tucked into an awkward corner — was well stocked with tandoori favorites, including my wife's go-to Indian dish, Chicken Tikka Masala, and the classic standard Tandoori Chicken, both of which were superb. Among my favorites were a cold potato salad with chickpeas, cilantro, and red onions; tandoori-roasted mixed vegetables; and Hariyali Murgh Tikka Kebab, a tandoori grilled chicken marinated in green herbs (cilantro and mint, according to Sheen) and spices. This dish, which appears on the regular menu as an appetizer, is rather alarmingly green (not unlike the color of the Spring Lamb Chops, which I'm eager to try on a future visit), but it was purely delicious. Dosa (filled rice and lentil crepes) and naan bred are served at the table, and were just right: the dosa crisp and delicate, and the naan hot and perfectly cooked.

IndiGo is a new restaurant still waiting for its liquor license, so I was unable to enjoy my favorite Taj Mahal... but the tasty fresh lime soda I had instead almost made the lack of beer A Feature, Not a Bug™.

Of course, even with a previous visit for a dinner from the regular menu, we've only scratched the surface of dishes IndiGo has to offer. I love Indian lamb dishes, and the IndiGo Aadu Ularthiyathu (Kerala-style lamb fried) I had on the earlier visit was spicy and delicious; dishes I particularly look forward to trying in the future include the Mirchi Bhaji (hot chilies in chickpea batter), Chili Paneer (spicy cheese stir-fry), and Andhra Chili Chicken appetizers, along with the aforementioned Spring Lamb Chops, the Kerala Fish Curry, the IndiGo Snapper (whole snapper marinated in spiced yoghurt and tandoor roasted), and... because I'm all about the spice... the Chicken Vindaloo. (My only disappointment with IndiGo so far is that there's neither a lamb nor a goat vindaloo on the menu.)

Count on reading much, much more about IndiGo here, as we explore the menu in increasing depth.