WRAP THE JOY OF LIVING UP INTO THE JOY OF FOOD...FINDING EATING EXPERIENCES THAT TAP INTO THE SENSUOUS, THE REMEMBERED, AND THE TRANSFORMATIVE...

9.28.2011

ANAPURNA

Two grew up in New Hope. Two grew up buying her high school wardrobe in the various India import shops in the Four Seasons Mall in New Hope. Where New Hope was once a collection of eclectic shops and curious cuisines, it is now an ever rotating crop of shops struggling to survive amidst the dwindling dollars of the tourists who flock to Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. There are some old timers...Farley's is still hosting a very large cat amidst the tumbling stacks of books & Cryer's Hardware has been reopened by Tania Leibgold and Brad Finch as an fun collection of vintage ephemera and textiles. But one thing has not changed. The Four Seasons Mall was then and is now an aesthetic disaster. 

To reach Anapurna you will have to walk its entire length to the very rear of the Mall. But it's worth it. Honestly. The food was really good. The vegetable Samosas were good. The Lamb Korma was excellent. The Chicken Vindaloo was excellent. The Okra was more than excellent. Each dish was distinctive in color, flavor, and texture...which is sometimes a problem with Indian food that arrives in a flurry of all brown sauces with indistinct chunks of meat and vegetable floating around in the steaming bowls. 


It seems that Indian is one of those foods that we crave...as in "I have a craving for Indian food...when's the last time we had really good Indian?" And Anapurna will not disappoint your craving. Two's only complaint was that the condiments came in little plastic lidded containers of 2 tablespoons or less. Two loves Raita and loves it most in a bowl with chunks floating about. Two ate that Raita with one chunk of lamb. The other strange moment was the waitress having difficulty finding room for everything on the table and actually using the floor for one of the baskets. Odd. So were the two ladies who were sure we had their samosas. They didn't want them once we had a quick bite though...