Jewel of India (Reopen)

LTH,

Jewel of India specializes in "Mughlai Cuisine" and "Indian Style Chinese Cuisine", their quotes, not mine. I am not in the least familiar with Chinese Indian, aside from what I've read on LTHForum and a few past c-h posts.

My plan was to have lunch at Sizzle India, but had forgotten many Devon Ave businesses are closed on Tuesday, including Sizzle. When I saw the large Grand Opening banner strung across Jewel of India, and Indian Style Chinese, I knew where I was eating lunch.

As I entered I specifically inquired how long they had been open, 2-days was the answer, and the place did have the air of just settling in. The only thing as I started looking around and noticed pillows and, what appeared to be, inexpensive mattresses surrounding a slightly raised table, the faint memory of a past LTHForum Jewel of India post started to drift into my memory.

I'm guessing Jewel closed and reopened, either under new management or not. Though it might be similar to my Uncle Mort's appliance store in Milwaukee who had a Going out of Business sale twice a year for 40-years.

I was solo and only tried one dish, Chili Chicken, which I enjoyed, but would not make a habit of ordering. Small, not all that tender, pieces of chicken in a slightly too heavy batter, in a slightly too heavy (goopy) corn starch sauce, with fresh sliced, and pungent, jalapenos and red bell pepper. The japapeno, bell pepper and aggressive spicing made up for the, obvious, inadequacies of the dish. Jewel's Chili Chicken reminded me greatly of General Tso's chicken, which is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself.

The menu is extensive, and Jewel is BYOB. There is also an Indian Chinese buffet on Saturday and Sunday which, if they follow Zim's 'better, fresher, more elaborate' when they first open, rule of Indian restaurant buffets should be pretty good.

No pictures, didn't have my camera with me.

Enjoy,
Gary

Jewel of India
2401 W Devon Ave
Chicago, IL
773-465-3266

Just curious on the "Chilli Chicken" - any resemblance to the Chicken 65 available in some Indian restaurants, say Hyderabad House?
Both 'should' be dry, i.e. gravyless.

Most "Indian chinese" is essentially food cooked (stir fried) with indian spices and the addition of soy sauce...

sazerac wrote:Just curious on the "Chilli Chicken" - any resemblance to the Chicken 65 available in some Indian restaurants, say Hyderabad House?
Both 'should' be dry, i.e. gravyless.

Most "Indian chinese" is essentially food cooked (stir fried) with indian spices and the addition of soy sauce...

Sazerac,

I was at the Hyderabad lunch where the picture of Chicken 65 your hyperlink points to was taken and Jewel of India's chili chicken has no resemblance to Hyderabad Chicken 65. Jewel's chili chicken quite resembles an American/Cantonese version of General Tso's chicken.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:

sazerac wrote:Just curious on the "Chilli Chicken" - any resemblance to the Chicken 65 available in some Indian restaurants, say Hyderabad House?
Both 'should' be dry, i.e. gravyless.

Most "Indian chinese" is essentially food cooked (stir fried) with indian spices and the addition of soy sauce...

Sazerac,

I was at the Hyderabad lunch where the picture of Chicken 65 your hyperlink points to was taken and Jewel of India's chili chicken has no resemblance to Hyderabad Chicken 65. Jewel's chili chicken quite resembles an American/Cantonese version of General Tso's chicken.

Enjoy,
Gary

They shouldnt, particularly - Chilli Chicken in this case is supposed to be
the Indian version of Chinese food, while I still think the Chicken 65 is just
an Indian dish (probaly Andhra-ish IMHO), though I wouldnt swear to it.

Anyway. Had the Hyderabad House Chicken 65 last Saturday (and also
Langan Chicken), and was somewhat disappointed - it had been a while
since Id had it (its only a Saturday item IIRC), and it wasnt nearly as good
as I remembered. I remember it being a bit spicier, and with more of those
green-leaves than it had this time around (Kadipatta IIRC). Still decent, but
not as good as I recall - hopefully it was just an off-night.

Also, "Daata Durbar" about 3 doors west of Hyderabad House (and a
couple doors east of Usmaniya), is now occasionally serving Indian
Chinese food as well. Not every day apparently, but I did see (and try)
a couple of items on the menu a week or so ago on a weekend night.
They had, IIRC, "Chicken Fried Rice", "Chicken Manchoorian" (thats their
misspelling ,. "Chilli Chicken" and "Ginger Chicken" I think - only about
4 items. The Fried Rice was ok, the Chilli Chicken was a pretty good
dish on the day (though not even authentic Indian-Chinese of the Hot
Wok type I dont believe - but tasty enough and with a nice level of heat),
the Ginger Chicken wasnt special. Anyway, this was on the weekend
a week or so ago - didnt see it on the (handwritten0 menu a couple of
days later, so it may not be a regular item. (Daata Durbar's really good
item might well be their Haleem, a Friday dish - though Iam going from
memory here, the past 2 weeks Ive dropped by about 10pm and asked
for Haleem, and its been over already; by deduction that must mean it must
still be pretty decent, as they seem to have a run on it every week

Other than that Iam not sure there's a "good" Indian-Chinese spot on
Devon anymore - the best restaurant of this kind is clearly "Hot Wok"
in the burbs (on Golf Road and Barrington Road, the border of
Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates I believe).

c8w

c8w wrote:They shouldnt, particularly - Chilli Chicken in this case is supposed to be
the Indian version of Chinese food, while I still think the Chicken 65 is just
an Indian dish (probaly Andhra-ish IMHO), though I wouldnt swear to it.

Not sure if you meant Chilli Chicken and Chicken 65, or Chilli Chicken and Gen. Tso's Chicken that GWiv mentioned, by 'They' (or all three dishes even)
Anyways, all three should taste quite different. However, Chilli Chicken is made so many different ways (depending on which part of India the 'Chinese' dish is prepared). Some versions, are very loosely akin to the Hyderabad (Andhra) dish Chicken 65, and will contain curry leaves (not found in North Indian cooking, 'Chinese' or otherwise) - my preference.