Despite the fact that Thali was a bit hard to find, the restaurant was almost full when we arrived on Saturday night. The small dining room was steeped with the smell of garlic and curry, which is always a promising start.
All four of us settled on the set menu for 16,000 Won each. The four courses began with a samosa for each of us.
The next dish was a choice between Tangri kabab and Tandoori chicken. The kebab was marinated and tender. The tandoori chicken had slightly charred skin with moist meat and a spiced yogurt sauce drizzle.
For our main dishes, we chose the chicken makhani, chicken masala, palek paneer, and lamb curry. Each of us also received our own order of garlic naan. Most of the curry was much milder than we usually prefer, but the paneer stood out from the four. Though not quite the perfect archetype of the dish, this vegetarian option was the most complex and enjoyable of the quartet. The tomato based curries were very sweet, and while I enjoyed most of the sauces, I would have liked to see more meat in each. As it was, the portion was a bit on the small side, but adding a little more body with some additional chicken and lamb would have helped quite a bit. The kitchen sent over an additional two curries to try – one was a very spicy version with hot Korean peppers which ended up my other top pick of the night.
The last dish almost resembled a plain lassi in a chilled copper bowl – it was very simple, but the cool sweetened yogurt finished the meal nicely.
The set menu was a good way to sample what Thali had to offer. They’re located on the second floor of the building with the Outback Steakhouse, just a short walk from AK Plaza.