Punjabi Grill Somerville

I headed to Punjabi Grill in Somerville for my weekly Indian food fix. They have only been open for three years, but I have a vague memory of an Indian restaurant here from when I used to go to Anna's Taqueria that's located next door, but that was obviously a different one.

There is a sister restaurant in Framingham but this one is located centrally in Davis Square.

Interior is nice and bright and was impeccable clean.

Decent sized buffet end everything was clearly labeled. The jovial owner, Azhar Malik, was prepping the buffet when I arrived and was very happy to talk about his food and the differences between "Indian" and "Pakistani" food. Nice to see an owner that takes pride in the food he serves. Seems that his Pakistani dishes are very authentic and people drive long distances to eat them. When the president (formerly?) of Pakistan visited Boston, he stopped by here for the food.

Condiments with a salad that looked very fresh,

The Vegetable Samosa (potatoes and peas) was mildly spiced but was missing the peas, Vegetable Pakora was nice and crisp,

The potatoes and okra were nicely cooked as was the saag paneer, but the hero was the Chicken Karahi. It had an intense tomato flavor (think of the best Italian) with an Indian, sorry Pakistani, spicing. What a pleasant surprise the flavor of this dish was and the chicken was tender and moist. I can see why people travel to taste this. The next pleasant surprise was the Tandoori Chicken, not only was it moist and tender, but it was also spicy! The resulting dish was a real delight and my second trip was for the two chicken dishes. There was also plain and garlic naan on the buffet that I skipped in favor of the meat. I can only eat so much and have to prioritize.

This is the gas fired Tandoor ovens and Malik was lamenting that the town didn't allow him to have a charcoal tandoor and on this, I agree with him. For $8.95 this was a really good value especially with the food as good as it was.