Indian Taj Tandoori Restaurant, Cala Millor

Most of the seafront restaurants in the east coast resort of Cala Millor are closed for the winter, but if it’s Indian food you’re craving, you’re in luck. The restaurant Indian Taj is open all year round, and is an example of the impressive work ethic of people from the Indian continent; it’s open every day and all day from lunchtime until late.

Indian Taj has been open for five years, but had its interior redesigned last month. The fresh, new look – captured on one of their Instagram posts and proving the promotional value of good photography and videography – led me to check out this restaurant. If it remains open all year, I figured it must appeal to locals, as well as holidaymakers. Outside Palma and its immediate surroundings, there aren’t many good Indian eateries open all year.

We had a late lunch and were surprised to see we weren’t the only people eating that day. Indian Taj has a covered terrace at the front and an open terrace on the other side of the promenade, but nobody was eating outside that day. We sat indoors on comfortable chairs.

The menu is an extensive one, with appetizers, starters, curries, specialities of the house, vegetarian dishes, ‘sizzlers’, biryanis, rice choices, naan and roti, salads, and a few children’s dishes.

We began by sharing a basket of jeera poppadum, flavoured well with cumin seeds and served with three dips (2,25€). For our starter, we shared the Indian Taj ‘Especial’ –(14,95€), a platter of onion bhajis, vegetable pakora, vegetable samosa, chicken wings, chicken pakora, and sheesh kebab (14,95€). This was a good introduction to our lunch.

We had house specialities for our main course. My companion chose mango chicken tikka (15,50€), and I had the Agra ‘Especial’, a tasty combination of deboned chicken marinated in yogurt in a masala sauce with cashew nuts (15,50€). We shared a portion of lemon rice (4,95€), which didn’t taste particularly lemony but was decently cooked and more than enough for us to share. Portions are generous and, I thought, decent value for money.

Our food came in attractive, individual, Indian serving dishes mounted over a tea light to keep them warm at the table, and we were given heated plates – an unexpected and appreciated touch.

We ended lunch with kulfi – the traditional Indian ice cream. We tried both mango and pistachio (4,95€ each), which are made by the young Indian chef, Manichand.

My companion drank a generous glass of house ‘rosado’ (3,95€), and I had a bottle of alcohol-free beer (3,50€). The next time we’re craving authentic Indian flavours but aren’t going to Palma, we’ll head for Cala Millor and Indian Taj Tandoori Restaurant.

A word of warning: a section of Cala Millor’s promenade is currently closed to pedestrians while new pipes are being laid. The area outside Indian Taj is, however, clear, and it’s probably better to approach the premises from the Cala Bona end of the seafront.

Photos: Jan Edwards

Prices correct at time of writing.