indian food vs. italian food

I guess it's different in London. We have maybe five Italians and 5 Indian restaurants in our town. The Italian restaurants are mostly chains: Prezzo, Pizza Express, Strada etc. I can't really tell the difference other than minor changes in decor. The Indian restaurants are all independently run, offer very different menus, have their own style in general.

but even prezzo offers more than just pizzas and pasta...

http://www.prezzorestaurants.co.uk/menus

Yeah, but only wiseacres buy that.

http://www.strada.co.uk/menus/hitchin/main-menu

mmmmmmmmmmmm!!!

I'm not slagging off Italian food in the UK - it's nice, I can't fault it - but for me, Indian food is just more interesting.

And yeah, stuff like that is great, Ken.

Hmm, I have to say almost all Italian Food in England is mediocre, bog standard pasta and sauces you could easily whip up at home. No enough places have a wood-fired oven for pizzas either, so just investing in a pizza stone will allow you to make a better pizza than most places.

I can imagine Indian food being to 'Merkins what Mexican food is to Britishers.

i live in the suburbs where good restaurants of any sort are at a premium and there are at least two decent indian restaurants (and a couple of take-out places) within driving distance. and no decent mexican joints. this country's just too big, and the immigrant population so diverse depending on which region you're in, to break it down like that.

more variety in Indian food imho (wider geographic area, wider variety of local ingredients, much bigger range of cultural diversity) so I'm goin with that

otoh I've never been to Italy (been to India twice)

voted italian just because i've been eating curry for 4 days in a row and so now longing for a lasagne

or a fritto misto (rather than onion bhaji)

Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia fuck yes

these are hands-down my two favorite cuisines (and yes i know neither is a monolith) but i feel a bit biased towards italian because i just made a huge batch of marinara sauce yesterday and it is delicious so that

Is indian pizza indian or italian? This is an important question to resolve, because indian pizza is a thing of beauty.

Going to eat my leftovers of that butter/garlic/tomato/pasta combination. Can't wait!

Is indian pizza indian or italian? This is an important question to resolve, because indian pizza is a thing of beauty.

so sad when people don't believe me about this

I feel Chinese should have been an option in this polldown.

xpost Shakey Mo, it is on your recommendation that I experienced the glory!!!

…and presumably every other world cuisine?

Chinese is at least as well represented in the US as Indian and Italian; do not know about UK.

i once had doner kebab pizza in the south of france -- it was not very amazing except as a concept

many many chinese takeaways in the uk, maybe even more than indian, i don't know (probably varies regionally) -- i remember the first chinese restaurant opening in shrewsbury in the 60s, the chanticleer, it was fancy! it had a dance band and a dance floor -- and my whole family went as a special very unusual treat

this reminds me, I should get around to doing the ILX world cuisine knockout poll

fyi according to dayo american chinese is a pale imitation and we basically have no access to the true wonder of chinese food. ;_;

xp!

I'm part Italian, I can eat Italian any time I want. Yes, it's great. It's really filling though and gets tiresome every day. That is true about the variety in Indian food...and the SPICE. I love SPICY FOOD. So, Indian then....

rustic italian flatbread vs. garlic naan

"turkish pizza" is good. U roll it into a tube.

Need to try pide at some point.

Is Indian pizza significantly different from Italian?

the one time i took my mom out for indian food, the only thing she liked was the "pizza bread"

xp yeah, pide. its great! and its so cheap and easy it kind of amazes me that it hasnt been exported to other countries as a late-night drunk food the way doner/schawarma has been

or maybe im thinking of lahmacun

http://www.tablehopper.com/newsletter/061205/zantes_large.jpg

for all not in the know... above is a pic of Zante's Indian Pizza in San Francisco. I have seen this ripped off by other local pizzerias, but I have never seen it replicated anywhere else in the US or in India. It differs significantly from Italian pizza - there is no marinara sauce, afaict they kind of use a saag-based sauce. and then there's cheese obviously, but the other toppings are usually tandoori chicken or lamb, cauliflower, onions etc It does not taste remotely Italian.

I think spicy food elevates your mood. When I down a huge Italian meal, I fall asleep.

meat version = Topped with Spinach, Egg Plant, Cauliflower, Ginger, Garlic, Green Onions, Cilantro, Lamb, Tandoori Chicken & Prawns

xp

afghani pizza rules, shaped like a football

go long

the one time i took my mom out for indian food, the only thing she liked was the "pizza bread"

http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-grandmother-tries-indian-food,2472/

real life versus chinese takeaway

Indian or Chinese?

American Chinese food

(there are several more)

we need a "european/mediterranean vs asian-including-indian" food poll

blood sausage versus the world

why has british cuisine sucked for so long, is my question

I think I kind of like British food but I might just be perverse.

i like scones

english breakfast!

i mean englands got nothing on italy or france or india but i think its been underrated for a long time now.

I actually kind of enjoy stuff like steak and kidney pie and haggis (the one time I had each of them). Big on ginger marmalade too.

^^xpost that pretty much sums it up. was just reading on some US food blog that everyone was excited fergus henderson was visiting nyc and his food is the most english thing ever

i mean british people invented "things that are named like desserts but actually made of meat" which is a really impressive innovation

it doesn't suck now -- after four of five decades of foodie agitation (and haha indian and chinese takeaways) -- and there've always been good pockets, but it was hit REALLY hard by the industrial revolution basically, and everyone flooding to the cities; and plus the fine eating establishments after the french revolution were basically all run by french ex-pats who'd been chefs for the aristos who had their heads chopped off

during empire, "takeout" meant we sent a gunship out to eg india and took their cuisine (curry, kedgeree and so on)

fine eating establishments^^^ie in england (well, london)