An Indian Food Feast in Austin at Asiana Indian Cuisine

I had stuck Asiana Indian Cuisine on my list a long time ago when I was first planning on visiting Austin for a few days because I had been looking for good ethnic food in the area. Indian cuisine is something I crave frequently so when this popped up as a good option, it was bookmarked. However, we never got to go on our visit in 2016. Now that we live in the area, there's no excuse. We had a friend come into town and when I suggested Indian, his face lit up with a resounding, "Let's do it!"


The restaurant is unassuming. It sits in a large plaza with a casual-looking sign for its name but from the outside, we could see that it could likely seat quite a handful of people. Our dinner time was early by most standards so there was only one other table of diners when we walked in. The menus placed in front of us were extensive with a lot of dishes I actually had never seen before. That's not a bad sign at all! In fact, we were excited by the options to the point of just deciding we'd choose a variety.

That came in the form of the Mughalai Special Dinner ($29.99 - reshmi kabob, lamb khorma, aloo gobi curry, saag paneer, chicken tikka, sheek kabob, rice and nan) which is meant for two people and comes with one dessert each. The first dish out was the reshmi kabob which was ground seasoned chicken (with holes in the middle from the skewer); this one reminded me almost of a curried breakfast sausage because of its texture and heavy seasoning.

Then all the rest came out including the juicy chicken tikka and sheek kabob sizzling on a hot cast-iron skillet over onions that we left to caramelize. The lamb khorma was fantastically flavored and generous in pieces of lamb while the aloo gobi curry left us without worry about how many chickpeas we'd have that night. I was particularly enchanted by the saag paneer which tasted so different from any other that I'd had before; this one was heavier on the creaminess and the spinach was more finely  chopped. It felt almost buttery in my mouth, and I couldn't stop eating it.

For dessert, we chose the Rasmalai ($2.99 - Cheese patties served in condensed sweet milk) and Pistachio Ice Cream ($2.99 - homemade pistachio ice cream) to round it all off. The rasmalai was the perfect ending bite to the feast as it was light and bright with just the right amount of sweetness. The pistachio ice cream felt more like a pistachio shave ice due to its texture but we enjoyed it as well as it seemed to be made with rosewater.


Not thinking that the "dinner for two" option would be enough, we had ordered also their Masala Dosa ($7.99 - thin rice crepe stuffed with seasoned potatoes and onions) and picked at it a lot throughout the meal though it had to be taken home in the end. The crisp crepe edges were great pieces to dip into their many sauce options, and inside, the curried potatoes and onions really made for a comfort food feel-good experience. Once we had taken all of the crunchy pieces, we used this for a breakfast the next morning and that only gave it more time to marinate in its own flavors. So tasty.

Find Asiana Indian Cuisine at 801 E William Cannon Dr, Ste 205, Austin, TX 78745 where they serve both lunch and dinner. From what we saw, the lunch buffet seems quite popular and affordable too. Come to think of it, maybe we should go there sometime for lunch...

Photography by Duc Duong.