Al-Watan Halal Tandoori Restaurant

13619 Inglewood Avenue

Hawthorne, CA 90250

(310) 644-6395 – (310) 978-4870 (Fax) ‎

indianfoodhawthorne.com

http://www.yelp.com/biz/al-watan-halal-restaurant-hawthorne

Rating: 3.5 stars

Typical cost for lunch: $$$ ($9-15)

What was ordered: Mixed Tandoori, Chicken Biryani, Navrattan Korma, Garlic Naan, Mango Lassi

Date of visit: 25 January 2011 (1^st visit)

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Review: This is the place that kicked off our search for a better lunch. It came highly recommended from acquaintances and earned an exceptional 4.5 stars from over 100 reviews on yelp. It is a fairly large restaurant that is run down on the outside. It fits in well in this rougher part of town and looks like an excellent spot to get authentic ethnic cuisine. On to the review…

I thought the Mixed Tandoori was exceptional. A giant plate of various meats cooked in the tandoori oven, the dish included Tandoori Chicken, Chicken Tikka, Seekh Kabab (beef) and Beef Boti Kabab. The chicken was good but the beef was stupendous. The Boti was my favorite. A big hunk of beef dry roasted in spices until it fell apart, it reminded me a bit of pulled pork bbq without the sauce, but much more flavor. The Seekh Kabab was like a sausage without the casing. It was well seasoned and grilled on a stick. This is the first time I have ever liked a non-chicken meat dish at an Indian restaurant. It must be the Muslim/Pakistani influence. The chicken was good too. I got a little explainer from my Indian friend: tandoori chicken implies bone-in; tikka means boneless. If my review stopped here, it would be 5-stars… unfortunately it does not.

I think of Biryani as Indian fried rice. That is not what this is… think: fluffy steamed rice with a big scoop of chicken curry. The rice was delicious: long-grained Basmati rice expertly cooked. It was the chicken curry that ruined the dish. The chicken was boney and didn’t taste very fresh. Next time I would order the rice by itself. The Navrattan Korma tasted like the standard mixed vegetable curry you can get off any Indian Buffet. Nothing against it, but certainly was not up to the standard of the Mixed Tandoori. The garlic Naan was tasty and fresh out of the oven. The Lassi tasted like it was made from a powder mix and not fresh mango. I could be wrong but that is what it tasted like to me.

In conclusion, Al-Watan is worth visiting for the tandoori cooked beef, but other than that it was standard Indian fair at a somewhat high price for lunch. 3.5 stars.

-Ben