Anew school year means new foods to try, and it also means that Ali’s Reviews is officially one year old. It seems like just yesterday when a naive and inexperienced Ali walked into Tensuke Express wondering how in the world he was going to write a food review. Now I’m here as a seasoned veteran to tell you this: anything is possible.

Some doubted me (meaning I was the only one who doubted me) but I didn’t listen to them and persevered. So, to start off this new and exciting year, I headed to the highly recommended Aab India Restaurant.

Located at 1470 Grandview Ave, near the corner of Grandview and 5th, it’s just a couple minutes drive from the high school. They write on their website that “Aab India brings award-winning North Indian Cuisine to Columbus since 2013.” Their menu states that owner Avtar Singh has “worked for the past 20 years to perfect the recipes he enjoyed at weddings and family feasts growing up in the village Dhilwan in Punjab’s Kapurthala district.”

So in essence, Aab India is advertised as a truly traditional Northern Indian restaurant. While this is true, I think it’s more complicated than that. If you didn’t know, I’m not Indian, nor have I ever been to India, so I know I’m probably not the greatest judge on what’s traditional Indian food and what isn’t, but it’s obvious to me that the restaurant has been Americanized.

This is a common thing for “ethnic” restaurants in this country to do; conforming to local tastes is often necessary to succeed. For example, one of the ways that Aab India has done this is by having a bar with a lot of American alcoholic beverages available. Or the fact that there are things on the menu that aren’t exactly Indian, such as chicken tenders (probably for children, but I’m known to eat them). What I’m saying, overall, is that I think it would be hard to categorize Aab India as a truly Indian restaurant. It would be like calling Olive Garden a traditional Italian restaurant– it has some truth to it, but it’s not as simple as that.

Regardless of all of that, the food was beyond excellent. Some might say beautifully scrumptious. I ordered the dal, naan, and the chicken tikka masala as the main dish. The dal is a “rustic, hearty lentil soup” with different seasonings and some vegetables. It was a nice appetizer that I would say is a 6/10.

I’m usually not a fan of appetizers because I think you’re just wasting space in your stomach for the real food, but this wasn’t bad.

I absolutely loved the naan. On the menu it’s stated that, “no meal is complete without this traditional Indian-style bread” and I wholeheartedly agree. Freshly baked in a tandoori oven, it’s soft and warm and fluffy and just delightful. It had a bit of oil on it too which added a bit more taste. The bread was 9/10.

Now, on to the main course. The well known fact is that Indian foods tend to be spicy. As I think I’ve said before, I don’t think I handle spice that well, although not as bad as some people I know. If you’re one of those people who struggle in spice, do not fret because you’re in luck! At Aab India, most of the main dishes can be ordered at different spice levels: mild, regular, medium, medium hot, hot or extreme hot. Now I know this isn’t Hot Ones, but I would’ve loved it if I had the option to have all of these available to try and just go through each one. Unfortunately, you’re only allowed to choose one and I chose medium. It’s in the middle and I wanted just a bit of spice. And that’s exactly what I got with the chicken tikka masala.

The chicken was soaked, even drowning, in the creamy tomato sauce. The spice was absolutely tolerable. I think I underestimated myself and I know if I go there again, I’m apt to choose medium hot or even hot if I’m feeling frisky. The chicken was so tasty and rich with spices and herbs. The dish is served with rice, which is just traditional white rice. Overall, the tikka masala was a 9/10 as well.

Overall, you know what Aab India’s going to be. An absolutely great, filling meal that cost just below $30 and was only a six minute drive from the high school. The food itself was traditional Northern Indian food, but, as I said, the restaurant is tailored to an American crowd for a “familiar” environment. Whether or not you like that is up to you, but Aab India is the first restaurant of the new school year to be Ali Approved.