Its a well known fact that Bay area is known for its Indian restaurants all over the country. I have been fortunate enough to have explored small but significant number of these restaurants, tip of the iceberg you can say. Not a connoisseur of food myself and being very specific with my taste (I Love Chicken, period), I still would want to guide people with similar tastes in the bay area. The category of people who should like this read are the ones who:

1. Love Indian Non-Veg (chicken, mutton)
2. Love spicy stuff
3. Don't like to experiment a lot because "Good Food" is not something you fiddle around with
4. Like to reorder the dish if they absolutely love it
5. Don't shy away from ordering more than what is required because deep down they know that they can take a "To Go" and eat it the next day

Disclaimers:

• The chef might have a bad day at the same time when you happen to order. So don't blame me.
• Some of the restaurants mentioned below are awesome with veg food as well. But some of them fall flat on their face. So take your vegetarian buddies at your own risk or wait for my blog on vegetarian restaurants (It might be a while before that comes out)
  
• The restaurants and their menu items listed are what I happen to order on that day. They may still excel in other stuff which I didn't taste.
  
• I am not responsible for personal prejudices or your bad luck.
  

Lets begin, shall we?

In no particular order of preference:

Temptations - 288 Castro Street, Mountain View, CA‎
A great restaurant if you like authentic Indian-Chinese Fusion food. Service not so great but the food makes up for it.

My Recommendations:
1. Chicken 69 - Ideal starter
2. Sweet Corn Soup
3. Hot and Sour Soup
4. Red Chilly Rice with Chicken/Veg - Long grain basmati rice stir fried with vegetable/chicken and mixed with red chili spicy sauce
5. Singaporee Rice with Chicken/Veg - Long grain basmati rice stir fried with vegetable/chicken and mixed with Turmeric

Peacock - 2798 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA‎
The best place for Dum Biryani be it veg or non-veg. Also the mutton curry. Authentic Indian style. I am serious when I say that I was on verge of tears when I ate it as it reminded me of my mom's cooking. A great place for buffet considering most of the Indian places suck when it comes to buffet.
My Recommendations:
1. Chicken Dum Biryani
2. Mutton Curry
3. Mango Ice Cream

Turmeric - 141 S Murphy Ave, Sunnyvale, CA‎
A little expensive but great ambiance and a very nice change if you get bored of other places.

My Recommendations
1. Ragda Patties - Potato patties stuffed with a blend of homemade cheese, herbs and spices. Served with chickpeas
2. Paneer Mircha - Cottage cheese in a yogurt based sauce tempered with whole red chili and cumin seeds
3. Chicken Biryani

Spice Hut - 594 E El Camino Real, Sunnyvale, CA
Great place to get a "To Go" for home. Ideal for one of those days when you don't want to cook or you just ran out of groceries. Spice Hut calls itself the Indian Fast Food Center. Pretty accurate I should say. Their Combination plates are worth every cent.

My Recommendations:
1. Veg/Chicken/Egg Puff
2. Chicken Chettinad

Kabab and Currys - 1498 Isabella St, Santa Clara, CA‎
For hardcore Kabab fans. Their Kababs are world class. They serve Kababs during Buffet. Need I mention any other reason to go there?

My Recommendations:
1. Kababs in the lunch buffet

Amber Cafe - 600 W El Camino Real Mountain View, CA 94040
One of the few restaurants who have successfully experimented with the Indian Dishes in an American style. They close little after 10 on weekdays and hence provide you with the best chance of getting hands on some Indian food if you start at 9:45 pm (Lets face it, we all have faced these situations where the restaurant closes before you make up your mind)

My Recommendations:
1. Chilli Cheese Toast - A mixture of cheddar, pepper jack cheese with green chillies, spread on toasted bread and gratinated
2. Chicken 65 - Actually a pizza. Curried chicken chunks with curry leaf , topped with red onions , cilantro and cheese. Finished in the oven.
3. Amber Chicken Wings - Mouth watering Chicken wings marinated in spice blend and cooked in the tandoor, their version of buffalo wings


Anjappar - 458 Barber lane Milpitas, CA 95035
A recent restaurant (probabaly a month old). I was taken to this place by my friend who claimed that they are famous back home(India) for south Indian non-veg specialties. His claim was right. I cannot remember as of now the dishes that I ordered but they were all good. Not so great for veggies.

Tandoori Bites - 3730 N 1st St # 120 San Jose, CA 95134
A bit nostalgic about this place since it resembles and in fact betters one of the Indian places (Sher-e-Punjab) in Tucson, AZ. Not a great place as compared to the ones mentioned above but just a couple of the dishes stand out.

My Recommendations:
1. Spicy Chicken Biryani
2. Chicken Tikka Masala and Butter Nan

Masala India Grill - 39158 Paseo Padre Pkwy (between Capitol Ave & Walnut Ave)
Fremont, CA 94538
A great find of late. Awesome place to grab quick and decently priced Indian food. Their lunch combo of 7 bucks includes Nan, Rice, Kheer and 2 items of you choice. Plenty for the hungry stomach and the empty wallet.

My Reommendations for the 2 items:
1. Achari Chicken
2. Chole
3. Black Pepper Chicken
4. Shrimp Curry
5. Chicken Curry
6. Dal

If you are still reading and feeling hungry then my job is done. This is all that I got for the time being. There are a lot of pure vegetarian places (Madras Cafe, Luckys, Komala Vilas, Milan and Tirupati Bhimas) I like to go to but I leave that for some other time.