Restaurant Review – Chai Pani Decatur

We were in Decatur, had a change in lunch plans, and I was starving. So, I decided to walk into Chai Pani Decatur, a clean, natural Indian Street Food restaurant, sibling to award-winning Chai Pani in Asheville, NC. I was so glad I did, because I ate one of the best, most flavorful meals I’ve had in a long time.

I love the philosophy of this restaurant:

We buy fresh produce daily from local purveyors and try to source from local farms when practical. We use all natural and sustainably raised chicken, and our meats and dairy are all natural, and antibiotic & hormone free. We cook in pure trans-fat free canola oil or ghee (clarified butter) and there’s no artificial flavors or ingredients in anything – ever.

We import the highest quality specialty items from India, roast and grind our own spice blends, and we make all our chutneys and sauces in-house.

We are members of ASAP (Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project) and support and respect our local farmers.

I totally was impressed that the manager and staff all knew where the food came from, could knowledgeably speak of how the food was prepared, and made many helpful suggestions. For example, we decided to try Chicken Pakoras, and the waitress mentioned that a whole order was quite substantial and suggested we get a half order since we were ordering more food. This turned out to be great advice because a half order was huge!

We also ordered Thali. Thali is various Indian dishes served on a platter. The day’s non-vegetarian Thali included Malabar Chicken, rice, naan, sweet yogurt, dal, and pickled cabbage. The chicken was quite pungent with spice but  not too hot for a Southern palate. The rice was fluffy and went well with the dal whose texture was more soupy. The pickled veggies were lovely and sweet/sour, leaning toward sour. The sweet yogurt was very cooling. This was Mindblasting Indian Street Food!!!

We really liked the decor; it was quite edgy. We’ve been talking for awhile about having a town home, something like a warehouse or factory. Chai Pani did a great job with this decorating concept. The sheet metal punched light shades were quite spectacular. Too, there was quite a bit of seating, all quite comfortable. We loved the Bollywood style art.

The other thing we liked about the restaurant was that the food is quite affordable. We spent about $25 for two people to eat a gracious plenty of  Indian Street Food. We mentioned our pleasure to Josh McGill who was managing the front of the house that afternoon. He was knowledgeable about the food he served and where it came from. A very pleasant conversation for us all.

If you want to eat clean, healthy food that is sustainable and filled with a punch of flavor, we highly recommend you try Chai Pani Decatur (or Asheville if you are on vacation.) for Mindblowing Indian Street Food.