Harvest of India

Double Helping of Indian Cuisine in Herndon

Herndon’s Harvest of India and the Indian Supper Club at Worldgate Shopping Center are both owned by local resident Naresh Advani. He opened the supper club about four years ago, and Harvest of India was his first restaurant.

Both restaurants offer a generous lunch buffet for $9 during the week and $12 Saturdays and Sundays, and a large a la carte menu for dinner. The buffet always includes tandoori chicken, basmati rice, nan (bread), a seafood dish, several vegetable curries and lentil dishes. The buffet also includes other meat dishes, usually some kind of chicken curry dish, as well as desserts, pudding and fruit. Indian curries are cooked in two stages. First, the sauce cooks for many hours over low heat. Then the meat or seafood is added during the last 15 to 25 minutes, so that it cooks in the sauce. There are a number of basic curry sauces including vindaloo, which is finished off with vinegar; spinach, which is usually spicy; onion white sauce, which is very bland and subtle; yogurt and tomato sauce. The sauces carry a myriad of exotic flavors, which enrobe the meat, seafood and vegetarian dishes. Tandoori dishes are baked in a very hot oven and usually do not have sauces. On a recent trip to the lunch buffet at Harvest of Indian, I enjoyed the tandoori chicken, whose reddish color comes from food coloring. This is always a favorite dish that is recommended to diners new to the cuisine. Several of the vegetable curries also were notable, especially the eggplant and the potato.

An appetizer is usually offered on the buffet, but samosas, which are my favorite and are prepared with vegetables or chicken, need to be ordered separately. Sometimes I make a meal of the samosas, as they serve two very large samosas for an appetizer. Dipped in fiery mint or tamarind sauce, they are interesting and filling.

Several other condiments are served with the meals, and may be ordered to accompany an entrée. I always have raita, a yogurt mixture that helps cool down the hot dishes. Mango chutney also adds a delicious sweet and sour highlight to any dish.

The buffets are nearly identical at both restaurants, but their a la carte dinner meals differ slightly. At the Supper Club, they tend to be slightly more generous with their servings—the leftovers from an order of birani made a side dish for four at a dinner at home. While nan is served at the buffets, you might consider ordering one of the whole wheat breads at dinner. I like paratha and onion and garlic nan. Some of the stuffed breads are very heavy, so I usually do not order them. At dinner, I always order gobi kaju, either as an entrée or a half-order for a vegetable dish. It is a heavenly cauliflower dish in a delicately spiced white sauce with cashew nuts. It does not appear on the Supper Club of Indian menu, but is occasionally on the lunch buffet in both places. While I am not ordinarily a fan of cauliflower, I find this vegetable dish pleasurable in its complexity and subtlety. I also highly recommend you try a lassi to drink. I am particularly fond of the mango lassi.

The Supper Club of India is decorated with rose-colored mirrors, photographs of Indian royalty and Indian jewels gracing the walls, and a comfortable ambience from the restrained colors to the Indian music. Harvest of India is older, not quite as beautiful as the supper club, but white linens and flowers.

The restaurants open from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for the lunch buffet, and from 5:30 to 10 p.m. for dinner. You will not usually need reservations at either restaurant unless you have a large party. It is always a good idea to call ahead for a large party so they can prepare a table.