Masala Mantra - The Indian Bistro4518 Del Prado Blvd S, Cape Coral, Florida 33904 |
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| If you like curry, you only need to know one block of Cape Coral. The 4500 block of south Del Prado is home to the long lived Siam Hut, and in late 2019 also became home to the only Indian restaurant in Cape Coral, Masala Mantra. | ||
| We had been frequenting India's Grille in Fort Myers for a few years prior to Masala Mantra's opening, and we are still fond of that place. They had truly the best weekend Indian buffet we ever experienced, and the biggest problem for us with Indian food is only ordering one or two dishes. An Indian buffet is my idea of food heaven. That buffet was about the only reason we'd cross a bridge to Fort Myers, and we did it every week for years. | ||
| So, we were thrilled to find that Masala Mantra opened on Del Prado, right across from Siam Hut - so Cape Coral residents can get almost any kind of curry on the same block. They moved into the same building that was once Tasty Cultures, right next door to the Salvation Army store. | ||
| We visited Masala Mantra as soon as we heard of their opening, and were happy to see two of our favorite guys from India's Grille working there, twice in the week before they had even done any promotion or advertising. By the second time we visited, the place was already filling up on the basis of people seeing it as they drove by, and they were turning away customers at 7:30 PM because they had so many customers waiting that they could not serve any one else before closing at 9 PM. | ||
| Masala Mantra quickly rose to the top of Yelp, Google, and Trip Advisor reviews in Cape Coral, and we feel they deserve this. | ||
| We've loved Indian food for many years - so much so that we have a statue of Ganesh in our home - but Masala Mantra's menu is one of the best I have ever seen. Reading it provides a quick education in the cuisine in that it describes the ingredients of the dishes in great detail. | ||
| Masala Mantra serves more than the basic selection of tandoori dishes, with tandoori shrimp, chicken, and lamb chops, grilled salmon, chicken tikka, and malai kebob. They serve at least four kinds of basic naan, plain, garlic, onion, and chili, and they serve stuffed naan with chicken tikka, keema (finely minced and spiced lamb,) kashmiri (raisins, nuts, and dates,) and "bullet" (butter, chillies, and garlic.) | ||
| Trust me - what I've listed so far would be enough to make this a great restaurant, but there's much more. There's a staggering selection of curries that range from a mild savory flavor in a soothing, satisfying yogurt base, to dishes so hot that once they cross my lips, I lose my sense of taste and even guzzling down ice water only intensifies the burn. I'm not a big fan of vindaloo and phaal, but I like to have a small taste at the end of a big buffet meal. I don't start with them, as I cannot taste anything else once I eat them. | ||
| Masala Mantra serves about 14 dishes they describe as curries, most with a choice of veggies, paneer (cheese,) chicken, lamb, goat, or shrimp - varieties include tikka masala, chettinad, madras, korma, jalfrezi, vindaloo, kadai, and what they call "Indian Inferno" which is known in Indian cuisine as phaal. The curries also include a couple of seafood dishes: malabar fish curry with tilapia or salmon and fish molly with tilapia, shrimp or salmon. You can order these from mild to hot, but there's really no such thing as mild vindaloo or phaal. | ||
| How many Cape Coral restaurants serve six vegetarian entrees? Masala Mantra serves malai kofta, chana masala, dal fry or dal saag, aloo gobi masala, bindi do pyaza, and vegetarian mantra - their own special dish of tofu, eggplant, and potatoes in a coconut curry. | ||
| If that is not enough, they also serve biriyani and fried rice dishes, I'd say "for the less adventurous," but I do remember a time when I would always order chicken biriyani before I knew other dishes on a menu. | ||
| Unless you grew up on Indian cuisine, you'll probably never run out of new things to try unless you just go live at Masala Mantra. That does not sound like a bad idea to me, but then I'd be missing Siam Hut and Judy would miss Kumo. | ||
| They do serve beer and wine but have a limited selection. The bar is not the star here. Oddly, their stand out beer is the Italian Menabrea Amber, which I place between Yuengling and Negra Modelo as a malty slightly caramel brew. | ||
| http://masalaamantra.com | ||
| Other Indian restaurants we've visited: India's Grille was our regular place before Masala Mantra opened, we will still cross the bridge for an occasional visit. We've not found another Indian restaurant we'd mention in this area. | ||