Can I get a roti?

[webjockey]

Is it possible to get any west indian food in this town? I'm even willing to travel to the outskirts of Austin for a good roti.

- homesick Trini

[pankofish]

Madras Pavillion, northeast corner of Burnet road and 183 has roti. They're really good.

[Nab]

This looks like a mostly S.Indian place, and according to the menu, doesn't appear to offer Trini-style rotis.

I, too, would love to find a good roti (W.Indian style, that is).

http://www.madraspavilion.us/mpaappet...

(lemme try this tag thing out too while I'm at it

)

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Madras Pavilion
9025 Research Blvd, Austin, TX 78758

[Trhosion]

Madras is a fairly safe bet.

Another option is a place called SWAD that is on N. Lamar at rundberg in a burried big strip mall. I haven't been in a good while so it might be history, but they had a terrific appetizer called darhi pori made with roti among other things. Great rice pudding too when they made it.

[ashes]

Nope....SWAD is still there...in fact there's been recent chatter about it: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/427739

[foodiefound]

Curry in Hurry on Parmer has roti, although I don't have much experience with roti so I don't know how good it is comparitively.

[luckyfatima]

sorry dear the truth is you gotta go to Houston to get really good S. Asian stuff. In Austin the Indian restaurants that cater to non-Indians all serve that standard overly creamy N. Indian restaurant fare that tastes very little like real N. Indian food. They mostly have tandoori naan, no roti.

Shalimar Pakistani restaurant is just blegh, heart burn, not too good.

Swad is for "chaat" (snacks, namkeens, crunchy stuff, dosay, dahi bhalle, etc), I think the owners are Gujjus, and Madras is totally madraasi in taste. Good foof, but not like your mum's if she's N. Indian origin.

Nothing Trinidadian, not even close.

[scrumptiouschef]

Here's a recent link with some thoughts on Shalimar

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/364879

[taliesin15]

wow, what an old thread! Not sure about rotis specifically, but New India Cuisine is making Mumbai style food that is definitely a cut above other restaurants in Austin--I used to agree with luckyfatima on this (you had to go to Houston or Dallas--or be invited to an Indian's house), but now we've got something that's not just another iteration on New Dehli cuisine--seriously spicy!

[luckyfatima]

I had this type of roti many years after this post. It is similar to a stuffed paratha except that all white flour is used, while paratha is whole wheat flour or at least whole wheat mixed with a touch of white. Still no Trini roti in Austin, though as far as I know.

[webjockey]

Just to clarify, the roti I speak of is not Indian, but West Indian. The bread is a flat bread with spiced dal layerd into the bread. Usually, you put curry meat,potato and chana on the bread and wrap it like a burrito.

[luckyfatima]

sorry bro, the closest thing you could do is go to swad and ask them to make you a paratha stuffed w/daal and then order some channe or curry on the side and eat that

[renz]

Can't help you with any sources but maybe can help clarify the question: West Indian rotis, as in Trinidad/Guyana/Caribbean aka the India that Columbus thought he would find.

[lroberts]

After searching the web, searching for the same thing, I have come to the conclusion that Austinites have NO CLUE what a roti is. Which is a damn shame, because I've eaten some delicious ones in Montreal, and I would kill to eat some here. Given that Trinidad is way closer to Austin than it is to Montreal, I am perplexed by the lack of rotis.

However, I did find a place located in Killeen (about an hour north of Austin, by Google's account) called Mom's Hot Roti (at 814 S. Fort Hood Street), in case anyone would like to make the trek and taste test.

[amysuehere]

I make my roti at home about twice a month. Got my recipe from Roti Palace in the Virgin Islands.

[webjockey]

I was in Killeen today for the pow wow and decided to stop by Hot Mom's Roti (or was it Mom's Hot Roti).

My husband ordered the chicken roti. I had beef. They did have a good selection of foods I grew up with - beef patties, saltfish, souse, ox tail, goat, rice and peas. Naturally, I was very excited. The curry was also very familiar and simpl; strong cumin flavor with the familiarity of chief brand curry powder with just potatoes and no chana. I've never liked chana in my curry unless it was a veggie curry. The chicken roti came with bones, just like a good chicken roti should. The size was good for a medium sized (not texas sized) lunch portion.

Now for the bad:
1. The roti was not what I'm used to. Maybe it's a different technique from another island. They mixed the dhal into the dough all together. I'm used to the type of roti that has a little pocket for the curried dhal and it's almost paratha like. This one was more like a large flavored flour tortilla.
2. Ok, I realize this is just being picky and nostalgic, but you don't put a roti directly on foil. You put it on waxed paper and then in foil. It just didn't taste right.
3. No doubles! Now can a roti place not sell doubles!

All in all, my craving has been satiated, but the roti itself was mediocre. I definitely don't feel the need to trek back up to Killeen for a special trip. I would be willing to try their other dishes - like the oxtail (only if it's stewed). Just gotta figure out what island they're from so I can set my expectations.

Hope I didn't come off too much like a Trini snob.

[charlie_b]

i so wish i could help you and will bookmark hoping for news of a West Indian Roti shop opening ... i guess we lack those immigrants, but i do wonder if Houston might have them, as there is both more diversity and more concentration of immigrant populations there.

loved roti in Baltimore and NYC, loved roti in Toronto. bet it's good in Montreal too. i love the vegetarian roti's best with stewed pumpkin and love with callaloo, which hopefully isn't really veggie and uses crab stock and the like. oh so good. as well as Roti, i would love some Doubles too.

on a different note, and more like most of the posts on this thread, i would also be really happy to find an Indian Bread sandwich, like the ones popularized by the Kati Roll company in NYC ... i loved the unda (egg) "rolls" (more like an indian bread rolled taco) the best, but would totally go for a lamb kabob and egg roll too. wonder if any of the places listed below have anything like that yumminess?

[girloftheworld]

weird as it sounds there was an Ethiopian restraunt that has something close to real roti but I'll have to ask my step dad where we were...I need to pay closer attention to directions!

[Brian Lindauer]

Probably not exactly the same thing, but the "naaninis" at Tarka sound similar.

http://www.tarkaindiankitchen.com/men...

I tried the shredded lamb one and thought it was really tasty. But avoid the fries, which were a soggy seemingly pre-frozen mess.

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Tarka
5207 Brodie Ln, Austin, TX 78745

[abidonfood]

If it's still around, you might want to check out the West Indian Dhal Puri at Ital Palace, located inside Submerged on E 2nd street. Been wanting to go there for a while now, but they had weird hours...

http://www.thrillist.com/links/122403

From the link it looks like they're looking for a new location...

[webjockey]

Thanks for the link. I'm curious what their interpretation of Ital cooking is like, or if it's just a marketing thing.