The Best Indian Food in Ann Arbor
A solid scene that deserves more attention, even if it can't match the Korean or Mexican depth.
Ann Arbor's Indian food scene is honest. It is not deep the way the Korean scene is deep, with five restaurants covering a full spectrum of styles and price points. It is not broad the way the Mexican scene is broad, with options from Packard to Dexter. What Ann Arbor has is a handful of kitchens producing Indian food with care, and the best of them are producing food that rewards repeat visits.
The challenge is geographic. Most of the Indian restaurants in the Ann Arbor area sit outside the downtown core, on Plymouth Road or Washtenaw Avenue, in the commercial corridors where rent is lower and foot traffic thinner. The tradeoff is real: lower visibility, lower prices, and cooking that doesn't need to justify a Main Street lease. If you're willing to drive ten minutes, you eat better for less.
1. Cardamom (1739 Plymouth Rd, Ann Arbor)
Cardamom is the Indian restaurant Ann Arbor didn't know it needed until it arrived. On Plymouth Road, north of campus in the commercial strip between US-23 and North Campus, the kitchen produces food with an ambition you rarely find at this price point.
The lamb shank biryani ($24) is the dish that keeps me coming back. Rice layered with saffron and fried onions, the lamb falling apart underneath after hours of slow cooking. It feeds two comfortably. The paneer tikka has a deep, smoky char from the tandoor, and the tikka masala is the version I measure other tikka masalas against: tomatoey, warm, with the cream integrated into the sauce rather than pooled on top.
The cocktail program draws on Indian spices in ways that feel considered rather than gimmicky. A gin drink with cardamom and lime is the house signature. A chai-spiced old fashioned sounds like it shouldn't work and does.
Cardamom sits comfortably alongside Echelon and Mani Osteria in terms of ambition, and the prices don't punish you for it. Entrees run $16-$24. The room has tablecloths. This is date-night Indian food, and Ann Arbor has precious little of that.
2. Shalimar (307 S Main St, Ann Arbor)
Shalimar operates from a small storefront on South Main, and the menu reads like a greatest hits of North Indian and Pakistani cooking. Chicken biryani, lamb korma, seekh kebabs, chana masala. Nothing on the menu is trying to surprise you. Everything on the menu is trying to be good, and the kitchen succeeds more often than not.
The lunch buffet is where the value sits. For around $13, you get access to a rotating spread that typically includes two or three curries, rice, naan, a dal, and a dessert. The butter chicken at the buffet tastes like butter chicken should taste: rich, tomatoey, with enough spice to register without dominating. The naan comes warm and slightly charred.1Shalimar's menu and pricing based on current posted menu. Buffet availability and pricing may vary.
Dinner is a la carte, and the seekh kebabs ($14) are the standout. Ground lamb, spiced and grilled, served with mint chutney. The lamb rogan josh ($16) has enough heat to make your forehead warm. Portions are generous.
The room is plain. The service is friendly. Shalimar is not going to make any best-of lists for atmosphere, and that's fine. The food does the work. It has been doing the work for years.
3. Everest Sherpa (551 W Huron St, Ann Arbor)
Everest Sherpa is the wildcard on this list, and the most interesting kitchen if you already know your way around Indian food. The menu covers both Indian and Nepali dishes, and the Nepali side is where the cooking gets distinctive.2Everest Sherpa serves both Indian and Nepali cuisines. Menu details from current offerings.
Momo, the Nepali dumplings, are the entry point. Steamed or fried, stuffed with chicken or vegetables, served with a tomato-based achar (pickle sauce) that has enough heat and tang to make you order a second plate. They run $10-$12. The thukpa, a Nepali noodle soup with vegetables and spice, is a cold-weather staple that fills the same role as ramen but with a completely different flavor profile: earthier, with cumin and coriander where you'd expect ginger and miso.
On the Indian side, the chicken tikka masala ($14) is competent, and the garlic naan is better than competent. But the reason to come here is the Nepali food. Chow mein with a Nepali spice profile, dal bhat (the Nepali national meal of rice, lentils, and vegetables), and the momos. Ann Arbor has exactly one restaurant doing this cuisine, and it's worth the trip to West Huron.
4. Taste of India (2541 Plymouth Rd, Ann Arbor)
Taste of India occupies the opposite end of the spectrum from Cardamom. Where Cardamom is tablecloths and cocktails, Taste of India is a lunch counter and a steam table. Both approaches are valid. Both produce food that rewards the visit.
The lunch buffet ($12) is the primary draw, and on a good day it is the best deal on Plymouth Road. The spread usually includes chicken curry, vegetable korma, dal, samosas, rice, and naan. The samosas have a crisp shell and are filled with spiced potatoes and peas. The chicken curry varies from visit to visit, which is the nature of a buffet, but the baseline is solid.
Dinner service offers a la carte options. The palak paneer ($13) is well-spiced and thick. The tandoori chicken ($14) has good color and enough char. Nothing here will redefine your understanding of Indian food, but everything is prepared with care and priced for people who eat Indian food regularly rather than as an occasion.
Plymouth Road between Cardamom and Taste of India is quietly one of the better Indian food corridors in Michigan outside of metro Detroit. Two restaurants, different ambitions, same commitment to the cuisine.
Ann Arbor's Indian scene is not going to compete with Hamtramck or the stretch of Hilton Road in Ferndale. A city this size, with a university drawing students from across South Asia, should probably have more options than it does. What it has is a tablecloth restaurant on Plymouth Road that is genuinely excellent, a reliable lunch counter a mile down the same street, a Nepali kitchen on West Huron doing something nobody else in town attempts, and a South Main standby that has been feeding this city quietly for years. Four restaurants. All worth your time, for different reasons and at different price points.