Best Taste of India

Great authentic Indian cuisine at reasonable prices! Love the chicken tikka masala and sang paneer. Consistent and filling — a great combination! Come here, you won’t be disappointed.

Fantastic. Not only a great cart of authentic Indian cuisine, but a wide menu to choose from AND a wonderful couple doing the cooking there. Everything we ordered was very, very good. And not that it has to be that way, but the portions are quite generous and the price most reasonable. Yet another go-​to in Cartlandia. Highly recommended.

I’ve eaten here about 5 times and let me tell you that this is the best kept secret in Cartlandia. The food is always perfect, the service is great and the pricing can’t be any better. If I could move closer to this particular food cart I would.

One of my favorite carts in my favorite Food Cart pod, prices are reasonable, the food is good, the owners are exceedingly friendly and the food comes out fast. I will be back often.

This place is great. Stopped in here after reading some other reviews and I was not disappointed. Chicken tikka masala was amazingly delicious. Very cheap too.

Super solid Indian food!
Undeservedly located in the back corner of Cartlandia, this rather large cart has pretty much all the dishes you’d expect from a full blown Indian restaurant.
I’m not even going to pretend that I’ve had more than 10% of the menu, but what I have had has been fantastic. I HIGHLY recommend the korma, regardless of your protein (I like lamb) the sauce is so creamy and indulgent and I love the nuts and raisins in it. Also they have some of the best samosas I’ve ever had, huge, crisp, and fragrant, yay! Veggie pakora is super good as well. I thought the tikka masala was a hair on the sweet side but still tasty. Don’t forget an order of garlic naan.
Hours are a bit inconsistent it seems, but oh well, such is life in the food cart world.

Why is Unilocal featuring a place that’s closed?

My first (of many, I’m sure) visits to this tiny place. What pleasant owners! The food was the best non-​buffet Indian food I’ve had in Oregon! I ordered and enjoyed the curried lamb with a side of Papadam & hot chai. A short wait, because everything is made fresh, and soon you’re enjoying a hot authentic Indian meal! Tho I didn’t see it on the menu, I also had the added enjoyment of a sweet golden– candy or cake – not sure what to call that rich sesame chick pea flour treat, offered by my host, but it was delicious! I certainly plan to be back!

Update: the owner wrote and was terribly sorry for not being open due to various reasons. Hopefully next time I go during the hours it says they’re open… They’re open.
UMMMMM. So I used to love this cart, like love. The price was great for what you got and the food was always yummy. I would give it 4 stars if someone could answer me and tell me what the heck is going on. I will gladly change my review to 4 stars from 1 when I can figure out what in the world is happening.
1. The last four times I’ve came to the cart in the last two months (Double checked Unilocal to ensure they were open)… THEY WERE NOT OPEN. I wasn’t going during strange hours either. I went twice around lunch time, and twice during dinner (6 pm) and all of the times they were closed. All reasonable times to be open since it clearly stated they were open.
2. Prices have gone up since the last time I actually ate here when they were open. The menu sign has changed and so did the prices, lol.
3. Did the owners change?
4. What are your hours?
5. Hopefully you are all okay and were not abducted by aliens. If you are no longer going to be open, please let your customers know that you aren’t open during this season, change your hours on Unilocal,or leave a sign that lets people know what the situation is. It’s like a knife stabbing my soul every time I drive here and it says you are open. and then to my utter dismay, you are closed… every single time.
6. I called yesterday to check and a few times before making the drive down, and someone picked up the phone and then just hung up.

I absolutely love this place! The best Chicken Tikka Masala I have ever had :) Plus the owners are SO friendly… I eat here almost everyday! :)

BEST INDIAN FOOD IN PORTLAND. My wife and I come here WEEKLY. Hands down nothing beats the Chicken Tikki Masala. Completely recommend it. Food is cooked on the spot per request– not sitting around all day. Perfectly seasoned and medium is the right spot of warm and sweet. They don’t skimp out on ingredients. Rice is heavenly. Not dry at all, very moist. The owner is a great guy and takes pride in his food, he has our order memorized. We call in and it’s ready when we arrive.

This is our go to place for Indian food in the SE. My wife always gets the chicken tikka masala, but I’ve tried the mahkanee (butter chicken), lamb curry, chicken saag, veggie samosas, and naan. I have yet to find anything that’s not amazing!
Keep in mind the spice level is lower than most places. (My wife doesn’t do spicy, so she likes it). The mild is super mild, medium is mild everywhere else. I get medium other places and do spicy here. There’s also extra spicy if you’re feeling adventurous.
Overall, there’s lots of mediocre ethnic places at Cartlandia, but not this place! They also do takeout orders over the phone.

I had been here twice before trying to get to them but they were closed… so the third time was the charm indeed! You may have to wait awhile for your order if there is a line but it is worth it. Very yummy! Love these guys. I think that they own the one downtown on 11^th too. Love the wraps, but really should try some of their entrees as well. Wrap was $ 7, and can get something yummy for under $ 10.with drink or dessert it will be more though.

Very happy with this cart! I’ve been here twice now — once after getting my boyfriend from the airport and arriving to Cartlandia suspiciously close to closing time, and once after visiting Portland for the day and getting into the pod around 6pm.
The first time everything went off without a hitch, I got some curry and my boyfriend got a curry wrap and everyone involved liked the food a lot (I even brought my leftovers home and my mom liked it enough that she kept asking me when I would go back again).
The second time, I arrived in Cartlandia and much to my dismay it looked like the cart was non-​operational. They were performing some maintenance on the outside of the cart, and their open sign was off. After wandering around the pod for a while and discovering that most of the food carts I wanted to eat at were closed (even though they all should have been open based on their hours…) I went back over to the neighboring polish food cart near Best Taste of India. After a while I noticed a woman peaking her head out the window of the Indian cart, so I asked her if they would be open at all that night and she graciously allowed me to place an order! After a fair string of disappointments, that really made my day and I appreciate that she didn’t have to do that at all.
Their tikka masala as well as the tikka masala wrap are both very good, and their garlic naan is great too!

This place is such a hidden gem. Been here twice and it was delicious both times. Their tikka masala and garlic naan is so good, beats a lot of real restaurants. Please don’t be discouraged to try it because of it is a food cart and not a fancy cart at that. Their food makes up for everything.

This guys have delicious Indian food even though its a food truck. It tastes like homemade food. They are nice and I appreciate the fact that the person handling cash is not the same person cooking my food.
When it comes to food carts, my rule is not to eat anything cooked by the same person that handles cash.
I love the Portland culture when it comes to mobile food vendors but they have to wash their hands.

Based on the local available Indian Food, we were so happy that Cartlandia added an Indian Food vendor. Myself a fan of biriyani, I tried the chicken biriyani first and can say first that it is a large portion, enough for more than one person. So families that share will find a great value here.
They add peas, nuts and raisins, adding to the unique taste. My only other reference for comparison is Swagat in Beaverton, and they have a much different approach to the spices and texture. I like both but the edge to Swagat for the cinnamon and licorice spices.
I’ve also had the Chili Chicken which was also good and plenty for lunch for two. I’m excited to try more dishes from these guys, the Korma and the Saag and Tikki Masala. And Tandori Chicken, though the menu indicated they are out the last few times I’ve gone. Also I’ve had the naan which is standardly yum.
mmmmm. 5 stars for the super value and being the only Indian food in the area, a rather large menu and they take credit cards.

Caveat — I’ve only had the Lamb Curry (and the garlic naan.)
First time I tried this place was the last day of Zoo Lights and then I had them again tonight. I asked Jaswinder if he had a favorite for the Cricket World Cup since India got beaten. He laughed and asked me if I watched cricket. No, but I listen to NPR :-D
Tonight I ordered the spice level medium (not sure what I ordered the first time) and I would say it was more like mild (if you’re trying to judge spiciness.) Having said that, I’ve been hitting the Secret Aardvark Habanero Hot Sauce pretty hard lately, so I may have slightly increased my tolerance to the olé C18 H27 NO3. When I make chicken curry (Indian style) at home, I think I use something like ¼ C. of curry powder. This has a much more mellow curry flavor (which is a good thing; mine is like getting a cricket bat to the mouth.)
Portions… If I had to guess, I’d say for $ 9 for the Lamb Curry or $ 7.50 for the Chicken Curry, you’re getting at least 3 C. of food. That’s easily enough for two people. And in less time than it takes to complete a stage in Angry Birds.
The next things I’ll be trying are the Chicken Tikka Masala, Lamb/​Chicken Vindaloo and the Lamb/​Chicken Korma.
One last thing: Jaswinder is kind enough to use easily recyclable plastic for the take-​out boxes. Please wash/​rinse yours out and toss it in the recycling bin, *not* the garbage. The dolphins thank you.

I’d advise you to order based on the description (s) in the menu, not the pictures they have above it. Indian isn’t the most photogenic of cuisines, but you’d be a fool to cast a judgement based on food’s visual appeal, which I’ve been doing myself quite often, most of the time preferring to eat at other carts in this ever-​growing pod, which I visit quite often. In my defence, this is a rather new addition to Cartlandia, so I’d blame my almost complete prior unfamiliarity with Indian food on that.
I had Chicken Makhani, and it won’t be an overstatement to say that that I’ve never had chicken that tasted this unique (in a positive way). They have tandoor oven right inside the cart and it appears to be making quite a difference on the overall profile of most of their dishes. Mixing in nuts, raisins and spices certainly gives the dish a Middle-​Eastern undertone, although it’s the combination of all of the above that distances this food from its perceived similarity with Middle-​Eastern cuisine.
I also got to try garlic naan and mango lassi (yoghurt/​mango drink). Naan was a little bland, but lassi exceeded my expectations by quite a distance — a rather unique treat that definitely feels calorie-​heavy, but is very indulgent and rich. Hey, it’s a little too late to be making New Year’s resolutions, isn’t it?

Eaten there many times, they take their time to prepare fresh food. Quality of food is always good and clean. Havent tried any chiken dish, allvegetables and naan are delioso.