For a long time, the best place to eat in Sharon was Coriander Bistro, an upscale French restaurant that closed earlier this year. In July, a new restaurant opened in the space, and surprise! It’s called Coriander Bistro. The name suits this incarnation even better than it did the original: The restaurant now serves Indian and Nepali food. (It’s owned by the same people who run Himalayan Bistro in West Roxbury.) As much as the food has changed, this is still the best place to eat in Sharon. In fact, it’s one of the best places to eat Indian food in the Boston area.
Same name, new range of flavors
Bistro offers fine Indian and Nepali food
The menu ranges far and wide, from north to south to west to the native Nepal of the owners, from street snacks to Anglo-inflected specialties, homey dal to complex curries. There are nearly 100 main dishes to sample, and almost 20 kinds of bread alone. The variety at Coriander is not the only reason you could eat here often. Chef Dammar Thapa went to culinary school in India, and his resume includes stints at a five-star hotel in Nepal’s capital, Katmandu, and on cruise ships. His food is deftly spiced and prepared with an unusually fine touch.
This means extra-delicious versions of takeout classics. Chicken tikka masala features moist chunks of chicken breast tinged with smoke from the tandoor and a rich, creamy tomato sauce, subtler than usual, the spices breaking over your tongue in waves. Saag paneer is a mixture of spinach and feather-light cheese bright with fresh ginger. Requested medium, both feature a pleasant overlay of heat. Chicken tandoori is served on a dramatically sizzling platter, juicy and tender. Shrimp vindaloo is oddly unfiery, and not as tart with tamarind as some versions are; it’s less complex than some of Coriander’s other offerings but still tasty.
A dosa filled with potatoes and chutney is as big as a log; the outside crepe is crisp and chewy, a texture similar to cheese that has leaked out the side of a grilled cheese sandwich and cooked on the pan. Goa shrimp curry offers a fragrant medley of spices, heavy on the turmeric without being acrid. Chicken takatak is rich comfort food, poultry bathed in a sauce of mint, coconut, and cashews.
Dishes come with a platter of basmati rice so fluffy and fragrant it prompts one diner to lift it admiringly and say, “If only I could get my rice to turn out like that.’’ If you come to Coriander for a standard US Indian restaurant experience, you’ll get that, a notch better than you might be used to. (Though the lovely spiced-potato filling of a vegetarian samosa is obscured by the scowling embrace of its thick and uninspired fried wrapping.)
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