IndeBlue Restaurant: An Indian Restaurant in New Jersey

Sunrise at Mt. Laurel

Masood and I spent a week in New Jersey, to work at our client site, one of the largest health care system in the state. It was quite an experience.

The woods behind the offices.

A picture I had to take. It’s not something we see often in the U.A.E.

Because of work, we sadly did not find time to explore New Jersey or the neighboring Philadelphia. We did try — leaving work by 5:30 pm and then driving around town. But that meant rush hour and traffic. And being distracted by Walmart, Target, Anthropologie (please open up a branch here in Dubai!) and Macy’s.

Oh, and have you heard about the “Jersey left”? That means that if you want to take a left turn on the road, you have to take a right turn first. It was so crazy the first time we discovered it. It was around 8 pm, we just landed from Boston, and we were on the far left lane thinking on taking the next left turn at the signal to reach our hotel.

When the light turned green and we eventually reached the junction, turned out we can’t take a left. So we drove straight ahead and took forever before finding a U-turn because we did not know we had to take a right turn first.

It was not fun.

What was fun was having a dinner date at IndeBlue Restaurant in Collingswood.

 

Established in 2009, IndeBlue is run by a Mumbai-trained chef named Rakesh Ramola and his wife.

Here’s their promise: “Indeblue offers a fresh, modern take on Indian cuisine as well as traditional Indian favorites. We showcase fresh meats, local produce and house-made cheese and breads. We take pride in offering a variety of vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free menu items that are both creative and full of flavor.”

 

We found this restaurant by accident. We were driving around town looking for halal or vegetarian restaurants. By 9 pm, we somehow drove into this shady-looking neighborhood with dark alleys and barking dogs. My imagination went overdrive and I thought I even saw shadows lurking between old apartment buildings.

A little scared and very much disappointed, we decided to head back to the hotel (which turned out to be an hour drive away, that’s how far away we traveled in search of halal food). It was on our way back that we took a wrong turn and saw IndeBlue restaurant.

Not a halal restaurant, but it’s a place that serves very good Indian food.

The food was delicious. The soup has this nice consistency that I really liked – it wasn’t too thick or thin, not too rich, and the texture wasn’t too smooth in a good way that pleased the taste buds.

Everything in Masood’s vegetarian thali was perfect. IndeBlue makes their own fresh cottage cheese every single morning. Love the dal makhani!

I ordered seafood. During our entire stay in the US, I ordered seafood 90% of the time. I went crazy over grilled salmon and shrimps. I was in seventh heaven.

This shrimp moilee is interesting. This curry is a traditional shrimp or fish preparation in Kerala. The whole spices play an important role in the aromatic nature of the curry rather than imparting actual heat.

Naturally sweet coconut milk and the fragrant whole spices make this mild curry very delicious and rich. Plus, I think the chef gave this dish a different twist by tempering it with mustard seeds.

Although I finished all the shrimps from the curry, I was only able to eat half of the sauce because it was too rich and creamy.

 

Service was really good. I feel bad for forgetting that gentleman’s name, but he was very helpful with our orders and, even though it was their closing time, he made sure Masood and I were enjoying our meal and had everything we wanted.

I haven’t visited their Philadelphia branch, but Collingswood has outdoor sitting option as well as ample parking spaces.

For more information, directions, and menu list, visit IndeBlue Restaurant’s website and Facebook page.