As soon as you enter the restaurant, you are greeted by the big, warm smile of Mr. Kulwant Wadhwa—the owner of Curry Club. The entrance is adorned with several Hindu idols and has the ambience of dim lights and Indian music. The feeling of entering this restaurant is like entering your own home. Such is the hospitality of Wadhwa and his team.
Wadhwa started the restaurant in 1994, the year he moved to the United States from India. He said he did his research and found the location to be aptly located just outside the university.
The restaurant has a dining area, two banquet halls and a bar. It also boasts a train carriage converted into an eating area. The menu is authentically Indian and comes with a variety of dishes. Ordering just one dish can be daunting and confusing for a customer, as each one sounds delicious and scrumptious.
The assorted kebab platter is great to begin with. It comes with assortment of hariyali kebab (cooked in mint), chicken tikka (which is world-famous), boti kebab and malai kebab (cooked in curd). Each of them delivers a unique taste and is best eaten slowly, so as to savor each bite.
Then come the various curries, which come in many varieties. The Curry Club has different meats such as chicken, lamb, beef and even shrimp. Wadhwa says that not all Indian curries are spicy. Only the Vindalu curry, which hails from the south Indian state of Goa, is spicy. There are a lot of different types of curries depending on the method of preparation and the ingredients of the dish. The ‘korma’ is a special curry cooked with rich cream and garnished with nut and raisins.
In the past, these dishes used to be eaten exclusively by kings. The ‘kadai’ dishes are a speciality of Pakistan, and the gravy is made of green peppers, onions, tomatoes and green chilies. The restaurant also has Saag curries (made with spinach) and jhalfrezi (cooked in chili with fresh vegetables.) The restaurant’s chicken tikka masala is its most loved and commonly served dish. It also has the Golden Grub award from GrubHub. If you go to the Curry Club, you cannot miss having this dish.
The vegetarian dishes are equally good with cottage cheese, cauliflower, eggplant and various other dishes. All the dishes are enjoyed with either rice or Indian bread. The bread itself comes in different flavors like garlic, cheese, mint, olive oil and much more. The varieties are called naan, roti and paratha.
Wadhwa, who loves being with the students and serving them his finest dishes, says he feels Stony Brook University students are like his children, and he always gives them a discount. The Curry Club also offers pick-up and drop-off services. He says more Americans come and enjoy Indian food, and that they are approximately 90 percent of his customers.
The restaurant also has a lunch buffet everyday from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The food is authentically Indian, it’s right next to the train station on campus and the prices are reasonable too. The Curry Club is certainly a restaurant you do not want to miss out on.
