At Tandur Indian Kitchen, prepare yourself for a flavorful journey through India from the spice room to your plate.
"I really wanted to introduce Indian food to people in East Tennessee," said owner H.P. Patel. "This is how Indian food can be."
While opening his first Indian restaurant concept in East Tennessee, Patel knew he needed to educate guests about the cuisine and dispel common misconceptions.
"They keep using the word curry," said Patel addressing the first misconception. "Curry's not even really a term we use in India."
The other misconception? All Indian food is spicy.
"Our vision is to take spices and use the spices to make flavorful food rather than make things spicy," he explained.
So Patel teamed up with renowned chef and restaurateur Hari Nayak to create a menu of tastes that not only tempt diners, but truly represent home.
"In India, you can go from one state to the other and the cuisine is entirely different," said Patel.
With the restaurant's open concept, you witness each culinary creation from scratch.
"This is the heart and soul of our Indian cooking," said Nayak showing the spice room. "These are just a few of the 25 to 30 different spices that we use."
Fresh spices are ground for each dish.
And, inside the restaurant's tandur clay oven...
"It gets 700, 800 degrees," warned Nayak. "You can't even put your hand in there."
Inside, everything is cooked to perfection from meats to a flat bread called naan directly on the oven wall.
"It's fine dining food in a fast casual environment," said Patel.
And the response has been overwhelmingly satisfying.
"People who've never had Indian food are coming out and they're coming back and they're bringing more people with them," he said.
Tandur Indian Kitchen is located on Bearden Hill at 6502 Kingston Pike.