Yatra

Yatra, the latest *hip* addition to Houston's Desi food scene, is less of a culinary *journey* than a road journey. Yatra sits smack in the middle of Downtown Houston, perhaps in an effort to distinguish itself from its Indian restaurant peers...or perhaps to avoid the usual Hilcroft diners. In any case, the prime real estate seems to translate to upscale prices and small, hip portion sizes. Neither of which I find appealing. But we'll let you judge for yourself. Here's the list of what we had:

Saag Paneer – Two words: greasy and bland.

Shrimp Vindaloo – apart from the small portions, this dish was quite good. Nice heat and spices and lots of tomato flavor.

Chicken Tikka Masala – The biggest disappointment of the night. It had the consistency of the tomato basil soup at La Madeline...but with peppers for added heat, but not much heat.

The Roganjosh and the Thai Chicken curry (which perhaps should have been a red flag) were both dull and bland.

I firmly believe that a sign of good Indian food when the food makes you sweat. Just a little bit. Here, not a bead of perspiration even on Gopaul's forehead.

Bottom line, Yatra is more about looking hip than about food. So if you're searching for great, authentic Indian food, you should probably journey on.

If this restaurant were a Bollywood movie, it would be:

Mujhse Shaadi Karogi

Salman Khan + Goa = nice packaging, but there really isn't much else to this film. Pretty actress, beautiful beach, hip music, and yet another love triangle (this time with two guys interested in the same beautiful girl). None of the characters have much charm, Salman adds his usual greasiness, and the plot, well, it's rather unimaginative and hard to swallow.


Yatra Brasserie
706 Main Street
Houston, TX 77002