Indian Taj Tandoori Restaurant

The Indian Taj Tandoori Restaurant sits on the Passeig Marítim on the east coast, at the point where Cala Millor turns into Cala Bona and the promenade runs close enough to the water that you can hear the surf from the terrace. The house has been cooking North Indian food on this spot since 2015, and it does so with a directness that is not a given in a resort town: no fusion concept, no adjusting to what holidaymakers supposedly expect, but curry, biryani and bread from a clay oven. The house describes itself as a family operation rather than a business, and that tone carries through into the service. German, English, Spanish and Hindi are spoken, which matters more on this coast than it sounds: Cala Millor and Cala Bona share an audience of German and British regulars, Spanish families and people who live here all year round. The tandoor at the centre The heart of the kitchen is a charcoal-fired clay oven working at over four hundred degrees. The house makes no footnote of it but declares it the centre of everything: the oven is not a piece of equipment, they say, it is a colleague. In practice that means a smoke note a kitchen without that heat cannot produce, and you taste it in the tikkas, in the Tandoori Tangdi of bone-in chicken thighs, in the sheekh kebabs of minced lamb or beef, and in the breads slapped straight onto the hot oven wall. The sizzler section carries the idea further: chicken or lamb tikka, king prawns, a mixed grill. If you are eating here for the first time and want to know what the house can really do, this is the part of the menu to look at. The menu at Indian Taj The menu is long, a good ninety dishes across a dozen sections. That sounds arbitrary, but it works as a construction kit: the classic curry sauces each get their own line, from the very mild ones such as korma, masala and the saffron-yellow badami through rogan josh, dopiaza and jalfrezi to madras, vindaloo and the sour-hot pathia with tamarind. You choose what goes into it and how hot you want it, four levels are provided, and they are cooked as ordered. Alongside these are the house specialities, all of them tikka variations in creamy sauces, and an unusually broad biryani section: basmati rice steamed in a sealed pot with chicken, lamb, beef, prawns, vegetables, tofu or paneer. With the breads it is worth looking past the plain naan, because there is a version with cheese, one filled with spiced mince, and the sweetish Peshwari naan with coconut, raisin and almond. Vegetarian is not a token section here. Around a third of the menu comes without meat, a considerable part of that without any animal product at all, and gluten-free items are marked. Bombay aloo with small potatoes in an onion and cumin sauce, baingan bharta of smoked aubergine, the long-simmered daal makhni of black lentils, palak paneer with house-made paneer: these are dishes in their own right, not leftovers. Every curry and every biryani can also be ordered with paneer or vegetables instead of meat. On the water between Cala Millor and Cala Bona The address belongs to the Cala Bona stretch of the Passeig Marítim, and both place names describe the same strip of coast in the municipality of Son Servera, which is why you will find the house listed under either. There is a terrace facing the sea, a covered area in front of the entrance, and an interior of dim light, plenty of wood and open flame from the kitchen. If you want to sit outside during the summer months, book ahead, because the tables by the water are the ones everyone wants. Takeaway and ordering in advance are possible too, and a delivery service is connected. For children there is a small menu of their own and high chairs, which in a town with this many family hotels is a solid argument.