Jaipur Tandoori - Restaurante Indio Palma

Jaipur Tandoori sits on Carrer de la Fàbrica, the street where Santa Catalina gets busiest after dark. The kitchen is North Indian, and the house carries its centrepiece in its name: the tandoor, the clay oven in which meat, fish and bread cook over open heat. The menu is long and ordered in an old-fashioned, sensible way — not by dish but by type of curry. You choose the sauce first and then what goes into it: lamb, chicken, beef or prawns. Each style has its own character. Bhuna is mild, with the spices fried together. Madras is hot, Vindaloo the fiercest step. Dopiaza comes with plenty of onion, Masala with garam masala, tomato and fresh coriander. Pasanda works with cream, almonds and pistachios, Korma with cream, sultanas, coconut and almonds, Rogan Josh above all with tomato. Two rows stand out because they are sweet and sour at once: Dansak is finished with pineapple and lentils, Kashmiri with pineapple, banana, lychee and cream. If you have only ever sorted Indian food along the mild-to-hot line, there is a third axis here. What comes out of the clay oven at Jaipur Tandoori The tandoor section is the declared speciality: chicken tikka, lamb tikka, a mixed grill, king prawns, half a chicken — marinated in yoghurt and spices and cooked in the clay oven. The shashlik skewer is grilled over charcoal with fresh onions. The breads come out of the same oven, and the choice is wider than usual: plain naan, naan with cheese, naan with garlic, keema naan with minced lamb, Peshwari naan with coconut and almonds, plus wholemeal chapati, deep-fried bhatoora and poori, and paratha either kneaded with butter or stuffed with potato. Among the chef's specialities it is worth looking at the house names. Jaipur Khas brings lamb, chicken, prawns and mushrooms together in one sauce. Pollo Jaipur is cooked in a balti with fresh tomato, ginger and garlic. Punjabi Korma takes the long route: first over charcoal into the clay oven, then into the pot with tomato, ginger, garlic, cream and chopped almonds, finished with fried cashews and onion on top. Vegetarian dishes, balti and the side orders The vegetarian menu is not an appendix but a section of its own: Dal Tarka, cauliflower in a cream sauce, Verduras Karahi with garlic, ginger and fresh coriander, Gobi Korma with almond and coconut, Pasanda Vegetal with cream and pistachios. Then the balti row, built on onion, tomato, garlic, ginger, cumin and coriander — including entirely plant-based versions such as potato with chickpeas, with spinach, with cauliflower or with aubergine. The starters include vegetable or mushroom pakora, onion bhaji, Alu Tikki of potato, onion and peas, and kachoris, a lentil-filled pastry you rarely find on a menu in Mallorca. Among the sides: Bombay potatoes, chickpeas masala, Tarka Dall, aubergine in masala and several basmati variants, including a Kashmiri rice and a rice with lemon. Fish has a small section of its own — once as a curry from the clay oven, once as Pescado Makhan with cream, capers and almonds, rounded off with coconut and pineapple and served with pilau rice. The biryani dishes come with saffron; the most elaborate version gathers chicken, lamb, prawns, cashew, almond, sultanas and pistachios into the rice. Terrace, dining room and evenings with dance The dining room is air-conditioned, and smaller rooms can be partitioned off for private groups. Outside, the terrace stands on the pedestrian street, which in Santa Catalina means you are sitting in the thick of it. At weekends, classical Indian dance is part of the evening. The house makes a point of its curries being made by hand and to order rather than coming out of prepared pouches. There is a children's menu, collection and delivery across Palma; for parking, the restaurant points guests to the underground car park at Passeig Mallorca just around the corner.