Cobi's at Dhaba

New on Main Street in Santa Monica, in the former Dhaba space just a bit South of Pico. The food is SE Asian, not focusing on one particular country. A pretty space with a ceiling of flowers as you enter, and offering indoor and outdoor (garden) dining. The pork and shiitake dumplings with a house-made chili crunch ($12) were a good way to start and were followed by an excellent rendition of beef rendang with a very good house-made sambal ($21) but, if you want rice or roti to go with it, they are extra ($3 and $4.50, respectively). Assorted flavors of shaved ice ($12) make for a refreshing dessert.

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We ate Cobi’s Curries to-go a lot when they were on 3rd Street, Beverly Grove. Really sweet people. I hope they have success in their permanent home.

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Checking it out Friday, will report back.

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Had a really good first meal here but admittedly it wasn’t with any expectations. Chef was welcoming, atmosphere was good, food n wine were spot on and the service was great. Didn’t take any pictures because the lighting was abysmal.

Sergio sent out the following

Kanpachi 15
finger lime, green chili, cilantro,
coconut dressing
Bluefin Tuna 17
citrus dressing, chives, prawn crisps

Both good, normally can do without a tuna tartar but would def order this again, kanpachi reminded me of a really balanced kokoda.

Pork & Shiitake Dumplings (5pc) 12
chili crunch, black vinegar, scallions
Grilled Prawns (3pc) 17
ginger & yellow bean sauce

Dumplings were your standard fare just done well and tasty. Grilled prawns were what you’d expect

Green Papaya Salad can be V 14
cherry tomato, peanuts, chili dressing,
green beans
Side of Jasmine Rice V 3
Roti 4.5

Could’ve used some more heat in the papaya salad but was still tasty. Roti were enjoyable esp with the curries.

Dry-Aged Branzino 28
yellow curry, mint, cilantro, thai basil - Could’ve used some more pop here but was still tasty.

Gai Yang Chicken 28
Mary’s ½ chicken, shaved cabbage,
burnt chili nam jim - Not a huge fan of combing around bones in a group dish but it was tasty enough

Beef Short Rib 39
chili & tamarind dressing, roasted peanut - Highlight dish, on the thinner side as beef short ribs go but very tender and tasty.

Beef Rendang 21
chili sambal, crispy shallot, gulai, squas - Enjoyed this as well.

Butter Chicken 16
tomato masala, cilantro, fenugree - Solid rendition here, hit all the marks esp with some fresh roti.

No desserts but had some really good wine options and pairings for our meals, I’ll have to come back and update that part.

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Oh nice! They’ve expanded the menu and upped their game at the new locale!

Did a quick dinner here this weekend (scheduled it during what I expected to be an easy win for my Bruins but that’s another story :neutral_face:) and thought it was great. Got the dal, short rib, and roti. We loved it! Both the dal and short rib were fairly salty, but just to the point that it heightened all the flavors rather than overwhelming the palate. Roti was absolutely fantastic. We’ll definitely be back to try more!

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My Bruins are killing me with this last AZ roadie…

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Ran into uncle Bill at the Chihuli in the desert exhibit the morning of the game!

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i lived and worked within short walk of dhaba for 3 years in the late 90s-early 2000s. somehow never stopped in. was it any good?

I didn’t think much of Dhaba back then - the food was indistinguishable from what every other generic Indian restaurant served. At the time, Bombay Cafe and Clay Pit were my choices for Indian food in the area. Bombay Cafe has new owners and I don’t care for it any more; Clay Pit moved to Bel Air and now apparently to Sherman Oaks: I haven’t been to either location.

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i only have the vaguest memories of bombay cafe and the clay pit–both of which i am pretty sure i ate at. my favourite in the area then was the vegetarian place on wilshire: chandni. i see they’re still around. i really liked their khumb/mushroom curry.

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Chandni was quite good - I haven’t been for decades now. Thanks for the reminder, I should try it again sometime.

One of my Indian friend’s favorite veg Indian place is also Chandhi. I thought it was… fine the two times I tried it. I do have a thing for ghee, though (and I don’t recall the sauces at Chandni having much of that). :frowning:

They no longer have the lunch buffet :disappointed:

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