Tulsi (Indian, DTLA)
Warrior: 7.5/10. Either I was wrong about this restaurant in my review earlier this year or it has really improved. I’ve visited in person several times for lunch recently in addition to tonight’s delivery. The food has been very good—the best Indian in DTLA in my opinion. They do a good job with dishes from multiple different regions. Perhaps the most impressive dishes tonight were the North Indian sarson ka saag (mustard greens, served with corn flatbread) and the malai kofta (vegetable dumplings). I’ve never seen the former dish in LA (though it is a classic), and Tulsi’s rendition of the latter dish is the best I can remember tasting in LA. The Indo-Chinese dishes (garlic fried basmati rice and sautéed roasted paneer with soy-tomato sauce) were really good too. I’m not a big fan of their dhokla (steamed lentil squares), which are a little sweet for me, but they are okay. (I would recommend the khandvi from the Western Indian/Gujarati menu instead.) We didn’t get any Southern Indian dishes tonight, but the restaurant does a good job with those too.
Peony: 7.5/10. I enjoyed almost everything tonight. I liked the two breads and the steamed lentil dhoklas. They worked really well with the curries. The malai kofta and saag were tasty and had the right level of spice for my tastes. The Indo-Chinese fried rice turned out really well as the texture of basmati rice is naturally dry and al dente. Very good Indian food for delivery.
