Siri brings satisfying south Indian cuisine to Wheeling
Siri Indian in Wheeling can be a little confusing when you walk in. There's a full small bar right next to the door, but the dining room is far down a hall to the left. Inside the dining room, it seems more like an upscale art gallery (indeed, all the pieces of art are for sale) than a restaurant. But with Indian music playing and a large dining area of white-tablecloth seating, the experience is great for an upscale, modern night out.
The menu echoes that small amount of confusion, too. It's full of traditional Indian food and has a small section for south Indian specialties, but there's also a decidedly Chinese flair to the food with Szechwan and stir-fried noodles. Make sure to check out the extensive bread list with different types of naan, kulcha, roti, paratha and more.
For our appetizers, we ordered the vegetarian spring rolls, the lamb keema samosa and the Siri special bread basket. The spring rolls were basically what you would expect from a Chinese restaurant, but with one noticeable difference: the vegetables were sautéed first. It gave a nice contrast to the crispy shell and ensured the vegetables had great flavor inside. The lamb keema samosa is seasoned ground lamb meat and peas stuffed into a triangle-shaped fried shell. The meat was seasoned well, not overly spiced. I particularly enjoyed that these were stuffed full and didn't have lingering grease inside to burn your mouth or your fingers, like some samosas at other restaurants. We got three sauces with the appetizers: tamarind chutney, mint chutney and, surprisingly, plain ketchup.
Our special bread basket came stocked with a selection of butter naan, garlic naan and kulcha (cumin-stuffed naan cooked in a tandoor oven). When we first sat down, waitstaff brought a complimentary basket with two pieces of naan and a sauce that tasted like tomato soup; the specialty bread was much better - a basket stocked full with large pieces of naan with big chunks of garlic and onion. The basket came out with our main courses, but it worked out well - the sauces paired perfectly with the bread.
For entrees, I ordered the chicken makhani (also known as butter chicken) and my husband got the special chicken biryani. His meal was more or less a bowl of seasoned rice with tandoori chicken and spices mixed in. It was spicy, so be prepared. It also came with yogurt sauce on the side and onion slices and a lemon wedge on top. Definitely add the lemon - it takes the heat down some and adds an unexpected layer to the flavor that goes surprisingly well.
My chicken makhani was good. Not exceptional, but done well with a nice flavor. The chicken in both dishes was excellent. It wasn't overcooked and didn't have any chunks of gristle.
Dessert was the Rasbhari Rasmalai, which was basically two balls of cheese in a white sauce. The cheese tasted similar to homemade cottage cheese, but was very compact and easy to cut. I found the sauce to be a little too sweet, with a pretty potent rosewater taste. I didn't like it enough to finish it, but if you have a sweet tooth and love rosewater, you will enjoy it.
We were a little confused by the service during our meal. None of the waitstaff was overly friendly, except for the girl who refilled our water, and it seemed like they didn't really know what to do. Most of them huddled near the kitchen door instead of interacting with the guests. And we had three or four different servers talk to us about our food, so we weren't sure who exactly we were tipping when we paid. In any case, we'd like to go back and try the lunch buffet and more of the south Indian dishes.
<i>Restaurant reviews are based on one anonymous visit. The Daily Herald does not publish reviews of restaurants it cannot recommend.</i>
Siri Indian
401 E. Dundee Road, Wheeling, (847) 808-7474,
Cuisine: Indian
Setting: Upscale casual
Entrees: $10-$22
Hours: Lunch: 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday; dinner: 6 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 6 to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday