Swagat

• Restaurant website
• Location: Several in Oregon (I’ve tried the ones in Orenco Station, Beaverton and the Pearl)
• Price to fill up two people: About $50 for dinner

The Swagat chain is, sadly, probably one of the top 10 Indian restaurants in Portland. I say sadly because in other parts of the US, say, Washington DC, Manhattan, Silicon Valley, it wouldn’t make the top 50.

It’s not that the food is bad; it certainly isn’t. Nor that the service isn’t generally friendly; it mostly is (although they’re much nicer in the Pearl and Beaverton editions than Orenco Station). Prices are higher than I’d expect, but not entirely out of line.

I guess my reservation is that Swagat serves what I call Mall Indian–nothing you couldn’t pick up in the food court of your average-sized megamall. There’s the requisite hot pink tandoori chicken, slightly dry and chewy, the kinda gummy malai kofta, the leaden galub jamin. It’s all edible, it’ll give you a taste of India and if you opt for a mango lassi instead of a sweet, you’ll probably be perfectly happy.

What you won’t be is excited, enchanted or thrilled at the end of the meal. Yet that’s exactly what great Indian cooking, especially south Indian cooking, should do. If you’ve never tasted a perfect masala dosa, or chewed a skillfully made fresh paan, had a vegetable cutlet like somebody’s grandma makes it, you may not know the difference. Once you have, though, Mall Indian just won’t cut it anymore.

There are local places that come closer, Abhiruchi and India Grill being two of them. And I’m told Plainfield Mayur, which I haven’t tried yet, is probably tops.

Tip: If you’re in the mood for all-you-can-eat Mall Indian, hit up a Swagat buffet at lunchtime. It’s a pretty good value, especially if you like chicken.