Chutney, San Francisco

Chutney is by far the restaurant I've frequented the most in the last 6 years of my stay in the Bay Area. Whenever I long for some good desi food, I invariably end up at Chutney. Among the desi joints in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, Chutney is the most hygenic, inexpensive and has a pretty decent ambience compared to Pakwan or Shalimaar. Their Seekh Kabab is simply the best! They have some special every day of the week and I've sampled their Nihari, Goat Curry and Aloo Keema specials which have all been fabulous. Among the dishes on the menu, I love the Chicken Tikka Masala and the Chicken Korma. There is also ample choice for veggies and this is one of the places where I really do not have a problem eating veggie dishes like Baingan Bharta, Aloo Gobi etc. No matter what you order from the menu, its turned out to be good. Their Chicken Biryani is also pretty awesome though not the same style that you would get in India. I don't know what style to call it but my guess is its some Pakistani style of cooking. They also serve free tea and although I'm not a tea drinker (infact I've never tasted tea), my friends tell me its the real desi chai and they end up having several cups of it on every visit. Another good thing about Chutney is that they allow you to get your own alcohol. So you can just walk across the road to the corner liquor store and get your choice of beer to go with the food. The guys at the counter are very friendly except one time when they got a new guy who was really obnoxious and rude but thankfully haven't seen him around since then. I rate Chutney as one of my top 10 favourite restaurants in the Bay Area and I do not mind going here any number of times.