First of all, I love the name. For a color, it’s one of the catchiest names out there. This and Saffron – which is way too common. But I digress. We did a little research online before deciding that this was probably the kind of place that needed a reservation and so we made one. And boy! was the placed packed or what. Inspite of being full (perhaps even to capacity), we waited about 1 minute before being escorted to our cute little table at the far end of the restaurant. Indigo lives up to it’s name on first impression. The walls are a deep blue (or indigo) color. Other than the vibrant color, there was little else on the walls – just a huge painting where we sat, which faced the main entrance. The tables were covered with clean white linen, the silverware was adorable and so shiny and the chairs a light pine wood color with indigo fabric. All very charming. TH loved the little sea-urchin like lamp on our table too. We liked it instantly. It felt posh and just nice – like we could expect to have a nice evening. The only thing about the indigo is that after a while, it tends to feel a little dark. But hey, we didn’t mind. It would be nice to check the place out during the day time, though.
Our waitress was prompt in attending to us and service overall was just great – we didn’t have to wait too long for food and were served with a smile. And the menu was just so exotic – unlike anything we have become accustomed to in Indiana. Exotic ingredients, and a fusion of cuisines and flavors stared back at us. It was seriously hard to choose. Ofcourse, since this was a special outing for us and we’re probably not going to be this extravagant very often, we decided to go all out sampling the food. (The weak of wallet be warned: your bank balance will take a hit on this one BUT it will be well worth it).
We both chose a starter plate each – I had the herbed goat cheese with garlic crostini. The herbed goat cheese had an unexpected element – it was coated with tomato and was simply delicious. TH had coconut crusted shrimp with an Asian influenced raspberry sauce and he loved it. So, it was a great start. We each then had a bowl of roasted tomato basil soup, which reminded me of one Caesar’s restaurant in Kuwait. The soup was a little too thick for TH’s taste, but I loved the texture and the very ‘Indian’ flavor to the soup. Yum! For the main course, I chose the only vegetarian option – a pasta dish with sweet corn, sundried tomatoes, scallions and bleu cheese. I dislike bleu cheese and requested that it be left out of the dish, although in retrospect it would have probably completed the entree nicely. The first bite was a surprise and maybe even a shock to the palate. I haven’t had sweet corn and sundried tomatoes (with such contrasting flavors) in the same dish before, but grew to enjoy the flavor. TH was feeling adventurous today and decided to go with the very exotic sounding grilled duck with mango rum sauce. His entree came with a side of vegetables and Asian black rice. The black rice was very interesting – nutty tasting, and with pistachios too! TH enjoyed his dish – he’d not had duck on too many occasions before, but would have liked the mango rum glaze to have been more fresh tasting. We were stuffed after the wonderful food but how could we pass up on dessert??? So, we decided to share and ordered the toasted banana bread with passion fruit curd. This one was a real treat! I haven’t tasted anything like it. The banana bread was perfect – warm sweet and toasted and literally melted in the mouth. The passion fruit curd was a nice contrast…it was cool and slightly tart tasting and the two married so well together <sigh>. I could have a lot more of that.
The one great thing about Indigo on 17 (a little tidbit from our waitress) is that there are constant additions or modifications to the menu. It is the reason that their menu is printed on paper! Kudos to that!! All the more reason to go again and again.
What do we think overall?? (all ratings out of 5)
Ambiance: 4
Food: 4.5
Service: 4.5
Price: $$$
Would we go back? Hell Yeah!
Check Indigo out for yourself!
