Dusmesh Indian Restaurant

Finding your way through the menu at Dusmesh Indian Restaurant can be a challenge. It’s no fault of the hospitable staff, who are happy to recommend favorite dishes, caution against the upper spice levels, or quickly refill your beverage if you don’t heed their warning. The real problem is the vast number of enticing choices—141 choices to be exact, with 84 dishes that can be considered main courses. It makes for mouth-watering reading, but even with raging appetites, we could only sample a minuscule portion of the offerings. Of those we tried, standouts include the bhartha mushroom (a hearty eggplant and mushroom dish) and the juicy tandoori boti kebab (chicken marinated in yogurt and turmeric, cooked in a charcoal-fired clay oven, and served on a sizzling plate with peppers and onions). If you can’t decide, consider the confusingly named “non-vegetarian Thai” combo platter. It’s a feast of lamb, chicken, and shrimp curries; tandoori chicken; raita (a cool yogurt sauce with carrots and cucumbers); and a mountain of garlic nan and rice—all served up on a silver platter. For dessert, try the gulab jamun, fried cheese balls served warm in honey syrup and topped with a pinch of coconut. Though the heat scale at Dusmesh progresses from one to six, we suggest sticking to the mild end of the spectrum, because drowning the intricate flavors with chili peppers should be illegal (burn your face off somewhere else, heat fiends). However, if you are determined to proceed with the incendiary six, at least order a mango lassi to douse the flames on your tongue.

Dusmesh Indian Restaurant
944 Ludlow Ave.
(513) 221-8900

Originally published in the April 2012 issue.