Delicious South Indian Cuisine

Hey everyone! Let's talk about Southern Indian cuisine!
Just like my first post about Indian food, I grew up knowing nothing about Indian food. The first time I had real Indian food was when I moved to Japan. That being said, I know next to nothing about Southern Indian cuisine. I didn't even know there was a Southern Indian restaurant here in Ibaraki. Luckily, thanks to a Facebook post from a friend, I was able to broaden my Indian cuisine knowledge. It was time for the Ibaraki Eats Duo to try Southern Indian cuisine. The place we were having this adventure was Tsukuba's very own Mak's Dining Tsukuba.

Mak's Dining Tsukuba

Mak's Dining Tsukuba is located in the Tateno area of Tsukuba City. The restaurant is located in a small dining center. There is a bread bakery next to it, and directly across from Mak's are a few small restaurants. All of these places share the same parking area in the middle.
The Ibaraki Eats Duo visited Mak's for lunch on a cloudy afternoon a week ago. We both had no idea what the food was going to be like, but we were both excited to check it out.

Inside

The first thing that captures your attention when you walk into Mak's is the huge mural on the wall depicting South Indian cooking and cuisine. The artist is very talented because the mural really does grab your attention, and it is quite cool. The restaurant features mostly tables and chairs, with a long booth situated under a mural. Mak's is quite spacious and can maybe fit up to twenty people or more.
My wife and I grabbed a table by the entrance and looked over the lunch menu.

The Lunch Menu

Great news! The menu is in both Japanese and English! Most of the menu has curry sets, which most Inidian restaurants have. What surprised me was the different types of bread you can order. I am very used to Naan when I go to an Indian restaurant, but this place had a bunch of different kinds of bread I had never heard of. Dosa, Parotta, Poori? I had no idea what any of it was. My wife was going to get poori, while I ordered some parotta. We both got some curry to go with our bread and waited in anticipation.

Our Drinks

If you are wondering what to order to drink at Mak's when you visit, I suggest the Madras Filter Coffee and the Chai. Both of these drinks are fantastic. I am a huge coffee guy and was a bit skeptical of this South Indian coffee. My speculations were put to rest the first time I sipped that coffee. The milk and sugar were perfect with that dark roast coffee, and I loved how it remained hot throughout my entire meal. It wasn't a strong coffee, but it was quite tasty.
My wife's drink was also amazing. The chai at Mak's is sweet and delicious. She took a sip of it and loved it. She thought about ordering another chai, but then stuck with water since some parts of our lunch were spicy.

Poori

Poori is a deep-fried, yeast-free bread that looks like a balloon. It puffs up when it is cooked and stays that way until you tear at it. My wife tore a piece of poori from its balloon-like structure, and the poori immediately fell flat since all the air inside of it was let out. I grabbed my piece and we decided to give it a try without dipping it into any curry. It was a soft bread that felt really nice in our hands. After taking a bite of it, I got hints of spice with a bit of a wheaty flavor to it. It was a nice piece of poori, and it tasted even better when I dipped it into my chicken curry. I would love to have poori again and try it with other curries. Speaking of curry.

Parotta Set

This was my wife's order; the Parotta Set. This set brought to big pieces of parotta and one curry. Parotta is a flakey layered flatbread that tastes amazing. I love naan but parotta is on a whole other level. With this set you get your choice of one curry. My wife chose a bean like curry that had no meat in it. I wasn't sure what it was and still not sure, but I know two things about it. One, it is delicious. Two, it is spicy. My wife dipped her parotta into her curry, gave it a try, gave me the thumbs up, and then started coughing by the surprise spiciness that hit the back of her throat. I had the same reaction. The parotta at Mak's is awesome and that bean curry was very flavorful. Both the parotta and curry went very well together. I hope to have this set again sometime soon at Mak's.

Non Veg Meals

This was my order and yes, that is what it is called on the menu. You have a choice of the veg meals which is a non meat option, or a non veg meals which has curry with meat in it. This meal brings a lot of rice and curry, and a huge papad. Papads are a thin crispy wafer, usually served over rice. This meal brought (starting from top right to the bottom) chicken curry, more chicken, soup, a vegetable curry, a sweet dessert like yogurt, and regular yogurt. I gave the papad a try with my chicken curry and it immediately broke apart when I dipped it into my curry. I fished out the piece of papad and tried it with my curry and both were great. The curry wasn't too spicy but delicious. The papad was nice crispy and went well the curry. I really loved the yogurt in this set and the other chicken was incredible. It was fun to have so many different flavors and spices all in one set.

After we finished our meals, we thanked the staff for an amazing lunch and headed back to Tsuchiura. Our experience at Mak's was great! We loved our drinks, our curry, and all the different kinds of breads we tried. I hope we can visit Mak's again soon. I would love to get my hands on that parotta again.

So if you are in the mood for some South Indian cuisine and are around Tsukuba, why not give Mak's Dining Tsukuba a chance? Who knows? You might see us there. Enjoying some parotta and tasty curry.
Enjoy!

For more information on Mak's Dining Tsukuba, check out their Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/maks_dining/?igsh=MTF0YmVweGFmbXJneA%3D%3D#

A special thank you to Jon and Nori Heese for letting us know about this awesome place.

Small Bonus

My wife and I did check out the bakery next door after our meal and decided to take some canelés home. They were delicious! The top hard chocolate with that soft cakey texture in the inside of the canelé was perfect. I hope to buy more baked goods from this bakery, Timpani, and report back to you soon on how great everything is.