I've been wanting to try this place for a while, so when we needed to make a trip to Chandler Fashion Center, it made sense to follow up with dinner here. My enthusiasm for
Star Trek made a place called
Feringhee hard to resist, but there are no tube grubs on the menu and the menu is priced in dollars rather than latinum. Instead, I'd say that Feringhee is to Indian food as Lom Wong is to Thai food. Both subvert the stereotypes of how their respective cuisines are represented in local restaurants.
Of course, a big difference with Lom Wong is the location. While Lom Wong is situated in a charming historic home just off Roosevelt Row, Feringhee is found in a suburban shopping center anchored by Target and otherwise dominated by chains. Despite the generic setting, the restaurant has created a stylish interior in which one of the dominant colors echoes the turmeric that is prominent in Indian cooking. The classic jazz played on the speakers (Horace Silver, Art Blakey, etc.) wasn't particularly Indian, but it didn't seem out of place either.
Everything is offered a la carte, beginning with a small basket of papads and crisps and a separately purchased trio of chutneys. These made good snacks and were gone before I could take a picture. Another appetizer we tried was sweet potato chaat. This was a small puck of sweet potato mash under a tomato yogurt sauce, and it was quite satsifying despite its small diameter.
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Next, we moved onto the section of the menu labeled as small plates and ordered cauliflower 65, an Indo-Chinese dish founds on many local restaurants, sometimes described as gobi Manchurian. This dish was the closest we had to typical Indian restaurant fare, but it was quite well prepared. A little less typical was a small plate of three miniature crab crakes swimming in tangy mango sauce. This was consumed as quickly as the cauliflower.
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We ordered two large plates: One was a Goan shrimp curry. The sauce incorporated both tomato and coconut, reflecting its origins in south Indian coastal regions. The other was chicken dum biryani. The "dum" in biryani refers to preparing the rice and other ingredients under a cover, letting steam do a lot of the cooking. In most Indian restaurants, the dish is served uncovered once that work has been done. Here, though, there's a fun tableside presentation. The biryani is served in a deep vessel with a sort of bread topping. The server breaks the crust, allowing steam and scents to flow. Customers then mix the rice as desired with accompaniments of curry and yogurt-based condiments to add moisture and additional layers of flavor.
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Dessert was a gulab jamun cheesecake in which spheres of the popular Indian dessert were immersed in the cake itself, just below the surface. A scoop of mango sorbet added some tropical fruit tasted. To drink, I had a cocktail with name I can't recall, but it was a mezcal-based drink with a bit of masala spice, resulting in a sort of spicy Indian margarita. I saw another concoction served under a dome being transported to several tables near us and will make a point to ask about this next time.
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Although this place is a bit of splurge and far from home, there will be a next time. I have my favorites for the typical Indian menu: the Dhaba in Tempe, Vayal's in Midtown, and City of Spice on Bell Road. Feringhee, however, offers a diferent experience for an occasional indulgence.
3491 W Frye Rd, Chandler, AZ 85226
http://feringhee.com/
