Planning your visit to an Indian restaurant with your family or friends for the first time might make you a little bit confused about ordering Indian food. When it comes to Indian food, the varieties and flavors are beyond the universe, often leaving you scratching your head as to what to order first. Specifically, when it's about ordering for a group for the first time, ensuring proper and well-balanced Indian food options on the dining table is crucial. From Indian appetisers to main courses and desserts, your friends or family members must feel stuffed, with satiated taste buds. You can make this possible with smart ordering. Indian food includes numerous flavors in terms of savour, spicy or tangy; therefore, ensuring that your dining table is full of balanced flavors can significantly make this an interactive and unforgettable dining experience. 

Welcome to this blog post where you'll be introduced to a few factors indicating how to order Indian food for the first time, followed by the menu example at the end as well. 

Start with a variety, not by volume! 

If you think ordering Indian food in maximum volume would make your dining experience exciting, then you are completely wrong here. The hidden secret behind balancing the Indian flavors on your table is variety, not volume. 

  1. When you focus on ordering varieties of Indian food, such as tandoori dishes, grilled or drier dishes, then this is what we call having a balanced meal. 
  2. To keep everything balanced, you can consider having samosas, a tandoori dish such as Tandoori Chicken and an Indian curry.
  3. Your friends or family having the balanced flavors would surely feel content and over the moon. 

Order a few Indian appetisers! 

The first and foremost thing you can do while ordering Indian food for the first time is add mouth-watering Indian appetisers. 

  1. When you go through an Indian menu, you will surely find different Indian appetisers such as Samosa, Pakora, Paneer Tikka, Chicken Tikka and Samosa Chaat. 
  2. To add tandoori and smoky flavour, you can go with Paneer Tikka and Chicken Tikka; along with this, pakora and samosa can be considered for the crispy options.
  3. Also, different chutney options might be available, tangy or spicy ones; you can order according to your taste preferences. 

Your main course needs to be perfect! 

After appetisers, it's the main course that needs to be exciting and mouth-watering; therefore, it should be splendid and majestic. 

If you prefer vegetarian options:- 

  1. You can order Dal Makhani, Palak Paneer and Paneer Butter Masala, including different Indian spices and ingredients. 
  2. To balance your dining table, you can also go for a dry main course such as Aloo Gobi and Bhindi Masala. 

If you prefer non-vegetarian options:- 

  1. As a beginner in Indian cuisine, if you prefer non-vegetarian options, then choosing Butter Chicken would be the perfect idea. 
  2. Instead of this, you can also choose Chicken Tikka Masala, along with Lamb Rogan Josh to make it a memorable meal. 

Consider your spice preference before ordering! 

  1. After choosing appetisers and main course options, make sure to consider your preferred spice level as well. 
  2. Usually, Indian foods are very spicy; in fact, there are few dishes with mild spice levels, such as Butter Chicken, Dal Makhani and Korma. 
  3. You can even ask the server to balance the spice level according to your specific taste preferences to have the perfect meal of your entire life. 
  4. If you find any Indian dish with a high heat level, then you can combine it with Mango Lassi or yogurt, the perfect accompaniment for your exciting dining experience.

Balance your dining table with breads & rice! 

  1. Do not go for only appetisers and Indian curries for your main course; instead, ensure you add Indian breads and rice alongside as well. 
  2. Different Indian breads such as garlic naan, roti or paratha can be added, making your dining experience super exciting. 
  3. Adding basmati rice gives you a wholesome and perfect meal to enjoy, especially with Indian curries such as Dal Makhani and Paneer Butter Masala. 

Here’s an example of ordering Indian food for the first time! 

If you are two people:- 

  1. For appetisers, you can choose 1 platter; the specific appetiser depends on your personal choice. However, choosing samosa and pakora would be better for the first time. 
  2. For the main course, you can choose 2 mains: Dal Makhani and Butter Chicken; however, the choice is yours. 
  3. You can consider including one basmati rice plate, along with a few Indian breads, for a complete meal.

If you are in a group:- 

  1. Even though you have been choosing Indian food for a group, consider balancing the flavors rather than adding volume. 
  2. For appetizers, you can go for 2 or 3 shared platters of samosa or pakora.
  3. For the main course, you can add 3 curries, along with one or two dry options, such as Dal Makhani, Butter Chicken, Paneer Butter Masala and Aloo Gobi. 
  4. Adding multiple shared baskets of Indian breads, along with a generous portion of rice, can make for a perfect meal. 

The Bottom Line!

Summing up the above-mentioned points, you might have apparently understood the right way of ordering Indian food for the first time, considering your spice level along with the number of people you have been visiting a restaurant with. Smart ordering begins with knowing that adding a variety of flavors to your dining table is the real game of satisfying your taste buds. 

Now that you have the real hack for ordering Indian food for the first time, let’s implement it by visiting the well-known restaurant, Antera. We offer perfect and authentic Indian food, satisfying your taste buds, along with serving you an unforgettable dining experience.