Indian Cuisine
Cuisine in India varies a lot from region to region. The indian food served by many restaurants around the world is usually North Indian, also known as Mughlai or Punjabi. Mughlai kitchen makes heavy use of meat and spices. Among the best known dishes are pulao rice, kebab, kofta and tandoori chicken or meat. North India is wheat growing land, so most of the well known Indian breads (known as roti) are from this region, including naan, chapatti and pappadom.
A variety of cuisines can be found throughout north India, like the savory Rajasthani dishes, which are mostly vegetarian, sweet and makes use of milk products and only a little spicy; the meat heavy Kashmir dishes or the mild Himalayan cuisine.
The food in South India is mostly rice-based. The typical meal is sambhar, a watery curry with rice, or avial, mixed vegetables with rice. There are regional variations, for instance the coastal regions make greater use of coconut and fish.
To the West you will find some great cuisine groups. Maharashtra and Goa are famous for their seafood. A notable feature of Goan cooking is that pork is used, a rare sight in the rest of India. Vindaloo originated in Goa, and is in fact traditionally cooked with pork, and in spite of its apparent popularity in Indian restaurants around the world, it is not common in India itself.
To the East, Bengali food makes heavy use of rice and fish, primarily freshwater fish. A lot of food has also filtered in from other countries like China, Tibet, Britain and international chains of fast food restaurants like Pizza Hut and Domino's, who have introduced Indianized pizzas like paneer-tikka pizza or Thai curry with pizza.
Indian restaurants varies from roadside shacks to classy five-star places where the experience is comparable to places anywhere in the world. Away from the big cities and tourist destinations, mid-level restaurants are scarce, and food choice will be limited to the local cuisine. In Southern India "Hotel" means a local restaurant serving south Indian food, often a "thali", which is a full plate of food that usually includes a kind of bread and an assortment of meat or vegetarian dishes. Tipping is unusual outside of fancier restaurants where 10% is appropriate.
