it’s no secret that we have a checkered past with the samosa house in culver city. we’ve written two posts about them, both complaining that the food was bland and uninspired. well, i’m here to set the record straight because over the weekend we gave the restaurant another try, and walked out with a feast that was plentiful, inexpensive, and absolutely awesome tasting.
vegetarian combination: 3 dishes, rice and 2 rotis. $7.99
as you can see from the picture above, samosa house serves one hell of a lot of food for under 8 bucks. they have a large selection of 100% vegetarian dishes, most of which are vegan…and a combo consists of 3 dishes of your choice, plus a portion of rice and 2 pieces of roti bread. on a previous visit, we complained that our meal consisted of mainly rice and not enough curry, but this time that was clearly not the case. pictured above is our first combo, overflowing with curry dishes including lotus root, soy tikka masala, and a potato & pea dish.
all of these selections were delicious, but the stand out for me was definitely the lotus root. this stuff was cool, crisp and crunchy and coated in a perfectly-oily sauce…i can’t even tell you how much i loved it. if i could, i would get a whole tray of this stuff and eat it all. the soy tikka masala was also damn good as well, even if the lotus root did upstage it a bit in my mind. the soy clumps were moist and slightly chewy, and the sauce was rich and flavorful.
in our second combo, we got a spinach dish, some lentils, and my personal favorite, the JACKFRUIT. i’m just gonna say it (and this may shock you), but i think samosa house’s jackfruit is even better than the stuff at pure luck. it’s hearty, yet soft…and sooooo delicious mixed with the indian seasoning. if you go to samosa house, this is the one dish you must get no matter what!
while i loved the food from the samosa house on this visit, there was a secret ingredient that was needed to make it 1,000x better. you see, the place isn’t just a restaurant, but an indian market as well…so we picked up some fresh hot chillies to add to our meal at home in order to combat thee inherent mildness of the dishes. these things added loads of spice, and improved our meal greatly. if you like any kind of heat in your indian food, adding chillies is a must.
after this great experience at samosa house, i know i will be back soon. we had more food than we could eat for just $16…and i don’t think i can go very long without some more curry-flavored jackfruit.
the samosa house
11510 w. washington blvd.
culver city, ca 90066
310-398-6766
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10:05 am on November 4th, 2009
Glad you two have finally come around! Samosa House 4 eva!!!
10:08 am on November 4th, 2009
i pick up grub from here quite often (it’s in my hood) and always have lunch for the next day! i love jackfruit!!! thanks for the post!
10:22 am on November 4th, 2009
Lotus root? I’ve never even had that! Adventerous LA vegans!
11:01 am on November 4th, 2009
I’ve eaten in the restaurant/market once and had their food from a vendor at an event once, too. I really liked it and am happy you had a good experience this time!
11:12 am on November 4th, 2009
I noticed a few weeks ago that they appear to be opening another location at Washington and Overland. The location was under construction and there was a sign out that said “Samosa House East”…
11:17 am on November 4th, 2009
@whatmoonsongs: i have seen that too!
there is also a brand new vegetarian place just like samosa house called bawarchi. it’s on venice in culver city. we tried to go there first, but they were a mess and couldn’t serve us. they had only been open a few days and had a lot of kinks to work out.
2:57 pm on November 4th, 2009
I love Samosa House, but it all depends on who you get serving you. Sometimes they are less generous with the main dishes and too generous with the rice.
7:30 pm on November 4th, 2009
I was not aware of your previous reviews, but I have also had less-than-great experiences here.
Knowing that, it’s nice to hear there is hope. I’ll give it another try this weekend.
1:14 pm on November 5th, 2009
Wow! These look so good!!
4:09 pm on November 5th, 2009
It looks… kinda not colorful. They must use a lot of spices to kick up the flavor.
7:28 am on November 9th, 2009
[...] a few blocks from LA’s original Samosa House, Bawarchi (translation: “Chef”) offers a counter service choice of over 20 vegetarian Indian [...]
9:41 pm on December 12th, 2009
[...] at overland) and it’s called samosa house east. run by the same people who are behind the quarrygirl approved original samosa house just blocks away, the east location occupies a more simple and modern space [...]
7:41 am on December 18th, 2009
[...] didn’t even know the samosa house had burgers—i’m usually too caught up in the cheap and delicious dinner combos to notice anything else. but last time i was there, i saw a paper sign hanging up at the counter [...]
9:14 am on January 3rd, 2010
[...] all heard great things about the food at Samosa House in Culver City, so I’m just here to back up those claims. [...]
12:23 am on January 7th, 2010
[...] street food? look no further than LA’s very own samosa house in culver city. in addition to their dinner combo menu (which is hard to veer away from but often worth it), they also offer a vegan version of the [...]