This Fine-Dining Indian Restaurant Is Hidden Inside a Grocery Store

Walking into Little India feels like walking into a run-of-the-mill Indian grocery store. Shelves are full of Indian snacks, groceries and fresh produce. It doesn't quite align with the ‘fine Indian dining experience’ advertised all over the restaurant’s website and social media.

But let your curiosity guide you through the store, past an unassuming set of double doors that reveal Little India’s fine dining restaurant, adorned with chandeliers, soft lighting and tables topped with white tablecloths and roses. Friendly staff are quick to seat you in the elegant dining area, in almost comical juxtaposition with the grocery store that houses it. Peruse a menu of over 100 appetizers, soups, breads, curries and rice. The name Little India is a rightful nod to the geographic diversity of the menu’s offerings, complete with dishes from all over the Indian subcontinent. We can’t argue: Little India, it is.

Start your meal with North Indian classics like the ghee roast, a mutton-based starter that’s tossed in copious amounts of spice and butter. Or the pepper mushroom, a deep-fried mushroom platter cooked in black pepper gravy. Kebabs, soups, and hot-plated sizzlers add to the excessively long list of temptations, alongside more than two dozen curries.

Pair Little India's creamy cashew-tomato curry with a side of onion-studded naan bread, or mix the spicier Andhra chicken from the Southern Indian region of Andhra Pradesh with a plate of fragrant vegetable biryani. There are seven different types of bread and 20 variations of rice making for an almost endless number of meal pairings.

For a particularly adventurous feat, order a serving of dosa, a crispy Indian crepe made from a rice-based batter. The traditional South Indian delicacy is served rolled elegantly into a conical shape on the plate.
The dessert selection is no less extravagant than everything else here. Scoop into a bowl of homemade creme brulee or rasgulla, a traditional cottage cheese-based sweet soaked in syrup. Indian pastries come in traditional flavors like butterscotch and mango, while indulgences like a sizzling brownie topped with vanilla ice cream offer a more modern take on Indian dessert.

Even though the front is a grocery store, the experience in the restaurant is completely different. And our return visit is already in the books.

Little India, 4440 State Highway 121, Lewisville. Monday – Thursday, 8 a.m. – 11 p.m.; Friday – Sunday, 8 a.m. – midnight.