Dining review: Aroma offers exceptional Indian cuisine in Cary

Of all the chefs working in the dozens of Indian restaurants in the Triangle, none can claim a more impressive resume than Gamer Rawat. He trained at the world-renowned Bukhara in New Delhi, and has worked at the acclaimed Tamarind in New York. In 2006, Rawat came to the Triangle, where his refined take on Indian cuisine earned praise in the chic settings of Saffron (both the Morrisville and Chapel Hill locations) and Mantra in downtown Raleigh.

Then what is Rawat doing at a modest little eatery in a Cary strip mall?

Simple: He wanted to be his own boss. At every previous restaurant, Rawat has been answerable to an employer or business partner. He left Mantra in 2013 over a disagreement with his partner (the restaurant has since closed), and opened Aroma last October.

Sure, the location isn’t trendy, and the dining room is decorated on a shoestring budget with stock artwork and unframed prints. The previous tenant’s sushi conveyor belt still stands in the middle of the room, and a buffet station – unused in the evening – occupies the space along one wall.

But the place is neat as a pin and it’s casually inviting, with simple wood tables and chairs, and bamboo shades filtering the light coming in through the large plate glass windows. You might even call Aroma a mom and pop shop, with Rawat’s wife, Mamta, running the front of the house.

And boy, can pop still cook. You won’t find day boat scallops in mint-cilantro sauce on Aroma’s streamlined menu, or any of the other extravagant creations that characterized his work at previous restaurants. But presentations are still attractive, and the level of execution remains high.

Streamlined menu

The chef is sticking mostly to traditional Indian and Indo-Chinese fare now. Streamlined as it is, the menu covers the subcontinent from the spicy, curry leaf-laced chicken 65 of the south to momo, dumplings that trace their roots to the mountainous Tibetan border region that Rawat hails from (and have subsequently been incorporated into the Indo-Chinese repertoire). A couple of outliers – Thai curry and eggplant Singapore style – are vestigial evidence of the chef’s original plan to offer a pan-Asian menu.

The list includes a few surprises, too. Fried baby corn (yes, the kind that comes in cans), lightly battered and tossed in a chile-reddened sauce, takes a little adjusting for a Western palate, but it grows on you. Bhuna goat, a rich, cinnamon- and clove-scented braise of bone-in nuggets, delivers big time exotic flavor. Chicken kathi roll, a street food-inspired dish featuring chicken, peppers and onions wrapped in a grill-pressed flatbread, makes for a delightful shared appetizer or light entree. The kathi roll is also available in a vegetarian version with paneer instead of chicken.

“Shrimp pepper salt” turns out to be an Indo-Chinese dish that bears only passing resemblance to Chinese salt and pepper shrimp. A sort of Indian-spiced stir-fry with green peppers and onions, it’s nonetheless rewarding in its own right. Other familiar names that get the Indo-Chinese treatment include kung pao chicken, Szechwan tofu, and fried rice (Mongolian or Szechwan style).

If you’re hankering for a little endorphin rush, then chile garlic noodles, thin and supple in a deceptively flavor-laden film of sauce, are just what the doctor ordered. They’re available with chicken, shrimp, vegetables or a combination. Get the combination. Order it extra spicy if you dare.

Those seeking familiar Indian restaurant fare will find plenty of options, from lamb vindaloo to chicken tikka masala. Lamb korma – chunks of lean, tender meat in a complex, creamy sauce redolent of ginger and cumin – is exemplary.

The kitchen doesn’t have a tandoor oven yet, so you you’ll search in vain for tandoori chicken or a mixed grill. You won’t find naan, either, though given a bread selection that includes exemplary poori, paratha and a rustic whole wheat flatbread called roomali roti, you probably won’t miss it.

Vegetarian choices

The vegetarian offering includes dal makhni, chana masala, and several variations on the paneer and saag themes.

Even if you’re an avowed carnivore, the malai kofta – a large minced-vegetable fritter blanketed in an ambrosial creamy, cardamom-perfumed tomato and onion sauce – is not to be missed.

Malai kofta is just one of the chef’s signature dishes, a growing number of which are turning up on the menu at the request of loyal fans who – not surprisingly – have followed Rawat to his new restaurant. Now that Aroma’s customers are the only ones he has to answer to, he’s happy to oblige.

This story was originally published April 23, 2015 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Dining review: Aroma offers exceptional Indian cuisine in Cary."