A new Indian restaurant is set to open this week on Fifth Avenue at Fifth By Northwest/Grandview, aptly named Taj on Fifth! We were excited to see the opening, as one of the partners in it is Ajay Kumar, whose family has a long history of restaurants in Columbus. His father started Taj Mahal, one of Columbus’ first Indian restaurants, in Old North in 1984. (It was in the old home where Cazuela’s is now.)
We have visited many, many times over the years, enjoying the dinners and weekend buffets. Ajay was always wonderfully hospitable in our family. When the Taj closed in 2013, it was sold to relatives and briefly became the Mughal Darbar while AJ ran AJ’s Cafe downtown, where 4th and State is now. But he was out of the restaurant business for a while until he partnered with other people (including the owners of Everest Cuisine in Worthington) to open the Taj on Fifth.
The Taj on Fifth occupies the western corner of The View on Fifth, a relatively new development on Fifth Avenue. (In the parking lot behind it is Moonbird Coffee Co.’s excellent trailer.) The space has already gone through several different concepts. Features a full bar and dining area, plus a front covered patio.
The bar offers a variety of beers (including some Indian beers), wines, a selection of scotches and a signature cocktail list. That’s it mango piña colada with Jamaican rum, coconut milk and mango lutenica.
I enjoyed the taste of Brew Kettle’s White Rajah IPA.
We started with a mixed pakora platterwhich includes lightly fried cauliflower, onions, potatoes, kale, paneer – served with a pair of coriander, mint and tamarind lutenica.
We also tried a special appetizer of fried salmon sticks. Both were well seasoned and crispy without being too heavy.
And then we launched a quartet of appetizers. All of these are served with sides of jasmine rice.
The first and our clear favorite of the food was dal mahani. The dish consists of black lentils and beans that are slowly stewed with a mix of spices, butter and cream. It’s wonderfully rich and even slightly smoky. It reminded us of the black dal we had at Dishoom in Edinburgh and in London.
The Mughali Beef Korma was another hit. It is slow cooked with cashews in a cream sauce and served with half a hard boiled egg.
We enjoyed it saag paneertoo. Cubes of soft saag cheese are cooked in a spinach sauce.
And we can’t go to an Indian restaurant without ordering their version chicken tikka masala. We enjoyed this take on it, although the sauce was slightly grainy.
And of course we ordered some baskets garlic naan to scoop everything up!
It was great to see Ajay and the team back on form! We look forward to many more visits and hope Taj on Fifth continues the traditions of great Indian food in Columbus.
Taj on Fifth
1021 W. Fifth Ave.
Columbus, Ohio 43212
(614) 696-4844
Web: tajonfifth.com
FB: Taj on Peth
IG: @tajonfifth