Bombay Chopsticks

The Manchurian cauliflower arrived coated in a sticky, soy-chili glaze that managed to be simultaneously sweet, sour, spicy, and deeply umami. This is Indo-Chinese cooking, a genre born in Kolkata's Chinatown that marries Chinese technique with Indian spice, and Bombay Chopsticks on Ogden Avenue is one of the few restaurants in the western suburbs that does it properly. The hakka noodles, tossed in a blazing-hot wok with julienned vegetables and a punchy soy-chili sauce, had the kind of smoky wok char that requires serious BTUs. We followed with chicken dum biryani, layered and slow-cooked under a sealed lid, the rice infused with saffron and the meat falling off the bone. The menu is enormous, covering both traditional Indian dishes and the full Indo-Chinese canon: chili chicken, Szechuan fried rice, momos, and dim sum. Portions are generous and prices are fair.