I’m continuing my Curries of Suwon series. Today I’m going to give my thoughts on the most popular Curry place in the city, Swoyambhu. To check out the other places I’ve reviewed so far, check out the links here: Dheli Dhaba, Ayesha, Kasam, and Taj: A Taste of India.
So here’s a bit of background about why I have been really critical of this place in past posts: Three or four years ago, Swoyambhu was one of only 3 or 4 curry restaurants in the Suwon area and now we have something like 15 by my count. I used to go to Swoyambhu several times a week with my friends because it was great and a lot of my friends at the time were vegetarians. At one point, Swoyambhu was better than Kasam, but there were problems. We used to wait close to an hour for our food, but that was fine because we knew that it was actually being made to order. So a long wait was forgivable…but then it seemed as though they started using bad cuts of meat and so you’d get a gristly/boney mess in your curry. The last and worst change that they made was that they changed the recipes themselves. I don’t know if they got a different cook or what, but it went from a proper curry to a thick paste and it’s stayed that way to this day. So by this point, my friends and I have almost completely quit going.
Anyway, I decided to go again for the blog. I went last week because one of the regulars at curry night™ (a real thing, mind you) couldn’t make it and he had outright refused to go to Swoyambhu again. The thing that is most striking about the place is that it’s the nicest Indian restaurant you can go to for the price. Taj, of course, is the nicest, but it’s also incredibly expensive. Swoyambhu has put a lot of money and effort into making its interior much nicer. It used to be a very practical/utilitarian place that sort of said “You came to eat, not look at stuff.” They’ve made it much nicer, for sure. Their menu is massive…too massive. When you sit down, you get a 12 page menu. You can think of this as a good chance to try a lot of things, but the truth is that if a menu is 12 pages long then a lot of the stuff is going to taste the same and they’re not doing justice to the individual dishes probably. You can choose from biryani, chow mein, veg curry, prawn curry, lamb curry, chicken curry, some potato dishes, etc. I think the Aloo Achar is really nice (it’s a spicy potato dish with cumin, peppers, turmeric, etc) and I suggest you try it.
I ordered a standard chicken tikka masala, not very Indian, but it’s sort of the litmus test now for meat options. It was indeed a thick paste, but I thought about it more and I think the flavors were nice. You can taste each individual ingredient since it’s a bit chunky and the vegetables are roughly chopped, whereas some places put their stuff through a blender first to make it smooth. I still don’t like the texture, but I thought the flavor was fine. They were still using less than good cuts of meat, but I didn’t get any bones and it wasn’t too gristly this time. My friend ordered a vegetarian set, because he’s Irish and is all about value (take that, Ireland!). I tried some of his…man, it wasn’t good. It was all pretty bland, with the chana being the best thing about it. The mixed veg curry that came with the set was obviously made from canned vegetables. No one should have to eat canned vegetables. Mine was much better and was an appropriate amount of food. It wasn’t as bad as I remembered it, so maybe I had built it up in my mind and was too harsh. It is maybe not the worst curry in Suwon, but it’s not the holy grail either. It’s fine.
The prices are a little more than some of the other places in the area by 2,000-4,000won, so it’s not terribly overpriced. You can expect to eat there for 14,000-17,000won. They also have a nice little market area where you can buy all the spices necessary to attempt your own homemade curry (good luck, you’re going to need it). It’s pretty easy to find. If you are at Suwon station, walk up the road away from the station (the main drag) and take a right after you pass the Maesan Sijang/매산시장 bus stop. It’ll be on your left after about a block on the second floor above a norebang. I put a picture of the shop front so you can find it. Here’s a map just in case.
Ramen Water 