What I Ate: September 18, 2009 (Whip In)

Lunch: Tina cooked lu rou (pork braised in soy sauce and spices - in this case pork ribs) and sauteed some spinach for lunch.

Dinner: We had a craving for Indian food, so we decided to try Whip In (1950 S I H 35, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 442-5337) which features a kind of Indian + Western + natural foods menu. It's really more of a natural foods convenience store / beer and wine shop with the restaurant tacked on. The restaurant features live music on weekends in a very intimate setting.

Eggplant and potato stew (over rice). $6. A little bland in flavor - added salt which brought out a lot of the spices.

Lamb meatballs (over rice). $11. Very tasty and nicely spiced. A bit too hot for Tina, but it was just how I like my Indian food. Reminded me a lot of the lunches I had from Mehfil Indian Cuisine in San Francisco… but a little more expensive. The cost is justifiable since many of the ingredients are local and the meats are from pasture-raised animals.

The Woodland Panaani. Pasture raised pulled pork, spicy mango chutney, feta. $8. This was a marvelous sandwich (Panaani is a play on panini and naan which they use for the sandwich bread.) The naan isn't like the naan I'm used to (thick and fluffy), but instead is thin and crispy (but not quite pita thin). The pulled pork and the chutney worked really well together and the feta was just right.

The Soloco Panaani. London Port roast beef, mushroom green onion masala, gorgonzola, feta. $8. (not photographed) After a eating a decent quantity of Indian food, I could not handle the heavy smells and flavors of blue cheese and feta.

I also had a Dr. Pepper made with real sugar (Imperial brand cane sugar, in fact). Unfortunately, I don't drink Dr. Pepper enough to be able to tell the difference.