Any conversation on topic Sultan, the recent Punjabi restaurant on Williamson Street, will inevitably go tipless – if it doesn’t start right away. The restaurant, which includes all meal costs in the price of each course, is recent to Madison, but that’s not the only reason Sultan stands out.
While Madison has no shortage of quality Indian restaurants, the Punjabi-focused cuisine is recent enough. Punjab is the name of both a state in northwestern India and a province in northeastern Pakistan, each adjoining a national border – like Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, but without the burned ends. Therefore, on Sultan’s menu you can find familiar dishes, but also intriguing recent ones.
The tandoor oven holds an significant place in Punjabi cuisine, and at Sultan I found more unique ingredients than I usually find in a typical Indian restaurant – nuts, lotus root and okra. Vegetarians will find a number of vegetable dishes that differ from the usual saag paneer, such as biryani with pumpkin, carrot, lotus root and peas, or korma with red and golden beetroot. There is less focus on base recipes prepared with a selection of different protein options. Servers describe most dishes as tiny and advise guests to order accordingly, but for the most part the portions were comfortable, if not generous.
It would be wise to order carbs right away. Sultan doesn’t add boxes of fluffy basmati to every dish, so you’ll need something to scoop, drag, or spoon over your main courses, and Sultan’s naan is huge, fluffy, and charred from a quick turn in the oven. The tandoori variety contains a bit of coriander; the garlic version has a hit of garlic salt. One of them (or both!) is a key ingredient in the best sultan meals.
Recently added to the menu, the Parmesan Truffle Naan unfortunately didn’t taste like either of them, and its price increased by $10 over the other two. Skip this cultural non sequitur, but if you ever see a paratha on a menu, it will be pleasantly hearty with a hint of sweetness. The sheermal with maple butter and saffron was more like cake than bread and was perfect for fall.
The concept of seasonal changes to South Asian menus is unusual for Madison; is a genre of food that usually allows people to focus on their favorite foods for years. The wonderful mater keema, i.e. crispy pieces of minced beef with peas and raita with cucumber, is unfortunately no longer available. The Keema Karely Toast currently on the menu is somewhat similar, but the pinched seams of this pocket sandwich are sometimes too acute to bite.
New this season is creamy aloo bhindi, i.e. potato salad with thinly sliced okra, combined with cauliflower puree instead of mayonnaise. The overdue summer specialty of tandoori sweet corn is now a enduring menu item. I’ll take it; The tandoor blesses each grain with a smoky char, much like the blister naan.
The menu, based on the cuisine of the inland region, features plenty of seafood. Keema nihari, a newer squid dish that replaced a affluent beef stew made with similar spices, did not fare well. The three very tiny pieces of squid were fishy, gray and overdone, doused in a broad, cumin-heavy sauce, with no trace of the aforementioned candied ginger or coriander. A crappy experience for $22.
The chicken (murgh) is handled efficiently and I will return to these dishes on future visits. Classic Pakistani karahi murgh has a significant heat flavor. The addition of New World tomatoes deepens the flavor with acidity and sweetness.
New to the fall menu is the raisin-studded Indian murgh shahi korma, which features a yogurt-based sauce and accents of crunchy cashews and pistachios. These dishes are technically bone-in, but the meat comes off luxurious.
Service from the kitchen is prompt and the front of house team clearly work challenging to provide a cordial atmosphere and familiarize each table with the restaurant. Online takeout ordering and dine-in reservations assist keep customer traffic predictable.
The national dialogue on restaurant wages is reaching a crisis point as the movement for fair restaurant wages spreads. I’ve never noticed that tipping at Sultana made the total cost of the food unusual. If the tandoor stays warm and the naan keeps coming, Madison won’t have to figure out much.
Sultan
1054 Williamson St.
608-285-5062; sultanmadison.com
11:00-14:00 and 16:00-22:00 Mon-Thurs,
11:00-14:00 and 16:00-24:00 on Friday,
10:00-14:00 and 16:00-24:00 on Saturday. and 11:00-14:00 and 16:00-22:00 Sun.
$8-36
