Ikhatta unites chicken and spice and everything nice

Right behind Applebee's in Cape Girardeau is a lovely little shopping hub called City Centre. When you walk in the main door, the building resembles a small, sweet cobbled street, with storefronts to either side leading into individual businesses. On the opposite end of the "street" from the door is Ikhatta, an Indian fusion restaurant run by A La Carte Catering. A La Carte Catering offers catering, classes and meal prep. It will cater many kinds of food, working with the customer to prepare the perfect menu for an event. Ikhatta is simply run by the same folks who run A La Carte, but it is a restaurant, with to-go options and seating if you want to eat right there.

As soon as I approached the counter, rich, spice-laden air bathed my face, making my stomach growl. I perused the menu, which is small and concise. I actually like a small menu, because it shows the restaurant has arrowed in on a specialty and isn't trying to be everything to everyone. I ordered, and then added on an Iced Masala Chai to enjoy while I waited for my food.

The chai arrived, and I confidently raised the straw to my lips. I'd had chai before, I thought. I was familiar with the spicy tea, warm tones of cinnamon, flowery cardamom, maybe a hint of ginger. But this masala chai was a whole different animal. This chai was just ... more. More spice, more flavor, a slap to the taste buds. It had an almost minty finish, that cool burn that real mint can leave on the tongue. I'm not sure it had mint, but that's the closest I can come to explaining it. It wasn't sweet, but I still enjoyed it very much. My husband thought it was "OK", but I bet with some sugar he would have been more on board.

I felt this was a very good start. I had already tasted something I'd never experienced before, and I couldn't wait to take my order home and try the actual food.

Online, someone had said that the butter chicken was excellent, so I knew I would start with that. Murgh Makhani, or butter chicken, is served with beautiful yellow rice and wonderful fluffy naan bread. It is a curry, so there is some heat to the sauce. I found that it was spicy enough to limit the amount I ate, but not spicy enough to cause me to lose my ability to taste, but know that I am a lightweight when it comes to spice tolerance. It is called Butter Chicken because the base of the sauce is tomatoes cooked in butter. The chunks of white meat chicken were tender and welcome vehicles to the lovely orange sauce. Rich, filling, spicy, everything one would want or expect from an Indian dish.

Chicken Biryani, a lovely, aromatic chicken and rice dish that was comforting and rich.Submitted by Rebecca LaClair

Chicken Biryani, a lovely, aromatic chicken and rice dish that was comforting and rich.Submitted by Rebecca LaClair

The second thing I ordered was Chicken Biryani. According to Google, this dish is made by layering up aromatics, rice and a protein, in this case chicken, and steaming it together. The chicken was fall-apart tender. The rice and chicken were both thoroughly infused with the spices, and the rice had soaked up the juices generated by the chicken cooking. Less spicy than the butter chicken, this dish still had a little sting, but even I didn't think it was too much. The rice was rich and delicious, the whole thing smelled heavenly, and I had a new favorite.

Spice is the name of the game here. Familiar spices combined with exotic spices and used in ways that I don't usually taste with my at-home cooking. I enjoyed everything I tried, the novelty of it, and scooping it all up in pillowy, buttery naan bread was the best part. Order extra bread — you'll be glad you did.

If you have dietary restrictions, Ikhatta is gluten-free, except for the naan. There are also no eggs used in any of the recipes. Ikhatta has been open at the City Centre at 2502 Tanner Drive since the beginning of February.

Once again referencing the internet, Ikhatta in Urdu means collected, united, gathered. Hopefully, the internet didn't lead me astray, because that is a lovely name for a restaurant. Nourishing food has always united families and peoples, always been a safe and comforting reason to gather, celebrate, and enjoy each other. This tradition will continue long after I am gone, and I am very much glad for it.