JaiHind Restaurant

There might be other places that are flashier on Devon but this is where you go for good thali platters with all the little bowls. The kitchen isn’t full of line cooks but elderly Indian women so I can’t imagine anything closer to home cooking. Saturday afternoon we went, and were once again the only people there. Maybe we should try dinner rather than lunch just to see if it’s generally popular.
We often get the JaiHind thali because it seems that some of the items change, or maybe there’s always so many to chose from I forget! But they’re all delicious, and inexpensive for all the food you get. (I’m being told from John that yes the food does change.) I’m not recommending any particular items because you get a limited amount of a lot of different dishes, and you’ll be full by the time you leave.

Service:
Really nice people. The guy made time to talk to us and all. He came out and made sure everything on the order was fine. It’s a very Mom&Pop operation. We order two things, so what was disappointing was one item came out in a timely manner and the 2^nd didn’t come out for probably 10 minutes afterwards.
Food:
Bhel Puri — It was pretty average. I think too much watery chutney made it soggy pretty fast and just overall weak on flavor.
Pav Bhaji — This was much better. Very spicy, though. I’m good with that, but others should beware. :-) They were very nice and gave us extra bread when we asked for it without charging us.
Restaurant:
For a fast-​food Indian snack shop on Devon Ave, the place is nice and clean. It looks like it’s been recently decorated (new). I think it’s a new place, so that makes sense.

Ooooo. A good find ! Tasted as close to homemade as I’ve had in a while. I had the Jaihind Thali platter. I will go back here.

Very tasty, authentic gujarati food. I ate the Kathiawadi (gujarati) vegeterian thali. It had a lot of variety for a price of $ 8.99. The service was also good. I would highly recommend this place for anyone wanting a taste of traditional gujarati food.

Listen up, everyone who likes almond milk. You don’t have to pay a million dollars for a shot of it at the health food store. It costs $ 2.99 here for a big-​ass glass of what they call a badam shake, but is really just a ton of almonds, ground up, still kinda chunky, into a delicious glass of milk. Mmm!
So we managed to order way too much food, underestimating the size of their JaiHind thali, which, at $ 7.99 is enough food for two people easily, especially with a big old glass of almond. Keeping in mind that I am not Indian and do not know the names of all this stuff, allow me to describe the contents of the platter:
— a delicious Indian version of Chef Boyardee (this is not an insult, it was very good)
— a sweet cornbread thing
— potatoes in spicy sauce
— pickles with a kick
— a sweet tamarind-​y soup
— papadum with tamarind sauce (OK, I do know what one thing is called)
— a giant pile of puri (yeah yeah)
— this chunk of something so sweet and thick it was like eating solidified icing — it looked like a barfi, but sadly was not
So then the dabeli and pav bhaji came out, and we looked at them, looked at our stuffed bellies, and thought, oh, no way.
But we soldiered on and managed to eat about half. The dabeli was not the best version I’ve tried — it had some of the flavor, but none of the texture of an ideal sandwich. The overall effect was tamarind-​y and not much else. However, the pav bhaji was excellent. Almost pink-​tinged for some reason, it was strongly seasoned and came with a very garlicky bread.
Recommended, if only because some of the snackier things are super hard to find (in Chicago and in the US in general) and it’s very cheap, so what have you got to lose?

Every time I go to an Indian restaurant I feel so lost. Even though I recognize the letters on the menu, I have no idea what the words mean. The only thing I know is Samosa and Lassi. It’s sad to feel so clueless. I apologize for the storm of ignorance and vagueness that is about to be unleashed upon you in this review. If you know anything about Indian food, I highly recommend skipping this review.
I came here armed with a
certificate, but knew I wouldn’t be able to use it as soon as I stepped inside. It’s a fast food joint and there was no way I could spend the minimum ($ 35) for just 2 people. Maybe I should have done some research, but there was no time. I was consumed by hunger, the kind of hunger you get from not eating for hours.
As I looked over the menu, I gave up trying to figure out what anything meant after a few minute. There were names without any description of what they are. A dictionary without meaning. So I decided on something that looked like a platter for $ 7.99 and a sweet lassi. This platter came with nan, crackers, 5 different vegetable dishes, really gross pickled substance that may have been a dipping sauce, and a block of dessert.
The food — DELICIOUS! Man, I was really blown away by all the dishes. There was one dish that reminded me of Chef Boyardee (in a good way, better and Indian). There was a bean dish, which was ok, but I’m not a fan of beans. Then there was also a red dish and a green dish with stuff, yum. The dishes were spicy hot, but incrementally as oppose to overwhelmingly. The spinach stuffed dough ball and fried potato pancake also made great appetizer. This platter had it all! Tons of food for only $ 7.99.
I can’t wait to bring a party back, eat more delicious food, and use that coupon of mine.

2 of us tried a lot of food! And were the only people in there!
– Vada pav — good
– Dabeli — not the best i’ve tried
– Dosa — I wouldn’t order it here again
– Pav Bhaji — it was average or slightly better
– Bhel puri — was great
– Chai — not too bad

I love their Thali so much more after I had a horrible experience of a bad Thali at Chutnys in OH. I don’t have words to appreciate the beauty, variety, taste, aroma and selection of Dishes. I think I ate their thali like over a month ago when i posted picture but i can still recall mouth watering taste that reminded me of Choki Dhani resort in Jaipur India. I will definitely go there whenever I get a chance to be in Devon street again.

I wandered into JaiHind solely because they had a big sign in their window saying they had vegan food (and clarifying that no animal products would be used in said dishes). Although their menu doesn’t have any descriptions or explanations of what the dishes are — just names — once I got past that little embarrassment, the service was great and the meal was fantastic. Since I didn’t know what to order, I asked the lady behind the counter for something vegan, didn’t care what. She came out with this huge, amazing plate of delicious small dishes, naan, and a samosa, all for $ 8. It even came with a piece of jalebi for dessert! I’m sold — can’t wait to go back.
It’s definitely more of a café feel, not a place for fine dining, but they also have a sweets counter just in case you want to take home a little something for snacking.

Jaihind moved east on West Devon Avenue to a new location (2537). I’m not sure exactly when this took place, but things have improved across-​the-​board. Nice décor and (based on one visit) improved food and service.