Amber India (Dhruvi's Farewell Dinner)

Friends, I have sad news. Dhruvi of Stilettos & Sequins (who took many outfit photos for me over the past two months, like these and these and these) has moved back East. I know, it's very disappointing. Sad panda. A non-sarcastic "womp womp." She's not just a blogger buddy, she's become a real friend! I'm sad her time in SF was cut so short and that we couldn't fully explore the city together like the crazy paparazzi we are.

Luckily, we got together a couple of days before her departure for a farewell hang sesh - and checked out a well-known Indian resto in the process.

Amber India is well known in the Bay Area for being an upscale Indian restaurant, offering delicious, traditional Indian food with a more modern dining experience (for example, the cocktails we ordered before dinner!) Amber India has been rated by Zagat, given the title of Best Indian Restaurant in the Bay Area for 11 straight years, and was included on SF Chronicle's 2014 list of Top 100 Restaurants.

So, you know. We don't do shabby. Or if we do, we do it in PJs and not for a farewell dinner!

I'm sad Ms. Dhruvi has left the Best Coast, but I know she shall return someday after learning a ton at her fab new East Coast job! Plus, now I have another friend to visit on my sporadic NYC trips. I'm trying to see the silver lining here, people.

Ignore the napkin in the above photograph - the restaurant decor was impeccable. I was completely transfixed with a light fixture on the ceiling, featuring layered pieces of textured metal over one another with a center lightbulb giving off a dim, atmospheric light. Everytime I thought to take a picture of it, the waiter came over - I haven't yet reached the level of blogger-tude where I ask him to move out of my shot. Ha! Next time...

The booths were wood-lined and had gorgeous mirrors behind each other, backlit by a romantic purple hue. This was such a good blogger-date!

We started our date with some cocktails - a mango mojito for her, and a...ok, I'll be totally honest, I forget what I got. Shoot. It was delicious and had mint leaves and some kind of lemony sugary gin flavor?

Alright, yes, worst blogger ever. Both of our cocktails were delicious, that's all you need to know!

Then, the food arrived! Huzzah!

Dhruvi is vegetarian so while I got the chicken tikka masala, rice, raita, and plain naan (my usual, but a bit more upscale this time...), D got a paneer dish (Kadhai Paneer, I believe?) and butter naan.

chicken tikka masala with fig and orange

Kadhai Paneer

As we approached the limits of our stomachs, we reminisced about her two months in SF... we laughed, we cried, it was better than Cats! Alright, we talked about her new tattoo and what she was doing on her last weekend in San Francisco while I went home to see the family, but it really was better than Cats.

Hope this girl comes back soon - until she does, you can check out her adventures at Stilettos & Sequins!

And if anyone wants to try Amber India, you know here to find me. I'm in.