20220630-HOWARDMAGAZINE - Flipbook - Page 36
Best restaurants
Best Indian
Royal Taj Restaurant
8335 Benson Drive, Columbia,
410-381-1111, royaltajmd.com
With a gold and white dining room
modeled after Versailles, Royal Taj
provides an elegant backdrop to sample
Punjab specialties like Tandoori chicken
marinated overnight.
The restaurant, which opened in
2008, doesn’t have an Instagram page
and don’t post specials on Facebook.
“We stay very low-key,” said owner Binda
Singh. Instead, more customers tend to
find out about the restaurant through
word-of-mouth. And once they come
the first time, odds are good they’ll come
again and again. “We treat our guests like
family,” he said, working hard to ensure
that people who might come in a bad
mood leave with a new outlook on life.
The setting could get even more
inviting with the upcoming completion
of a patio with three fire pits that will
allow guests to dine al fresco year round,
something Singh said has become even
more popular during the pandemic.
Singh also is looking to open a wedding
venue soon. Coming to Royal Taj may feel
like the utmost in relaxation for diners,
but don’t expect to see Singh taking time
off. A self-described “workaholic,” he says
he’s gone 24 years without a vacation.
The gold and white dinning room at the Royal
Taj in Columbia. PHOTO BY LLOYD FOX
THE LIST
Takeout
Thai
Value
Honorable mentions:
Honorable mention:
Honorable mentions:
Cured |18th & 21st
Hudson Coastal
The White Oak Tavern
Thai Aroma Restaurant
Eattini Thai Kitchen
EC Diner
Hudson Coastal
Xenia Greek Kouzina
TINO’S ITALIAN BISTRO
36 | SUMMER 2022 | howardmagazine.com
DOK KHAO THAI EATERY
CURED | 18TH & 21ST