Picking a dish at an indian restaurant in den haag can feel like reading a foreign language. The chicken curry section is where the names pile up: korma, madras, vindaloo, kadhai and saag wala sit side by side, and none of them says much unless you already know. This guide decodes them using the real descriptions on the Indian Curry Club menu.
The full menu lists nine chicken curries, which makes the section a good place to practise. The descriptions below are the restaurant’s own, and the extra meanings are general Indian cooking terms.
What do butter chicken, korma and tikka masala mean on an Indian menu?
Start with the creamy end of the section. Butter Chicken is tandoori chicken in a cashew and creamy tomato sauce, and Mango Butter Chicken adds mango to the same idea. Chicken Korma takes a different route: chicken in a creamy sauce of yogurt and nuts, with no chilli mentioned in the description.
The two sound alike but start from different bases, one tomato with cashew and the other yogurt with nuts. A table that wants contrast can pair either with a spicier curry instead of ordering both.
Chicken Tikka Masala is easiest to read in two halves. Tikka means marinated pieces of chicken, as the Chicken Tikka starter shows: chicken in the chef’s marinade, cooked in the tandoor. Masala is the spiced sauce, and the menu describes this curry as grilled chicken in an onion and pepper tomato curry.
So tikka describes how the chicken is cooked, masala describes the sauce, and when both words appear the grilled chicken sits in that sauce.
What do madras, vindaloo and kadhai mean on a chicken curry menu?
These three names work differently from the creamy ones: one points to a place, one to a style and one to a pot. Anyone choosing between them at a chicken curry restaurant can read all nine descriptions on the full menu page.
Chicken Madras is chicken with ground Madras spices, and Madras is the former name of Chennai in southern India. Chicken Vindaloo is described as a spicy Goan style curry, so the name points to Goa on India’s west coast. Home Style Chicken Curry, listed alongside them, is a homemade spicy curry with coriander.
Kadhai Chicken is cooked with onion, tomato, coriander, chilli flakes and bell peppers. A kadhai is a deep, round pan, a little like a wok, so the name describes the cooking pot as much as the recipe.
The menu labels the Vindaloo and the Home Style curry as spicy, while Madras and Kadhai are described by their ingredients rather than a heat level. It is sensible to ask the restaurant how hot a dish runs before you order.
What do saag wala, do pyaza and other Hindi words on the menu mean?
Chicken Saag Wala is chicken in a spinach and mustard curry. Saag is the Hindi word for leafy greens, which is why Saag Paneer on the same menu is spinach with paneer.
Many vegetable dishes are named after their ingredients. Aloo is potato, gobhi is cauliflower, baingan is aubergine and bhindi is okra, while adraki means ginger and jeera means cumin. That makes Aloo Gobhi Adraki potato and cauliflower finished with ginger, and Aloo Jeera potatoes with cumin seeds.
Bhindi Do Pyaza is okra, and do pyaza is usually translated as two onions. The menu describes it as fresh okra with onion and fresh tomato, medium hot.
Three more words come up often. Paneer is the fresh cheese the menu calls cottage cheese, and raita is yogurt, served on the side with the biryanis. Biryani itself is a rice dish cooked together with its meat or vegetables, and the menu lists Chicken Biryani as chicken cooked with aromatic basmati rice and served with raita.
Sorting the nine chicken curries into four sauce families
Once the words make sense, the section falls into four groups:
- Creamy: Butter Chicken, Mango Butter Chicken and Chicken Korma
- Tomato and pepper based: Chicken Tikka Masala and Kadhai Chicken
- Spice led: Chicken Madras, Chicken Vindaloo and Home Style Chicken Curry
- Spinach and mustard: Chicken Saag Wala
A table can pick one dish from two or three groups instead of three from the same one, which gives more variety across the plates. Starting from the sauce family also saves you from remembering every name.
Tandoori: one more word worth knowing
Tandoori means cooked in a tandoor, a clay oven. On this menu that covers Tandoori Chicken, Chicken Tikka, Lamb Seekh Kabab and others, and the Tandoori Prawns are described as slow cooked in a charcoal oven.
Those dishes are listed as starters, so they sit ahead of the curries rather than competing with them.
Before you order
Menu descriptions list the main ingredients but not allergens, and the full menu page asks guests to mention allergies or dietary needs when ordering or reserving. If a dish sounds right but you are unsure what is in it, ask the restaurant.
Four words, korma, tikka, masala and kadhai, will get you through most of this section.