What's the Difference Between Tandoori and Curry?
September 25, 2026 · 3 min read · The Namak Kitchen
One is a cooking method, the other is a sauce. Once you know which is which, ordering gets a lot easier.
Short version: tandoori is how it's cooked. Curry is what it's cooked in.
Tandoori
A tandoor is a clay oven, usually charcoal or gas fired, that sits around 700–900°F. Meat is marinated in yogurt, ginger, garlic, lemon and spice for hours, then skewered and lowered in. It cooks fast, chars at the edges, and stays juicy inside because of the yogurt.
Anything called tandoori is dry, smoky, and served without gravy — chicken tikka, tandoori chicken on the bone, seekh kebab, malai boti, lamb chops, paneer tikka. Naan is a tandoor product too.
Curry
"Curry" isn't really a South Asian word — it's an English catch-all for dishes with a spiced gravy. In our kitchen we'd call them by name: karahi, korma, bhuna, masala, makhani, saalan. What they share is a base built the same way: onions browned slowly, then ginger and garlic, then tomato, then dry spices, then the meat or vegetables, then time.
The overlap that confuses people
Butter chicken and chicken tikka masala are both. The chicken is cooked in the tandoor *first*, then finished in a gravy. That smoky note in good butter chicken isn't a spice — it's the oven.
How to use this when ordering
Want to taste the meat and the fire? Order tandoori. Want something to eat with naan or rice? Order a curry. Want a balanced table? One of each, which is exactly how we plate a family order.
Both live on our menu. Our tandoor at 848 Willow Ave runs from open to close, which is also why our pickup times are short — order online here.
Come eat with us
The Namak · 848 Willow Ave, Hercules, CA 94547. Halal Indian & Pakistani cooking — dine in, pickup, catering across the East Bay, and a banquet hall for up to 200. Closed Mondays.
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- Difference Between North and South Indian CuisineWheat versus rice, cream versus coconut, tandoor versus griddle. A short, practical guide to two very different food cultures.
- Spice Levels Explained: From Mild to Extra Hot Indian FoodWhat mild, medium, hot and Indian-hot actually mean in a real kitchen — and how to order so your dinner is enjoyable instead of a dare.
- Indian Food Etiquette: Rules for Eating with Your HandsYes, you can eat with your hands. Here's how it's actually done — and the small courtesies that make you look like you've done it before.