Essence Indian Cuisine

Name: Essence Indian Cuisine
Address: 780 Merchant St, Vacaville, CA, 95688, US
Telephone: (707) 449-8888

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780 Merchant St, Vacaville, CA 95688
(707) 449-8888
Last verified: November 2026
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Dishes to know on this menu

Indo-Chinese: Manchurian & chilli chicken: The Chinese cooking of Kolkata's Hakka community as adapted to Indian tastes: battered cauliflower or chicken tossed in a garlicky, soy-and-chili "Manchurian" sauce, chilli chicken or paneer with green chili and peppers, Hakka noodles and "Schezwan" fried rice. A cuisine of its own, and a fixture of most Indian restaurants' appetizer pages. On this menu as: Indo-Chinese · Gobi Manchurian.
Naan: A leavened, teardrop-shaped bread slapped onto the wall of the tandoor, blistered and brushed with butter or ghee. Garlic, butter and cheese naan are standard; keema naan is stuffed with spiced mince, peshwari with coconut and dried fruit. Kulcha is the flakier, often stuffed (potato, onion, paneer) Punjabi relative. On this menu as: Garlic Naan · Goat Cheese Naan.
Tikka masala: Chunks of tandoor-grilled marinated chicken (tikka) simmered in a creamy, mildly spiced tomato gravy. Almost certainly invented in Britain's Punjabi restaurants rather than in India, and now the most-ordered dish on Indian menus in the English-speaking world. On this menu as: Chicken Tikka Masala.
Butter chicken (murgh makhani): Tandoori chicken finished in a silky sauce of puréed tomato, butter, cream and a little fenugreek, sweeter and gentler than tikka masala. Invented at Moti Mahal in Delhi in the 1950s as a way to use leftover tandoori chicken. "Makhani" (buttery) on any dish, including dal makhani, promises the same rich treatment. On this menu as: Butter Chicken.
Bhuna, dopiaza & do pyaza: Menu styles you will see repeated across proteins. Bhuna is a thick, dry, deeply reduced masala; dopiaza uses "two onions", cooked in two stages; pasanda is creamy with almonds; dhansak (Parsi) combines lentils, vegetables and a sweet-sour note; achari uses pickling spices; methi means fenugreek leaf; balti is the Birmingham-born fast, wok-cooked style served in the steel bowl it was cooked in. On this menu as: Lamb Bhuna.
Tikka: Boneless cubes marinated and grilled on skewers in the tandoor. Chicken tikka is the yogurt-and-spice version; malai tikka is marinated in cream and cheese for a mild, silky result; hariyali is a green marinade of mint, cilantro and spinach; paneer tikka is the vegetarian standard, often with peppers and onion on the skewer. On this menu as: Chicken Tikka Masala.

How these dishes compare

Tikkatypically $15.72 across 413 menus
Naantypically $3.99 across 379 menus
Butter chicken (murgh makhani)typically $16 across 362 menus
Tikka masalatypically $16.99 across 340 menus
Bhuna, dopiaza & do pyazatypically $16.99 across 168 menus

Essence Indian Cuisine on our other sites

CurryMenusIndian menus, with a glossary of Indian dishes

Essence Indian Cuisine

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Indo-Chinese

How these dishes compare

Essence Indian Cuisine on our other sites

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