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Downtown Mountain View finally has a late-night eatery – and it’s open seven days a week.
At Tandoori Junction, find a variety of no-frills North Indian dishes until 1 a.m., 1:30 a.m. or 2:30 a.m., depending on the night. Replacing Bay Biryanis on W. Dana Street, Tandoori Junction is the only restaurant in downtown Mountain View to serve food past midnight seven days a week and the only business open to 2:30 a.m., staying open even later than downtown nightclubs.
Cousins Avi Bains and Ranjeet Singh opened Tandoori Junction Feb. 17. It’s their second restaurant, with the first being Indian pizzeria Desi Pizza House, also located in Mountain View. Like the food, the ambiance at Tandoori Junction is casual, with a seating capacity of 20, and much of the business is focused on takeaway and delivery.
“My cousin (Singh) is an expert in North Indian food, especially chole bhature,” Bains said.
Chole bhature ($14.99) is a North Indian dish of spiced chickpeas (chole) and fluffy fried bread (bhature). Tandoori Junction follows the same chole recipe used at Bains’ grandpa’s restaurant in Gajraula, India, mixing 28 spices to get its signature flavor and omitting onion and garlic to be Jain-friendly.
Tandoori Junction offers a variety of “very authentic, proper homestyle meals,” according to Bains. Find a selection of dishes cooked in a tandoor, a type of clay oven, including tandoori chicken legs, chicken tikka and two varieties of soya chaap, a vegetarian dish of marinated soy chunks ($10.99-$15.99). Entrees are served with housemade sirka onions – pickled onions eaten alongside meals to add crunch and acidity. Drink options include masala chai and three types of lassi – mango, sweet and salty ($3.99-$4.99).
Tandoori Junction offers chicken tandoori legs ($15.99). Courtesy Tandoori Junction. 
Tandoori Junction’s daal channa tadka features lentils cooked with traditional spices ($13.99). Courtesy Tandoori Junction. 
Tandoori Junction in Mountain View offers four types of naan, including garlic naan ($3.99). Courtesy Tandoori Junction.
All of Tandoori Junction’s gravies, the sauces that many entrees are made with, are gluten-free and nut-free to accommodate those with dietary restrictions. Kheer, a rice pudding-like dessert, is the only dish with nuts at Tandoori Junction and is made from Bain’s grandfather’s recipe.
Tandoori Junction also offers a food delivery subscription for students. For $500, students in the Bay Area can receive at their doorstep two deliveries per day of curry, rice and chapati, roti or naan for a month.
“I see a lot of students hustling, paying a lot of money on meals,” Bains said. “And some students live in an area where there are no Indian grocery stores.”
Tandoori Junction’s dal makhani features black lentils slow-cooked with butter and cream ($13.99). Courtesy Tandoori Junction. 
Tandoori Junction’s achari soya chaap features tandoori soy chunks marinated in a spiced achari sauce and cooked in a clay oven ($10.99). Courtesy Tandoori Junction. 
Tandoori Junction’s butter chicken features boneless chicken marinated in spices, cooked in a tandoor and simmered in a creamy onion-tomato butter sauce ($14.99). Courtesy Tandoori Junction.
There is also a senior citizen discount of 10% and a NASA employee discount of 20%.
Bains and Singh are currently in the process of expanding Desi Pizza House to San Ramon and plan to expand Tandoori Junction to Sunnyvale or San Jose later on.
Tandoori Junction, 698 W. Dana St., Mountain View; 650-386-5359, Instagram: @tandoori.junction.mountainview. Open Monday from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m., Tuesday to Thursday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1:30 a.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2:30 a.m.
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