This place is good, for sure. But it’s just too expensive given that there are equally great places for a lot less expense. I’d assume it’s mostly due to it’s location, which is Midtown East, away from the hordes of more moderately priced Indian restaurants in Curry Hill.
All white meat chicken – great!
Chicken Kali Mirch – chicken cooked in a yogurt cream sauce with peppercorns. This was mild, but flavorful. Not sweet, which is a huge plus because a lot of mild dishes at Indian restaurants tend to be sweetened with sugar for no reason (I assume trying to cater to an Americanized palate?). This was not like that. Not spicy, but also not sweet. Good flavors, very rich and creamy.
Chicken Vindaloo – I’ve eaten vindaloo tons of places and this one is a good one for sure. Spicy even, but not overly so. I didn’t have to ask them to make it extra spicy at all, though I normally do, even though Vindaloo is meant to be a really spicy dish to begin with. This was served with the right amount of heat, but not overpowering enough that you couldn’t taste the other flavors. Sometimes a vindaloo just tastes like heat, but not this one. Flavorful and well balanced, though a bit on the acidic side.
Chicken Phall – spicy! But very different in flavor than most Indian dishes. It’s not a tomato based curry and doesn’t have much (if any) cream. It’s more like a spicy tomatillo and has a greenish/brown color as its made with green chilies. This was my first time tasting a phall dish because I’ve been worried about the heat level, but I was finally able to try it as someone else ordered it! Definitely very spicy, a level up from a vindaloo, but especially if you’re sharing several dishes, it’s balances well with milder dish. The flavor was good, but I can’t compare it to other phalls.
Garlic and onion naans were good too, but the garlic was better. The onion naan used red onion, which seemed odd to me. It really tasted like an onion pizza, which wasn’t bad, but not what I was expecting. I’d go with the garlic. And the onion was a bit oilier than the garlic, though both were good.
The biggest problem with this place is the expense. Each of our entrees were around $20, not inclusive on naan or rice, which is an extra $5+ each, making each person’s entree around $30. That’s not typical of many Indian restaurants found in the city. If this were somehow better than the rest, it could be justified, but this wasn’t a step above, nor was it unique in any way. It was just good, solid food.
The ambiance is nice, but typical of Midtown East. Calm, quiet, white table cloth, but not much personality.
The servers are attentive, but also seem confused most of the time. They are nice, but communication was a bit forced.
Wouldn’t go back because it’s too expensive, but I’d take a free meal here any day. It’s good quality food.
