Tag Archives: indian

Flash Deals, Indian, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Akbar Palace

0 Comments

Nestled below a pole dancing and twerking school (I shit you not; you can see the poles in the windows above the right hand side of the entrance in the photo), is Akbar Palace.

DSC08941

We scored a flash deal for this joint: $20 gets you $40. The management was nice enough to honor our Groupon even after the expiration date too, which was cool.

Each table gets some flat cracker type bread with some chutneys.

DSC09065

DSC09066

There was tamarind sauce (left), apricot chutney (center), and a really nice tomato, onion and pepper chutney that I never tried before (right). That was my favorite of the three.

We started with a pair of apps that sounded delicious but ended up being a bit flat from our expectations. First was the pepper crusted scallops. I liked that they had a good grilled-on-the-flattop flavor, but the portion size was a bit small.

DSC09068

Same goes for the crispy calamari. The tempura-esque coating was interesting, though I didn’t get that curry leaf flavor that I expected from the menu description.

DSC09069

My wife ordered a boneless lamb dish but got semi-bone-in goat instead. No matter – it was really tasty, and the meat was tender.

DSC09070

I had chicken makhani, which is like chicken tikka, but served in a mildly spicy tomato and yogurt sauce. This was pretty good. The meat was of good quality and the sauce was nice over rice, or on top of the naan bread.

DSC09071

DSC09072

The naan was good. It was soft, yet crisp, and had good texture from the tandoori oven flames. It was lightly coated with olive oil as well.

DSC09074

We skipped dessert since we had the lassis earlier. They were smooth and creamy, tart and sweet, and ice cold. Perfect. This place is known for its mango lassis. They are truly excellent, so if you go here, make sure you try one.

DSC09064

I felt that the bill was a bit high even after applying our $40 credit to it. We still had to shell out $50 for the remainder, the tax and the tip. Does this look like a $90 meal to you? I don’t know… I’m starting to think that some of these Groupon deals aren’t so good. As Admiral Ackbar would say (namesake of this restaurant?): IT’S A TRAP!

databank_ackbar_01_169_55137220

My official recommendation on this flash deal: skip it, but stop by for a mango fucking lassi if you’re in the area.

AKBAR PALACE
47-49 W. 55th St.
New York, NY 10019

Flash Deals, Indian, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Bombay Grill House

0 Comments

This little Hell’s Kitchen joint offered up a decent Groupon that made it worth while to try. An app, two entrees, two drinks and a bread for $30.

I had a banana lassi. It was good, but I wish it was colder. Drinking room temperature banana yogurt isn’t that appealing. My wife had a pistachio shake, but it was more like a lassi than what we expected a shake to be (cold, creamy, ice cream-ish). They both looked exactly the same, so here is a generic shot. Can you guess which this is?

20150726_140547

For the app, we shared some lamb kebob, which came to us plated and un-skewered. This was deliciously spiced lamb that was minced into a sausage-like texture.

20150726_141106

I ate a biryani lamb and spicy rice dish, and my wife had a lamb curry that was mild and creamy.

20150726_142014

As you can tell, this was a lamb-centric meal. The biryani was a bit dry and oddly spiced, but tasty nonetheless. In hindsight I probably should have gone with my staple Indian food order to test the waters, chicken saag.

20150726_141952

My wife’s lamb curry was the winner on the day. It was creamy, mildly spiced, and mildly sweet from the presence of pineapple.

20150726_141750

Our bread selection was a naan that was filled with coconut and pistachio. Really nice.

20150726_141937

BOMBAY GRILL HOUSE
764 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10019

Fusion, Indian, Midtown West

Chutney Kitchen

0 Comments

I’ve always said that Indian food is probably the least photogenic food out there. It’s probably the most flavorful cuisine, in terms of raw power, so it’s kind of a weird dynamic. Anyway, this joint is sort of like Indian food meets American grab-and-go lunch.

For example, take a look at this “Board Meeting” wrap, which has roti, chicken, rice, tikka, cucumber, tomatoes, chickpeas, kale and a cilantro chutney. I was hoping for a bold-flavored sandwich. Unfortunately it was a bit on the bland side. Perhaps it relied too heavily on the rice and not on the chicken and tikka.

chutney wrap 1

My wife got the “All Sunshine” salad, which was the better of the two items. It had rice, lentils, cucumber, tomatoes and date chutney with cilantro. It may look like shit, but it tasted pretty nice for a salad.

chutney salad

The real star of the meal, however, was the order of fries. They were spiced with a little bit of curry powder that made them pop. They were crispy outside and soft inside. Delicious.

chutney fries

CHUTNEY KITCHEN IS CLOSED

Indian, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Baluchi’s

0 Comments

UPDATE: THIS PLACE IS NOW CLOSED

My wife and I have alway sheen big fans of Baluchi’s because of their consistency with the dishes that we like, and their amazing lunch specials and dinner combo meals. At lunch time, nearly everything is half off, and that includes weekends. At dinner, they have combo meals for something like $16 that come with naan, rice, a main dish, and an appetizer. You really can’t beat the price. We were happy to find a new location near our apartment, which is being run by a gentleman who is trying to bring the recipes back to a more authentic Indian cuisine as opposed to the Americanized versions at the other locations. I’m always a big fan of the saagwala chicken here – it always delivers exactly what I want.

1604941_848423835169183_4541422632173128111_n

10590461_848423571835876_4292352047773421206_n

10613105_848423728502527_7085103229457277250_n

10628572_848423655169201_1955763217114913408_n

BALUCHI’S
493 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10018