Indian + South Asian – Page 2 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Ada

208 East 58th Street between Second and Third Avenues
212/371.6060
about $60 for two, without drinks, with tip
â™¥

It was a new craving. It had to be Indian food but without the heavy curry sauce. It had to be seafood. Because I remember having such a seafood meal at Rasa the last time I was in London, it had to be cooked Keralan style.

On the map, Kerala is on the Malabar coast of India. Historically, they have traded spices with all the merchants of the world. I had a difficult time finding Keralan cuisine in Manhattan, and because I had no means to head over to New Jersey the same night–where they say the good Keralan restaurants are–I ended up at Ada on the east side after finding one seafood dish that involved Kerala on the menu.

The fish came in a thick orange sauce. I had to scrape it off to make sure there is fish under all of it. When I tasted the fish, it was bland. The lemon rice was more flavorful, so I ate an entire bowl to compensate. The goat sausages were better and disappeared easily with the mint-flavored nan.

I’m not quite sure why Ada was empty on a Friday night. The hushed tone made us uncomfortable. The waiters hovered at the bar, perhaps itchy to close for the night. Back in 2001, William Grimes of The New York Times gave Ada two stars, so I was betting my Friday night on that one seafood Keralan dish. Unfortunately, times have changed since then. I’m off to New Jersey to find a better one.

Lahore

132 Crosby Street between Houston and Prince Streets
212/965.1777
$7 for rice with two choices, with chai, without tip
♥ ♥

This hole-in-the-wall is only one of the stops a New York City cab driver makes during his daily route. For $7, the guy behind the Lahore counter will give you rice with your two choices of curry. When I have a craving, I order the lamb or the goat with the alo saag, a spinach and potato mush spiced with fragrant cardamom, cinnamon and fennel. Or else I go for the chicken with the okra stew or the chickpea dal and pay extra for a small container of yogurt.

They also sell sandwiches which are easier to eat especially if you’re on the go, as well as samosas and traditional Pakistani pastries. There are a couple of stools if you prefer to stay in and eat but don’t say I didn’t warn you when your clothes end up smelling like the aromatic kitchen. Whatever I order, I don’t skip on the hot chai to push down all the heavy goodness I call lunch.

Chinese Mirch

120 Lexington Avenue corner of 28th Street
212/532.3663
$65 for two, without drinks, with tip
♥

Mirch is loosely translated as spicy in Hindi and the combination of Sichuan and Cantonese cuisines happily bring out the intense flavor of Indian cooking. The positive is that the dishes are lighter than what I am used to because pork and beef are not in the menu in honor of the Muslim and Hindi diets. The negative is that the distinctive flavor of all the cuisines combined may be too much for a diner with a less friendly stomach. Indeed, mine protested when I got home–three times.

We ordered the lime coriander soup which was deliciously sour for me. It was clear broth but a little gooey, perhaps a little cornstarch made it so. This is exactly what the Chinese Indian combination was like throughout our entire meal–saucy and spicy. We also had their notorious chicken lollipops, wing meat pulled back to form a ball at the other end of the bone. My brother makes them at home but the Mirch version has enough garlic to make them addicting. They’re deep-fried to crunchy perfection that I had to order one serving to go so that my father can taste them. The deep-fried okra were served in a container fit for Belgian fries and each okra sliver was coated in batter and peppered with paprika and other chili spices. The vegetarian meatballs were quite good, too, and even after eating one of the green chiles swimming in even more sauce, we were still craving for more. The chicken and garlic noodles were satisfying although the chicken bits were barely detectable. I loved pouring the vinegar that was on our table over them.

The waiters are friendly but the service is abrupt. Our waiter tried to take plates away twice even though we were still eating. He also tipped over the okra container to see if we were done with them that I was tempted to slap him on the arm so he would chill. We ordered a bowl of rice when the two main courses were served but it never came. When it was included in our bill and I alerted the cashier, they insisted that we ate the rice they brought to our table. Our waiter pointed to a small grain of rice on our table and asked, But what is this over here? as if we would really try to skip over paying $1.39. They let the bill stand, as I suggested, and I gave them $1.39 less on the tip. Can you blame me if I just didn’t want to pay for what wasn’t served? The waiters also let us leave without giving us the leftovers we asked to take home. It was a good thing we remembered half a block away. When we opened our bag, the new order of chicken lollipops were there (I ordered two but they only gave and charged me for one) but the leftover noodles weren’t. We were just too tired to correct another mistake that we just decided to walk away.

Sigiri

91 First Avenue between 5th and 6th Streets
212/614.9333
$60 for two, BYOB, without tip
♥

Because it’s the only Sri Lankan restaurant in Manhattan, Sigiri is a gem. It’s on the same block as the East 6th Indian restaurants, so if you blink–or if the red lights make you squint–you might just miss it. But try not to miss the dhal vade or lentil patties, the fish and potato cutlets and the vegetable and fish spring rolls, all breaded and deep-fried with traditional Sri Lankan spices. You can get each as an appetizer portion for about $5 or get the sampler for $8.50. The beef curry was a bit boring because the meat was dry inside, but the coconut milk curry covered its blandness and made the dish edible. We loved the yellow basmati rice cooked in saffron with cashew nuts and golden raisins. It was so hearty I could have eaten it without anything else. The best thing about Sigiri, though, is their BYOB policy. Dowel Quality Products, the deli downstairs, sells every beer imaginable.