Midtown Lunch

Last week we got wind of a new cart called “My Biryani“. It was welcome news considering how long the lines can get at the real Biryani Cart sometimes. Years ago the Biryani Cart distinguished itself from the standard street meat carts by offering specialties like biryani and kati rolls, and “My Biryani” cart takes a page out of that book. They set up shop just two blocks away (on 44th and 6th Ave), so clearly an investigation is in order. Let’s find out how the new kids on the block stack up against the Vendy Award winner.

Of course the first thing to try is the biryani. If you’re gonna name your cart after a dish, that dish better be something special. For $6 dollars, you get half of a stryofoam take-out container of chicken biryani. The other half is the same run of the mill salad that you get at any ole cart. Throughout the world there’s actually over a dozen different varieties of biryani. I’ve only had two kinds- one at the Biryani Cart and one at the Trini Pak Cart (on 43rd and 6th). At those carts, the spices are more in your face. Here, they are more muted. Some might even think it’s too delicate to suss out the spices used. The amount of meat involved is on the sparse side. I know meat isn’t meant to play a dominant role in biryani the way it does in chicken over rice, but a few more chunks of chicken couldn’t have hurt.

Then there’s the kati roll. It’s $3.50 for one or $6 for two. The guy at the cart said they only had chicken as an option and you would probably need to get two if you want to fill up for lunch. What separates “My Biryani” from their competition is that the paratha is cooked until the thing has a noticeable crunch. It offers a nice textural contrast that you don’t get with most other kati rolls. So if you’ve been seeking a slightly different kind of kati roll, this would be for you.

In contrast to the biryani, yu get a ton of chicken, so that’s definitely good… but the real star of the kati roll is the onions. They weren’t your normal sauteed onions, but I couldn’t tell how exactly they were prepared (pickled maybe?) I just know they were good.

The last thing I want to mention is that “My Biryani” uses store bought parathas (just like the Biryani Cart), so for folks who were hoping that this would be their made-from-scratch paratha savior- sorry to disappoint you. For the rest of us who want to try out a worthy new addition to the kati roll landscape, I think for $3.50, this is worth a shot. It’s too bad they named their cart after biryani when the kati roll is a much stronger dish. If they changed their name to “My Kati Roll”, I think they would have a better shot of making a name for themselves.

THE +

• Awww yea! More kati rolls!
• I like my kati rolls to have a little crunch
• There’s not much of a line, and I’m getting tired of waiting at the Biryani Cart

THE –

• I’m big on biryani with plenty of spices.  This version was a little bland.
• Listen, homemade paratha is what I want, not that store bought crap
• You could never get me to betray Meru and the Biryani Cart!

My Biryani Cart, 44th and 6th on SW corner.