We somehow missed the opening of a new Thai restaurant, Tom & Toon (241 51st St. between 7th & 8th), which launched with little fanfare in August of 2010. Our oversight may have been appropriate, given the predictable narrative of the restaurant. There’s an un-extraordinary menu akin to its neighboring Thai brethren in the ‘hood, such as Siam Inn two store fronts down, or the overabundance of Thai joints up and down 9th ave. However, Tom & Toon shouldn’t be easily dismissed, for it is the only Thai restaurant that has an all you can eat lunch buffet in Midtown. At $11.95, it’s a bit over our $10 lunch rule, but we’ve always be willing to stretch the price boundaries to $11 for buffets.  So what’s another buck when something as rare as Thai AYCE is involved!?

The buffet runs from 12-2pm, and offers a diverse selection of Thai standards. On my visit, I counted 9 different entrees, as well as readily available steamed white rice and green salad. The selections of pad thai, chicken curry, curried fish with holy basil, chicken wings, sautéed mixed vegetables, spring rolls, etc are kept in covered hotel pans over a low flame, and seemed to be brought out in small batches, ensuring some degree of freshness. I was happy to observe the restaurant workers fastidiously fussing over each buffet item – refreshing emptied pans, checking holding temperatures, and swapping soiled serving utensils with a clean replacement on a constant basis.

As with any AYCE restaurant, it’s important to keep expectations in check, for this is about quantity and not quality. There won’t be any dishes that will wow customers of this buffet, though I couldn’t keep myself away from second helpings of satisfying vermicelli noodles and a fragrant and spicy fish curry. And with the lone exception of considerably gummy spring rolls, everything that I sampled was acceptably hot and fresh. Service was attentive, and polite, and they graciously fielded inquiries about “what to do in New York after seeing Wicked” from the Australian tourists at the table next to me while helpfully handling probing questions from this Midtown Lunch’er.

There are very few Thai restaurants in the Theatre District that cry out for a curtain call. However, given Tom & Toon’s distinction as one of the few (if only) Thai AYCE restaurants in Midtown, we can certainly get behind this opening. They seem to have an ostensible commitment to freshness and quality of their buffet, and the food ain’t bad. Though you may have resolved to shed a few pounds in 2011, and despite the $11.95 price tag, Tom & Toon’s lunch buffet might be worth breaking your New Year’s resolution for.

Tom & Toon, 241 West 51st Street (btw. 7+8th), 212-226-4565

After a couple weeks in the ‘Flatiron’ part of the Flatiron Lunch area, I headed back to further my exploration of Curry Hill. One of my biggest challenges when walking down Lex is figuring out which place to pick, so I’ll be a little transparent here so you guys can tell me the right way to pick. Cinnamon over the million other places on this strip: First, it’s new, it opened up just a month or two ago, so I wanted to get the scoop. Second, unlike a lot of the dark, divey old school places with Christmas lights and ornamental chili peppers hanging everywhere, Cinnamon looks sort of, well, normal. Yeah, it’s a weak reason, but it’s true. Finally, there’s the financial reason. The $8.95 buffet seemed like a pretty good deal to me, so I went for it.

I’m not the expert Zach is, but a fat man’s instincts are all one really needs to navigate the all-you-can-eat buffet and I’ve got that. See what’s hot on the steam tables after the jump.

The selection available doesn’t seem as extensive as what Amy had at Apna Taj the other day, but it certainly has plenty of options to stuff your face with. I’m a carnivore, so I’m really just counting the meat options. There were about four or five of those, including two versions of the chicken tikka, one with the other without sauce.

I started out with the shesh kebab chunks, which were so neatly rolled up that they seemed more like sausage than any kefte I’ve had before. I’d love to have some of that tossed in a pita, or better naan with white sauce, hot sauce.

My favorite was the chicken tikka. I don’t eat Indian often enough, so that may be the problem, but in my experience chicken tikka often ends up a little dried out. You’ll get a nice charred flavor on the edges, but biting into a piece often results in a mouthful of dry white meat that requires a guzzle of my drink to choke down. Here it was moist and juicy and still steaming and still had that smokey char on the outside.

Expert or not, I think I did a respectable job of filling my plate. Lamb and Dhaal and chickpeas with spinach along with a little of everything else crammed together pretty well to make a hefty meal. Once I’d gobbled up all the solids, I went at the sauce with slices of the complimentary naan.

If I had any complaint it would be with the Mango Lassi, which might be the Indian foray into the frozen yogurt market. It was so thick that I was afraid I might rupture something trying to drink it. Next time, I’d ask for a spoon, except that, at $4.95, it cost more than half the price of the buffet, so I’ll probably just skip it.

If you end up going, check out the website, they promise a $5 off coupon if you sign up for their mailing list. Not sure if that applies to lunch, but just the prospect of paying $3.95 buffet has me salivating. Worst case, the food’s certainly good enough that I’d go back for dinner – especially if I had a $5 coupon….

The + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• 8.95 for all you can eat anything is pretty great.
• The decor is pretty normal, with no Christmas lights to be found anywhere.
• Juicy Chicken Tikka.

The – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• That Lassi is going to give someone a hernia.
• The buffet selection isn’t huge.

Cinnamon, 106 Lexington Avenue (btw. 27+28th), 212-686-0505

Sometimes, I get the most random craving for Indian food – chicken tikka masala, specifically – so when I passed Apna Taj (on 55th btw. Lex+3rd) and saw they offer a $9.50 lunch buffet, it immediately sparked my hunt for a Midtown Lunch-worthy Indian lunch. Last year, Zach lunched at next door neighbor Darbar Grill to get in on the make-your-own-dosa action, so Apna Taj already had plenty of competition on the “fancy Indian buffet” front. But check out what you can get for under $10 after the jump…

As most Midtown Lunchers know, the beauty of buffets is you can try as much or as little of everything however many times you’d like, so naturally I got a little bit of everything the first time around. Round 2 and 3 is reserved for only the best! I have a pretty hard time finding tikka masala that I like more than the kind I used to have in London, but that makes me sound and feel like a snob so I try and try and try chicken tikka masala as often as I can when I’m at a New York-based Indian restaurant. Apna Taj’s chicken tikka masala wasn’t outstanding and pieces leaned on the small side. Still, it’ll satisfy a craving for that creamy orange sauce.

Kalai lamb was chewy so I took a bite and pushed it aside, but my two favorites were the chicken tandoori and aloo balingan (eggplant with potato). The tandoori chicken isn’t as grilled or smokey as it could be, but the meat was tender and not dry at all, which I find is a problem at other Indian places sometimes. As for the aloo balingan, the thick cut-up pieces of eggplant and potatoes were a nice surprise!

I tried the Bombay egg curry, which was basically a whole egg in curry spice. It had a curry -flavored film on the outside, which is as tasty as it sounds. In other words: skip the boiled egg unless you like boiled eggs with curry-flavored egg skin.

Vegetarians can choose between the tasty aloo balingan, decent Saag tadka (spinach puree), or something called rattan korma, which was a soft cauliflower/mixed veggies in soup. All the veggies were a bit on the soft-as-stew side, but if you’re like me and like your peas mushy, then you won’t be disappointed. The massive vegetable samosa delivered just that – spiced potato and soft peas in a nice crust. It won’t win any awards, but it’s definitely filling!

Fresh naan is delivered to your table, which was a nice touch for a cheap meal.

$9.50 seems like a decent price to pay for a bottomless plate. With eight entrees, one dessert, fresh naan, and basmati rice with green peas, you definitely can’t complain you’re still hungry.

Also, I should note I went back three times for the gulab jamun, which are like donut holes soaked in spiced ginger-flavored honey soup. Yum…warm, spongy cake balls.

Not into the buffet?  Or need to get back to work?  You can get a take out container, but it’s still the same price! ($9.50)  Kind of lame.  In other words, Apna Taj is only worth it if you eat in. (As if I needed to tell you that…)

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• If you want some of everything, buffet-style is the only way to go.
• The price is right compared to neighboring Indian buffets, which usually charge more than $10.
• Their chicken tandoori is slightly smokey and tender, which is a nice change to overly baked chicken tandoori offered in other Midtown Indian places.

THE – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• Pretty average overall experience, considering only 2 out of 8 entrees stand out.
• The lunch buffet to-go option is the same price of $9.50 – and that’s minus the refills. I’d rather pay more for a make-my-own-dosa experience and three dessert options!

Apna Taj 159 East 55th Street (btw. Lex+3rd), 212-223-0010

My love of Chinese buffets is pretty well documented, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a non-Asian buffet from time to time. In fact, you could say my buffet chops were sharpened over many trips to the now closed Sizzler on 104th Street and Dixie Highway in Miami (circa 1988). It’s my earliest memory of crafting a strategy for attacking a buffet, and also the genesis of my buffet onion ring obsession (aka I always eat at least one onion ring from every buffet, even if it’s Asian.)

So on Tuesday, when I stumbled across Greenhouse 36 (in the Wyndham Times Square Hotel on 36th btw. 8+9th), I was naturally intrigued. Situated in a hotel, Greenhouse 36 seems like any other crappy-hotel-lunch-spot-in-a-garden, except for one thing. From now through the end of the year (it expires on December 29th, 2009), they’re offering a lunch buffet for $9.50.

How could I not?

I will stick up for buffets as a genre of restaurant to my dying day. Obviously not because of the quality, and not even because of the quantity (although that is a plus.) It’s more about the variety. What I’m saying is, inherent with eating at most buffets is the admission that you are willing to sacrifice quality for variety (or quantity). “So this isn’t the best ___________ I’ve ever had. But it’s a buffet!” And that’s pretty much the case with almost everything at Greenhouse 36.

Almost like a generic Midtown deli, on a nicely decorated table, Greenhouse 36 is a what I would consider a small scale buffet. They had pre-made turkey sandwiches, on nice looking rolls, pre-made chicken ceasar wraps, plus assorted pre-cut deli meats and cheeses, with sliced bread, so you can make your own sandwiches. There was also a turkey breast carving station (fancy!), and a few assorted hot dishes to choose from- like mushroom tortellini, some sort of weird sausage and vegetables mixture, sliced chicken in a butter sauce, and mashed potatoes. They also have soup, but you have to ask your waiter for it. (I found that out too late.)

Bread, sandwiches, and pasta are the worst things you can eat at a buffet (from a stuffing your face standpoint) but that’s pretty much all they’ve got at this place (or as I like to call it “That’s how they getcha!”) Even so, all you can eat sandwiches and pasta in Midtown for the price of a salad and a drink at Cafe Metro is not a bad deal. I attempted to make my first plate a “feeler plate”.

The chicken ceasar salad wrap was mediocre at best… but whatever. It’s an all you can eat buffet! The chicken in the butter sauce was kind of dry and weird, but overall not bad. And, I didn’t really care so much. It’s an all you can eat buffet! The cheese and roast beef were… cheese and roast buffet. The tortellini with mushrooms was probably the tastiest of the dishes (do I detect truffle salt?), although the mushrooms were a little too chewy (probably because they were dried, and not rehydrated properly.) But what are you going to do? It’s an all you can buffet!

For my second plate, I got more tortellini. (What I can say? I’m a glutton for punishment… emphasis on the glutton.) I also decided to try out the turkey carving station. The turkey was kind of dry (not a surprise) but actually a little bit more moist than I expected… so bonus! Although I think what I though was cranberry sauce, was actually jam. (Not a bonus.) But who cares? It’s an all you can eat buffet! I was having fun…

The best part of the buffet is that it comes with coffee and dessert. (I took two.) And it’s probably the only thing that would have been good even if I wasn’t eating at an all you can eat buffet.

In the end, like most crappy buffets this one requires you to make excuses for a lot of the food. But if you are spending $13 on a turkey sandwich, a drink, and cookie at some generic deli… why not get the same turkey sandwich, drink, and dessert (and tortellini) in all you can eat form for $9.50? Plus it’s in a beautiful atrium. You do have to pay tax and tip on top of that $9.50 (so it ends up coming out closer to $15 for lunch), but who cares? It’s an all you can eat buffet!

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• I don’t care how good or bad the food is, I love all you can eat buffets
• If i’m going to eat a turkey sandwich and cookie anyway (for $10), why not get 4 turkey sandwiches and 7 cookies for the same price
• It’s refreshing to find an all you can eat buffet that’s not Asian food
• The enclosed garden setting is a really relaxing place to enjoy lunch.
• The coffee and dessert might be worth $10 alone

THE -

• The only thing worse than eating at a buffet?  Eating at a hotel buffet.
• The only thing worse than eating lunch in Midtown?  Eating lunch at a hotel in Midtown.
• No amount of boring turkey sandwiches is worth $10
• If the food is boring, why would I want all you can eat of it?

Greenhouse 36, 341 W. 36th St. (btw. 8+9th), 646-329-3229

I love all you can eat buffets… and within that vast and wonderful realm the Chinese buffet is probably my favorite.  I don’t discriminate against any buffet, but sushi buffets tend to be too expensive, Mexican buffets don’t seem to stand up well to the steam table treatment, and Latin buffets are fine- but rice and beans and plantains always kill me in that equation!  Indian buffets are plentiful in Midtown, and I’m all about a good Indian buffet… but Chinese is my all time favorite.  Sadly Manhattan is practically devoid of Chinese buffets.  And in Midtown, there is only one option.  The “Midtown Buffet” on 7th Ave. btw. 40+41st.

It’s only $8 (and actually used to be cheaper) and I used it as the backdrop for the Midtown Lunch Guide to Beating the All You Can Eat Buffet a few years ago.  But it didn’t really get a full +/-, so yesterday on the holiest of holy Jewish days I hit up the Midtown Buffet for a little Yom Kippur lunch action.

Midtown Buffet is what I would refer to as a “once a year buffet”.  In other words it’s the kind of buffet that after you visit it once, it takes about a year for you to forget why you only visit it once a year (East Ocean Buffet in Flushing had a similar effect on me.)  It had been two years since the last time I had visited the Midtown Buffet, plenty of time to forget how mediocre it actually is.

Following my own buffet advice, I started off with a feeler plate to see what was going on.  A little taste of everything that looked good: peking duck, sesame chicken, a little bit of pork fried rice (I dug around to get as much pork as possible), salt and pepper shrimp, eggplant, a few string beans (for Harry), some red roast pork, a few pan fried dumplings, some sort of chicken dish with zucchini, and the obligatory onion ring (a habit formed during my Sizzler buffet eating childhood.)

The sesame chicken had way too much sauce (ruining any chance for crispiness), as did the roasted red pork (if they cooked it right in the first place it wouldn’t need sauce!)  The salt and pepper shrimp were small, and not cleaned well- but not terrible.  The roast duck was fine, but not something you could eat too much of, and the skin was completely mushy (so sad!)  No complaints about the dumplings, or the veggies, or the onion ring (natch.)

For my second plate I loaded up on the dumplings, and tried to pick out the less sauced pieces of roast pork and sesame chicken.  I also switched it up from duck to roast chicken, which looked a little less greasy.  Some more string beans (for the kid), and a bit more rice (but not too much.)

Now you have to understand, I love crappy Chinese buffets- and I’ve eaten at a lot of terrible ones (including one in Tennessee that I will never forget.)  But even at the bad ones (and many of them are bad) you can at least find a few great dishes (like the fried frog legs I had at this one in Houston that I will also never forget.) At $8, you can’t expect crab claws or any of the real big money dishes you’ll find at what I would consider “good” Chinese buffets- and the fact that it is Midtown (where rent is ridiculous) means that this buffet would likely cost $6 if it was anywhere else in  the country.  In other words,  I’d recommended it only to Chinese buffet addicts, who wouldn’t hesitate to pull over at a $6 all you can eat Chinese buffet in Knoxville, TN.  And even if you are one of those people, you’ll still only want to go once a year.

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• It’s all you can eat Chinese food, for under $10, in Midtown.  (The only one of its kind.)
• They have jello! (I love eating jello after an all you can eat Chinese buffet.)
• I love greasy, super cheap, Americanized Chinese food!

THE – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• Nothing tastes as good as it looks (and some of the stuff doesn’t even look that good).
• They have a bunch of shrimp dishes (which is always a good thing), and roast duck- but at $8, paying Midtown rent, clearly the quality is going to be even lower than the low you would expect from most Chinese buffets
• The sesame chicken had too much sauce, losing all its crispiness
• Roast pork should not have a red sauce poured over it
• Even if you start off thinking the buffet is good… by the end, you’ll probably recant.

Midtown Buffet, 566 Fashion Ave. (7th Ave. btw. 40+41st), 212-768-4422

Knowing how much I love the all-you-can-eat buffet, Serious Eats grand poobah Ed Levine IM’d pretty soon after he and the SENY crew discovered El Ranchito del Agave- the brand new Mexican restaurant on 9th Ave. btw. 36+37th that features a lunch buffet.  He knew I’d be excited (I’m very serious about my all you can eat buffets), but cautioned that he might have finally found an all you can eat buffet that even I couldn’t get behind 100%.  Ed found the taquitos to be dry, and the mole too sweet- but the rest of the crew seemed to like it enough in their review… and it’s only $8!  How could it be bad!? (After all you are talking to a guy who has willingly eaten at an all you can eat Chinese buffet in the back woods of Tennessee.)

What I’m trying to say is my standards for all you can eat buffets are far lower than Ed’s, so I rushed out 9th to check this one out.

9th Ave is admittedly out of bounds for Midtown Lunch’ing purposes, but for an all you can eat buffet I will break my $10 price barrier, and travel pretty much anywhere. Luckily El Ranchito del Agave is only $8 and just one avenue out of the way. Plus, aside from El Rey del Sabor and the tamale lady outside the Mexican Embassy- there isn’t really much in they way of authentic and cheap Mexican food in Midtown. (Sorry Sombrero Cart, nacho cheese and hard taco shells are not real Mexican food.)

$8 is about as cheap an all you can eat buffet as you are going to find anywhere, and El Ranchito del Agave has got plenty of options. They’ve got chicken or pork in green sauce, chicken in red sauce, a mole dish, a couple of fish dishes, tamales, enchiladas with green or red sauce, chiles rellenos, and rice and beans. Plus an assortment of salsas, and something they called guacamole- but was really just a watery avocado sauce. I can’t blame them though… if you’re only going to charge $8, all you can eat real guacamole would put you out of business pretty quickly.

Clockwise from the top: rice, beans, chile relleno, enchilade w/ salsa verde, something in red sauce, tamal, chicken w/ mole

There were no taquitos the day I went, but I agree with Ed that there was something about the mole that made it tough to finish. Too rich? Too sweet? Something. The green sauce was far better (as the SENY review pointed out), but most of the stuff on the buffet suffered a ton by being out in those steam tables. Maybe the chiles rellenos were good at some point during the day, but by the time I got to them they weren’t. The enchiladas and tamales as well.

Clockwise from the top: fish, pork in salsa verde, rice, steak

It’s pretty tough to get an all you can eat buffet up and running, since the quality is going to suffer in those early days while you wait to attract business that can provide the turnover you need. Especially Mexican food, which suffers tremendously as the minutes tick away between the time it comes off griddle or out of the steamer and the time it goes into your belly. The best thing I had came fresh out of the kitchen between plate number one and plate number two… this very thinly pounded steak, with a little bit of lime. Mixed with the rice and the beans, it was pretty tasty- and made the lunch well worth the $8.

But if I’m going to go well out of my way for Mexican food, I’ll probably end up at Tehuitzingo, Tulcingo del Valle, or La Rosita since at this moment their food is just better- and it’s cheap enough that you can get a variety of different things for under $10- which in the end is the biggest reason you choose a buffet over ordering ala carte.

Oh who am I kidding… the biggest reason you eat at a buffet is to stuff your face, and the call of El Ranchito del Agave’s buffet will eventually be too much for this fat man’s stomach to deny (DID I MENTION IT’S ONLY $8!!!) By then I’m guessing the the crowds will have gotten a bit bigger, and the food will be that much fresher and better.

THE +

• Uh… all you can eat Mexican?  Hello!  What’s better than that?
• Pork and chicken in green sauce = good
• Did I mention it’s all you can eat for $8?!?!
• Good variety of options

THE -

• Mexican food is not entirely well suited for the buffet format… the tamales, enchiladas, and chiles rellenos suffer a lot in those steam tables
• The guacamole had the consistency of watery soup
• Needs some better turnover of the food on the buffet

El Ranchito del Agave, 476 9th Ave. (btw. 36+37th), 212-904-1198

Remember when Kati Roll was the only place in midtown that served kati rolls.  When they moved from 46th street to 39th street, the Biryani Cart jumped in and served their own version of the Indian burrito.  (And we all know how that turned out.)  They were followed by Indus Express’ naan wraps (on 48th btw. 5+6th), the standard kati rolls from Grill 44 on the East side, and even Spice Fusion (which is known for their all you can eat buffet) jumped on the bandwagon.

Now Touch of India (on 37th btw. 7+8th) becomes the latest to join the fray. I didn’t love their all you can eat buffet when I tried it last August, but for $9 it’s good enough.  And there’s no reason a mediocre buffet would stop me from trying their “kathi rolls”.

The Touch of India kati roll menu is a little stranger than most.  First, you don’t get the option of ordering two different kinds.  An order costs $6.99 and according to the manager is “3 pieces”. (I wasn’t sure what that meant, but it became clear once I ordered.)  The fillings are completely unique as well, with choices like palek paneer (cheese and spinach), potato and green peas, chicken and mushrooms, and chana dal (lentils).  Not exactly the “solid” fillings that make up the bulk of the kati roll options in Midtown.  And there is good reason for this…

Their “kati rolls” are rolled and fried like egg rolls!  I tried the palek paneer, which despite my initial shock was amazingly delicious.  How could it not be?  What’s bad about spinach and cheese wrapped in roti and deep fried. The “3 pieces” ended up being the number of “rolls” you get, which after being fried are chopped into 3 pieces each.  (So you end up with 9 pieces altogether.)  It came with the pretty standard Indian tamarind sauce, green sauce, and yogurt sauce all for dipping, and all good.  I guess the only complaint you could really register is that it felt more like an appetizer to be shared, than a complete lunch for one person.  But I got over that pretty quickly.

There is one option that is more like a traditional kati roll (or at least similar to the ones served at Indus Express).  If you order the “Kebab Roll”, that actually comes as one roll.   Their chapli kebab (minced meat kebabs) gets wrapped in naan with salad and sauces.  It was pretty tasty, with a strong curry flavor not just from the sauces- but from the heavily seasoned kebab.  It was also super spicy, and had a sweet flavor as well (they probably added some of the tamarind chutney/sauce into the mix.)  It’s much more like a lunch, and despite it’s nice girth was only $4.99.  I liked it a lot, but obviously the little fried rolls tasted a bit better. (It’s just the advantage of being fried.)

I think they fry the kati rolls fresh, so I waited awhile for my take out order.  Call and order in advance if you can.  While I was waiting I took a second look at the all you can eat buffet, which looked pretty much the same- save for one new, and incredibly interesting addition.

Indian fried chicken!  I wanted to call it “tandoori fried chicken”, but that would like calling it baked fried chicken- which would make no sense.  But clearly the pieces of chicken are marinated in the same spice mixture as the tandoori chicken- but instead of being baked in the tandoori oven, they are deep fried.  It looked amazing!  It’s offered as a special, or part of the buffet on Wednesdays only- so I may have to hit up Touch of India one more time.

Related:
Touch of India May be the Last Under $10 Indian Buffet in Midtown (with Address Info)

It was with that attitude that I ventured into Kashmir Buffet on Tuesday, determined to finally try what is now the cheapest all you can eat buffet in Midtown.

If you are not familiar with Kashmir, here is a quick recap.  This basement buffet was been around forever, and developed a small following before opening a street level by the pound “Express” version upstairs. In October of 2008, the whole operation was shuttered by the DOH- and when it reopened, Kashmir had been replaced by The Cave Lounge, a renovated basement bar… with no buffet.

Fast forward to March 2009: the $8.95 all you can eat Indian/Pakistani buffet makes its triumphant return to “The Cave Lounge”. I’m still a little scared. In fact, I’ve always been scared of this place. The food in the “Express” location looks ok, but nobody is ever in there, which gives me the sneaking suspicion that the food sits out there for hours and hours and hours. Apparently I’m not the only one who is scared, because last week, I noticed that they had lowered the price of the buffet to $7.95.

Now, to some this would be a huge red flag. Why did they lower the price? Why doesn’t anybody eat there? Does this mean they’re using cheaper ingredients? WHY!?!?! I, on the other hand, interpreted this as a message from some sort of higher power. It was finally time to try the Kashmir Buffet.

To give myself the best chance of success, I decided to hit this place up at the perfect buffet time of 11:45am. In theory, everything should be untouched and at its freshest. The place was empty (obviously) save for one guy sitting at the bar, who didn’t appear to work there, couldn’t help me out, wasn’t eating… but never left. Very strange.

Finally the “waiter” came out, and took me to a table. Actually, waiter is a strong word for what this guy was. “Random guy who does everything” is more like it. In fact, save for a couple of guys taking trays of food to the upstairs by the pound buffet, he was the only seemingly “official” employee I saw for my entire lunch. It’s a real skeleton crew. I asked for water, and he brought me a bottled water (not included in the price of the buffet.) “Are you trying to tell me something about your tap water, buddy?” Not comforting.

When I went up for my first plate, he warned me that the metal covers were very very hot. They weren’t. (In fact, one was actually cold.) And, even though I’m skipping ahead a bit, neither was the food. That’s right. At Noon, the food at the Kashmir Buffet was already lukewarm. It wasn’t inedible, but if it wasn’t piping hot at Noon, I’m guessing it’s never piping hot. It probably had something to do with the little burners below not being lit. Oversight perhaps? Maybe the ONE employee was just having an off day. So… just to recap. Place is deserted, only one employee is there- who clearly has no idea what he’s doing, strange lurker in the front, food is not that warm, and they don’t want me to drink the tap water. This is a good start.

First plate should always be a “feeler” plate (a little bit of everything)

And then something happened. I tried the food.  Most Indian buffets in Midtown all serve the same dishes, so there’s only two things to concern yourself with: quality and price.  But this place was different.  Price is scary low, quality is questionable… but this food was not your average Indian buffet fare.  It was interesting.  And flavorful.  And spicy! (In a good way.)   Now I’ll admit that I don’t really know the difference between Pakistani food and Indian food. (I’m guess very few people in the United States do.) My best friend in junior high and high school was from Pakistan, and his family owned a restaurant called “House of India”, so that should give you a general idea about the state of Pakistani food in this country.

So, my hunch is that some of these dishes are more Pakistani than Indian, but I don’t know for sure.  Either way, despite the fact that they weren’t hot, and this was one of the odder places I had ever dined it- the food was really tasty. Sure, they had a version of chicken tikka masala on the buffet (which was fine). And there was a tender lamb dish (always a good thing.) But they also had this amazing ground chicken dish, which was kind of like the Pakistani version of a  pretty well known Thai dish. In other words, this is not your standard buffet.

In addition to ground meat kebabs (which probably would have been much tastier if they had been warm) they also had chicken makhani, which was chunks of chiken in a yellow cream sauce. For vegetable dishes they had a potato dish, a whole okra dish (not diced), a dish of cauliflower/broccoli, and a string bean dish. These were all fine… and I can’t say if I would definitely recommend this buffet to a vegetarian. It’s just not my area of expertise (and none of the veggie dishes were my favorite.)

The final bonus was the rice… they had a tasty chicken biriyani on the buffet (as well as a vegetarian version) which I was really into. It was on the dry side (which is exactly how I like my biriyani) and had big chunks of dark meat chicken in it. Really flavorful, and not something you see on too many under $11 Indian buffets in Midtown.

An Indian buffet is not complete without the bread, and they have naan- but I had to ask for them to bring it out, and when they did the one other guy eating at the buffet took 3 out of 4 of the pieces before I had a chance to get up there.  I asked for more, and when the second round came out- there was more of it, but it was a tad bit undercooked and doughy (not surprisingly.)  Let’s just say, this wasn’t the fresh cooked, slathered in butter, hot beautiful naan that you get at Spice Fusion (on 8th Ave. btw. 47+48th).

So, what’s the takeaway from this place?  Will everybody like it?  Definitely not.  It is as sketchy as you would expect, the service is terrible, and if more than 3 people showed up at the same time- I don’t know what would happen.  (There would definitely be a bread shortage, you’ll wait forever for your bill, and you might even get to see the solitary employee’s head explode.)  But, if all you care about is trying interesting food that tastes really good (even if it’s lukewarm) you will definitely enjoy this meal.  For all its faults, there is definitely somebody who knows how to cook in the back of Kashmir.  I’m just scared to see what happens if people start to actually eat there…

THE +

• It’s all you can eat for $7.95!
• Much more interesting food than your average Indian all you can eat buffet
• They’ve got lamb
• The ground chicken dish was really good (and different)
• Almost everything is mildly spicy (probably because every dish was topped with sliced green chilies)

THE -

• It’s all you can eat for $7.95! (There must be something weird going on at this place)
• It’s empty and sketchy (and the ambiance is terrible)
• The service is super slow
• The food was not hot on the day I was there (at Noon!)
• The naan is just ok
• It’s spicy (so if you don’t like your food spicy, you won’t be into this place.)
• Did I mention it’s sketchy?

Kashmir Kebab House, 601 8th Ave (btw. 39+40th), 212-594-3777

When the Indian buffet Apna Taj took over the former East Ocean space back in March (on 55th btw. Lex+3rd) I noted that for just 45 cents less (they charge $10.50) they probably weren’t going to siphon off any business from the popular Indian buffet next door, Darbar Grill (which is $10.95).  Clearly they got the message, because they just lowered the price of their all you can buffet to $9.50. As anybody who reads this site regularly knows, I find something very appealing about all you can eat buffets that come in below that $10 threshold (they are dwindling by the day, so to see one drop the price is very exciting.)  Now, I will definitely be trying Apna Taj very soon.

Last month I went to 55th st. looking for some Indian buffet action and Darbar Grill was the obvious choice. Always pretty crowded, a ton of options, 3 (!!!) dessert choices, and of course- the infamous make your own dosa station. Photos of that meal, are after the jump…

Darbar Grill is one of those “upscale” Indian buffets that you can find pretty much anywhere in Midtown.  The difference is, they only charge $10.95 for their spread (while others in the area, charge $15.95 and more.)  The price, combined with a wide array of options, has gained them a pretty substantial following- so you will never find yourself alone at this buffet during lunchtime.

First plate was pretty standard (a little taste of everything), and you can see they have quite a few options- including goat and a fish curry (both of which were really good.)  Bone in tandoori chicken is always a nice treat, and their saag was not watery at all (a huge problem at cheaper Indian buffet.)  Sadly though, I think it had chickpeas instead of paneer (the Indian cheese that is sought after by many Indian buffet loving Midtown Lunchers.)  They also had breaded and fried mushrooms the day I was there.  Sure, I would have preferred samosas or pakoras as the fried offering- but it didn’t stop me from enjoying them (or getting more on my second plate, which is reserved for the things I liked best.) And free, all you can eat naan comes out hot from the kitchen.

Of course the biggest draw of the Darbar Grill buffet is the make your own dosa station, which I was pretty excited to try. The mini dosas take a few minutes to make, and are stuffed with an average tasting potato filling- but just having the option is exciting.  Not the best dosa I’ve ever had (the shell was totally undercooked) but it was a lot of fun, and totally distinguishes this buffet from the others in Midtown.

Another thing that distinguishes this buffet from the others?  Three desserts!   Awwww yeah. My tip:  when they offer you more than one dessert option, screw those tiny plates they leave on the dessert table.  Go back to the main buffet, and snag a regular size plate.  It’s the only way to do it.  The day we were there, they had kheer- the standard Indian rice pudding dessert you find at most Indian buffets, plus a totally awesome mango pudding, which had the consistency of a thick Chinese pudding thing I’ve had at Dim Sum before. Kind of like a pudding/jello combo. But my favorite was the gajar halva, a carrot pudding that I’ve only seen at Spice Fusion (on 8th Ave. btw. 47+48th.)  Awesome.

All in all a great Indian buffet, and well worth the $11.  The dosa station is not good enough to get me to completely swear off trying Apna Taj (or keep me from going back to Bombay Bistro on 52nd btw. 3rd+Lex), but everything else is top notch, and I will be back.

Darbar Grill, 157 E 55th St (btw. 3rd+Lex), 212-751-4600

(Not to be confused with Darbar on 46th Street)