Midtown Lunch

Al Baraka, Midtown’s best only Turkish buffet, is now Kanaat Turkish Restaurant.  The chef, food and lunch buffet are exactly the same, but it is now $10.95 (up from $9.95 before).  The lamb shanks are still on the buffet, so it’s worth the extra buck, but the current trend of lunchtime price increases worries me that soon all buffets will need special exemptions to be included in the Midtown Lunch’ing price range.

Another popular buffet that has broken the $10 threshold, after the jump… Read more »

I guess it’s an Indian food kind of day… first Indus Express and now this.  The “Chef” (on the right) of the Chapati Roll/Biriyani Cart (46th & 6th Ave.), has returned after two and a half months in Bangladesh, and as promised there’s some new stuff to talk about.  Let’s get the bad news out of the way first… two Kati Rolls/Chapati rolls are now $5 ($6 for lamb).  $4 was a ridiculously low price, so I don’t begrudge the cart a little price increase…

Now on to the good news… they’ve added a fifth kind of Chapati Roll to their menu- the vegetarian Aloo Gobi roll (curried potatoes and cauliflower).  I’ve been on a big cauliflower kick since having this sandwich 6 months ago, so I’m excited to try this.   They’ve also added the chicken tikka masala and biriyani to the permanent menu, items previously only available as specials on certain days.

On the seafood front, there is now a salmon dish (presumably to compete with the Kwik Meal Cart’s fish platter).  And even more items are in the works, including shami kebabs (made from ground up lamb or chicken), and chapli kebabs (made from ground up beef).

A shot of the menu, plus the big news for Chapati Roll lovers on the East side, after the jump… Read more »

There is no shortage of generic delis here in Midtown, and we’ve got our decent share of fast and cheap Indian steam tables too.  Combine the two, and then you’re talking craziness!  Walk into what used to be City Market Cafe on 48th btw. 5+6th, and you will find the latest in worktime lunch’ing ingenuity.  Keep the set-up, change the food seems to be the motif at the newly christened Indus Express, the latest cheap, fast food Indian place to open in Midtown.  I haven’t tried anything yet, but early word from a tipster is that the saag paneer is “pretty good”.

They don’t have printed menus yet, so I don’t know exactly what the scope of their offerings will be or how much everything will cost, but they did have a list of basic steam table pricing.  $7.95 gets you two veggies, dal, rice & bread,  $8.95 gets you one meat, two veggies, bread (and I’m assuming rice, although it doesn’t say it),  $9.95 gets you two meats, two veggies, (rice), and bread,  and $10.95 gets you fish with two veggies, and bread. 

They also have a steam table full of nice looking pakoras and samosas.  

But a steam table alone will not pull lunch’ers away from already established Midtown Indian food favorites.  For that, Indus Express is bringing out the big guns, which I have photos of, after the jump… Read more »

Normally they give away free topping coupons the day after Hideki Matsui hits a homerun, but why should we be punished because it is the Yankees’ offseason?  Problem solved.  Today is free topping coupon day at Go Go Curry on 38th St. btw. 7+8th. 

The new House of Pita on 8th Ave. btw. 39+40th finally replaced the Mandler’s Sausage sign.  They smartly decided to keep the H.O.P. name, and only add the “Chicken Bar” part to the sign underneath.  I guess they “discovered” that Chicken Bar already exists.

Kashmir Express, the Indian take out place on 8th Ave. btw. 38+39th, has converted to a by the pound buffet.  Looked pretty good, although having to pay for my lunch by the amount it weighs is always a scary proposition.  The $4.99 price tag is not bad, but Indian food can get heavy!  And it forces you to break the #1 rule of eating at buffets by the pound… go easy on the rice and bread.

A shot of the buffet, plus Piece of Chicken’s shocking new menu changes, after the jump… Read more »

So, I’m finally back from 10 days of eating my way across Chile (more on that tomorrow), which means that this is the last category of the Midtown Lunch readers’ poll. Thanks for holding down the fort for the past week, commenting and voting. You have until tomorrow at 8pm EST to vote in any of the 12 categories, and I’ll post the final results on Wednesday. Links to posts about most of the nominees can be found on the “Restaurant Index” page. Feel free to write in votes in the comments section.

When Kati Roll lost their lease, and was forced to move from 46th St. to 39th St. (btw. 5+6th), it was at the peak of Midtown Lunch popularity.  There were long lines to order, 20+ minute waits for your food and it even spawned two copycat carts down the street (only one of them survived).

Now, 4 months later and in their new location, the lines are gone.  The crowds, nowhere to be found as the new Kati Roll waits for the lazy, set in their ways workers in Midtown South to discover them for the first time.  One thing that hasn’t changed, is the food, and if you work near the old Kati Roll and don’t have time to walk the extra 7 blocks to the new location, they now offer delivery.

The minimum order is $20, but they told me if you got above $15 they would probably do it.  The delivery area is from 30th St. to 50th St., between Lexington & 8th Ave.  They’ve also added a new, and fairly strange take out menu- for those who are not so good at reading. 

Check it out after the jump… Read more »

These photos were recently posted to the Midtown Lunch Flickr Photo Group.  Post your lunch photos now, by going here

_{“Gujarati food from the back of a newsstand” on 6th Ave. btw. 37+38th
Posted by joshwand}

_{Chapati Rolls from the Cart on 46th & 6th Ave.
Posted by Mollie}

More Indian food porn, after the jump… Read more »

In Midtown there is no shortage of fancy Indian all you can eat Buffets.  I’d love to try them, but I can’t justify shelling out $13, $15 or $18 for all you can eat Indian food when there’s Sukhadia for $10.95 and my new favorite Spice Fusion for $9.95 available.  Sure, the quality of the food at some of these super expensive *may* be better (that is not totally confirmed), but it’s just not worth the extra money.

Utsav, a fancy Indian buffet on 47th btw. 6+7th, solves that problem with a little take out section in the bar area of their $17.95 all you can eat buffet.  For $7.95 or $9.95 you get a lunch size sampling of what the fat cats upstairs are shelling out $18 for- and it’s pretty damn good.

What you get, and a +/- after the jump… Read more »

Ramadan, the holiest month of the Muslim calendar, begins today and the Chicken Briyani Cart on 46th & 6th is offering special “Iftar Boxes” for those who are observing (pronounced “if-tar” or “fitoor”).  Muslims all around the world will fast from sunrise to sunset for the next 30 days, abstaining from food and drinks of any kind.  At sunset, a special meal known as “Iftar” (which literally means breakfast or break fast) is enjoyed, usually as a communal event.

The box from the Briyani Cart will include a scoop of Chicken Biriyani, 1 Kati Roll, a samosa and what the guys in the cart described to me as a potato kebab.  It costs $5 and will be available from 4:30pm to 6:30pm every night for the next 30 days (starting on Friday).

***Update: Since this post was written, the price of this Buffet has gone up to $10.95***

One thing I’ve discovered since starting Midtown Lunch is that most of the time you get what you pay for.  Go to an Indian buffet that’s $9.95 and the quality of the food is not going to be as good as the $14.95 buffet.  Rangole (on 46th btw. 5+6th) was the best deal ever at $8.95, but the quality was a little lacking, and the atmosphere left a little to be desired.  And yet, I love the all you can eat buffets, so I was happy the place was there when I needed my fix.

When Rangole closed, I was forced to look south to Curry Dream on 38th btw. 5+6th.  $1 more than Rangole, it still suffers from many of the same problems.  Good, but not great, clean, but not really… and still, I am just happy it’s there.  (Fat man likey buffet.)  I could pay $10.95 for Sukhadia or even more for one of the expensive Indian Buffets in Midtown (there are plenty, like Utsav), but it is against the under $10 Midtown Lunch rule (read: I’m a cheap bastard, and will sacrifice quality for price).

With the opening of Spice Fusion on 8th Ave. btw. 47+48th, all of my Indian food prayers have been answered.  Not only is the buffet only $9.95, they have take out boxes for $6.95 and the food is not only good, it is borderline great!

What they have, and a +/- after the jump… Read more »