Archive for 'Spice Fusion'

Spice Fusion Closed Until Fall?: A few weeks ago we casually mentioned that Spice Fusion (on 8th Ave. btw. 47+48th) had been temporarily closed.  Well, according to their website "temporarily" is looking more like "indefinitely". Thanks to Lunch'er Sarah for the tip... clearly we need to find a decent $10 all you can eat Indian buffet replacement for the west side.  Any suggestions?

Spice Fusion’s Kati Rolls Are Like Naan Wrapped Indian Hot Dogs

spice-fusion-store-front

It’s been well covered that if you want an all you can eat Indian buffet in Midtown, your best bet is with Spice Fusion (on 8th Ave. btw. 47+48th). In addition to their buffet, they’ve actually been offering kati rolls for the past few years, although to little fan fare. I felt like it was time to see how they stack up against the competition.

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Midtown Happy Hour: Free App With a Drink at Spice Fusion

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe it was time to introduce a happy hour column to the site. Every week, our Happy Hour Correspondent “Mamacita” will post about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap.

Happy Hour: Spice Fusion

It’s well documented that Zach and many of us Midtown Lunchers love to go hog wild on an all you can eat buffet. Likewise, once the clock reads quitting time the happy hour ideal consists of gorging ourselves on free appetizers with a good drink to lull us into the night. We all know Spice Fusion has been an ML Indian buffet mainstay, but I was surprised to find they also have an all night happy hour with free veggie or meat hors d’oeuvres. This might be the only Indian food happy hour I’ve ever heard of, so my curiosity and appetite were piqued!

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Spice Fusion Posts Daily Buffet Schedule

On days like today soup will be on the agenda for many lunchers… but for me there is a less obvious choice: Indian buffet! On Friday I tested this theory with a little cold (and rainy) day trip to Spice Fusion (on 8th Ave. btw. 47+48th.) I consider it one of the better buffet options in Midtown, especially in its price range (which at $10.95 pushes me to my buffet price limit.) The tricky thing about most Indian buffets is items will change from day to day, so you never know what you are going to get. But I was excited to discover that Spice Fusion has created a schedule and posts it for everyone to see at the front door. That way you know exactly what you are going to get before heading over.

Check out a close up after the jump…

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Celebrate Diwali By Going to an Indian Buffet

Today is Diwali, a major holiday celebrated by Indian people of all faiths, and many of the Indian restaurants in Midtown are rolling out the big guns.  Prices will stay the same, but Spice Fusion (on 8th Ave. btw. 47+48th) says their buffet will be “more elaborate” today and Touch of India (on 37th btw. 7+8th) has said they will have special items on their buffet, like biryani. (Sukhadia, on 45th is doing nothing special and Curry Dream didn’t even know it was Diwali.)

Spice Fusion is Still the Best Indian Buffet in Midtown (Even Though It’s $11)

Spice Fusion, Midtown NYC

Spice Fusion (the Indian buffet on 8th Ave. btw. 47+48th) used to have a big blow up of the Midtown Lunch post hanging in front of their restaurant. Not anymore. It probably has to do with the headline, where I claimed that Spice Fusion had perfected the “Under $10 Indian All You Can Eat Buffet”. Like most of the Indian buffets in Midtown, Spice Fusion raised their price at the beginning of the year. But is it worth the extra buck? (As you know, I will break my $10 rule for all you can eat buffets.)

I used this silly reasoning as an excuse decided to buffet it up on Friday to “check it out”.  Read more »

Spice Fusion Unveils Kati Rolls at Taste of Times Square

I turns out the Taste of Times Square was good for something other than taking my aggression out on tourists eating riblets from Applebees.

Taste of Times Square

Spice Fusion, my favorite all you can eat Indian Buffet in Midtown (despite the fact that they raised their price to $10.99) was serving kati rolls at the Taste of Times Square yesterday- the latest addition to their menu. Available at lunchtime to go, or to stay, they only had chicken tikka rolls at the festival, but assured me that at the restaurant they also had vegetarian, lamb, and paneer. For $2, how could i not… Read more »

First Fiamma, Now Spice Fusion Follows Accolades With Price Hike

 

What is it with the trend of restaurants raising their prices after getting high praise from powerful reviewers!?!  Following in Fiamma’s footsteps (they raised their price fixe menu from $75 to $95 after a 3 star review from the New York Times), Spice Fusion on 8th Ave. btw. 47+48th has raised the price of their all you can eat buffet from $9.99 to $10.99 within months of receiving a glowing Midtown Lunch review and being declared Best Indian Buffet in the 2008 Midtown Lunch readers poll!

While incredibly disappointing, it’s not exactly surprising. I recently voiced my fear that Spice Fusion would follow in the footsteps of Curry Dream & Al Baraka (now Kanaat), two buffets who have both raised their prices from $9.99 to $10.99 since the new year

I have managed to resist going into an all out panic, despite reading how the cost of flour was sending pizza prices through the roof , and the article in Saturday’s New York Times about how all food stuffs have seen price increases over the past year.  But now that it is clearly having an effect on all you can eat buffets, I’m paying attention!  (You didn’t really think they raised prices because of Midtown Lunch, did you?)  

The real question is what kind of a world do we live in when you can’t stuff your face with unlimited amounts of food, for under $10. 

With the stroke of a pen, and the resulting blog coverage, Fiamma ended up reconsidering their price hike.  Will you not help us, Mr. Bruni? 

The Best of Midtown Lunch’ing as Voted on By You (Readers Poll Results)

While I was away in Chile, I turned the site over to you for the first ever Midtown Lunch Readers’ Poll.  All of the nominees had to have lunch for under $10 (except the buffet category, where a $1 exception was made), and they all had to be within the Midtown boundaries (32nd St. to the South, Central Park to the North, 3rd Ave on the East, and 8th Ave. to the West).  Thanks to everyone who participated.  Thousands of votes were cast, and here are the results:

Best Fast Food Indian: Kati Roll

Despite changing locations this year (Kati Roll is now on 39th btw. 5+6th), Indian burritos just barely beat out old steam table standby (and former neighbor) Minar, on 46th btw. 6+7th.  35% to 32%  Editor’s Pick: Man do I miss being 2 blocks away from Kati Roll.  It’s the unanimous winner.

Best Cheap Chinese Food: Hing Won

“Cheap” is code for fast food, take out Chinese, and while Szechuan Gourmet (on 39th btw. 5+6th) may possibly be the best Chinese food in Midtown- Hing Won/Hop Won wins the battle of the steam tables, easily beating out the competition.  Editor’s Pick:  No secret here.  Hing Won was my first Midtown Lunch post, and still remains my favorite Chinese food take out in Midtown.

Best burger, best street carts and a best pizza shocker, after the jump… Read more »

Spice Fusion Perfects the Under $10 Indian All You Can Eat Buffet

***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 »