Midtown Lunch

There’s a strange complex of restaurants on Fulton Street that I’ve never ventured into, including a subterranean Thai place, a Chinese restaurant, a Russian bath and restaurant, and Tandoor Palace. I had my eye on the goat biryani at Tandoor, but I was feeling a little under the weather the day I went and instead went for one of the the steam table combos so I could get in and out a little quicker without sneezing on anyone. The ordering process is slightly confusing, and the workers kept slightly yelling at me asking what I wanted (My predecessor Kevin had a similar experience at Bangal Curry on Church St.), but I finally made a decision and yelled my order right back. See where all the yelling took place, after the jump. 

It’s not immediately obvious when you walk in, but there is a somewhat large and nice seating area through a doorway on the opposite wall from where you order the food. One nice touch is that they have pitchers of water sitting on every table and automatically give you a glass with your food. So, if you’re a cheapskate like me, you can get refreshed for free.

I’m not sure why, but I was wanting something with a little funk in it, so I went with the lamb curry and the saag alu with naan instead of rice. That came to $6.95, but there were other combo options for two vegetarian dishes ($7.95), two meats ($8.95), etc. Or you could order something a little more specific off the actual menu. The most expensive items are two involving shrimp that are just out of Midtown Lunch range at $10.95.

Indian food definitely is not photogenic, but looks aren’t always everything. I tackled the lamb first, and it was definitely… lamby. And they weren’t messing around with any vegetables either, it was simply lamb and its deeply flavored sauce. It was pretty standard, as in nothing amazing, but nothing bad either. I appreciated that it wasn’t extremely greasy as things involving lamb tend to be.

I actually liked the saag alu better for flavor reasons. It just had more spices and texture going for it and was also much easier to wipe up with the naan.

The naan was kind of great, in the way that bread slicked with melted butter always is. It was also a pretty large piece that outsized the paper plate it came on.

If you like spicy food (which I normally do), then you may want to order something off the menu and specify you want it hot, as the steam table stuff seemed to be purposely bland for the masses. They seemed to do a steady business while I was there, and I would say the amount of food was fair for the amount I paid for it. If you are a hearty eater I would recommend getting both rice and naan, or a third option from the steam table.

If I worked in the area, this would be a  solid Indian food go-to, but I likely won’t be back until my hankering for some goat biryani returns.

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

• It is solid Indian with plenty of options.
• Water pitchers on the tables are a cheap lunch’ers bonus.
• The seating area doesn’t make me feel like I’m eating in a bus depot.
• The naan is butter-slicked and huge.

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

• I already have a go-to Indian spot, and I don’t have to walk up stairs to get to it.
• What’s with all the yelling? I just want some food.
• They go easy on the spices for a place that says to follow the spice route to get there.
• I would rather check out the Russian bath next door.

Tandoor Palace, 88 Fulton St. (btw. William & Gold), 212-349-7643