Midtown Lunch

The growing cluster of biryani and kati roll carts at Broadway & Liberty was the only mobile source of these items until Biryani House launched a second location on William St. That left those of you in the other parts of the Financial District at a loss or at least stuck with regular chicken or lamb over rice options. Indian Biryani Delights perhaps sensed a need for some spiced meats in one of these holes and opened a month or so ago on Water St. btw. Maiden & Pine right next to the A-Pou’s Taste cart. Judging by the line and speed of service from the two young guys working the cart, you Luncher’s have been keeping them busy. It turns out that they’re serving some top notch Indian-spiced street meat and rice.

The chicken tikka ($5.50) comes with pulao rice and salad like the standard street meat plate. It gets a drizzle of some sort of chutney-looking sauce (an actual mango chutney goes on the biryani), which I couldn’t really taste but involved a fair amount of cilantro.

There was a lot of meat going on here and it was super tender although not as well-flavored as you’d think by its reddish hue. My closest comparison would be with the version from Biryani House cart which I remember being more flavorful more on the dry side, and with inferior rice.

So often the rice at carts is dry or too oily, but the version at Indian Biryani Delights was spot on. It was well flavored and was cooked with just enough oil added to not reach overload when coupled with the meat juices and white sauce. I’d asked for hot sauce, but unfortunately couldn’t taste it.

Based on this preliminary taste test, I’m looking forward to trying other items from here like the biryani and kati and pune rolls. If anyone’s tried other dishes from this cart, let us know in the comments what’s worth trying!

Indian Biryani Delights Cart, on Water St. btw. Maiden Lane & Pine.