Midtown Lunch

One of my predecessors tried to eat at Taste of Tandoor on Church St. (btw. Warren & Chambers) back in 2009 and it did not go well. There were some words exchanged, and to make a short story even shorter, it ended with a review of Pakistan Tea House instead. Well, yesterday I was in need of a hearty lunch and decided to give T of T another shot to see if it was any better or worse than Bangal Curry or any of the other steam table Indian places in the lower part of Tribeca.

The price structure isn’t exactly clear from the signs on the wall, so it’s probably best to ask how much things cost before ordering. I went with the one meat, two vegetable dish combo ($9.75) which comes with rice or naan and a tiny little salad. If you want a lamb dish you’re going to pay more than chicken which makes sense since one is more expensive than the other. And if you get the three vegetable combo it’s cheaper yet.

The day I visited poultry dishes included a curry, makhani and something just called “extra spicy chicken.” I went with korma which was chicken meatballs and whole eggs in a bright yellow curry sauce that wasn’t spicy. There were a bunch of vegetable dishes, and I went with one called spicy mixed vegetables and some sweet potatoes which you don’t often see on the steam tables at these places. My naan was cooked to order and took a few minutes so if you’re in a rush you might want to go with the rice.

Everything is put in the same container (including rice if you opt for that) which wasn’t a deal breaker for me, but if you hate that sort of intermingling, you might want to eat in where they put your food on a plate with dividers.

I really liked all of the dishes I got, but the chicken korma stood out. There were all kinds of herbs going on in there and because of the sauce/steam table they weren’t dry at all. The spicy vegetables involved mostly cabbage, bell peppers and zucchini and did indeed pack some heat.The sweet potatoes were good too although the flavor kind of blended together with everything else since it was all in the same container.

The only fail of my lunch was the naan. While I appreciated the bread being cooked to order, it was super doughy. I’d say stick to the rice which they put at the bottom of the container to soak up the juices of whatever you choose to have piled on top of it.

I liked the food I got from Taste of Tandoor although I don’t know that I would pay nearly $10 for the meat combo again. This is maybe one of those cases where going vegetarian is best.

Taste of Tandoor, 149 Church St. (btw. Warren & Chambers), (212) 619-1200