Shafiq’s Halal Adds Dosa To Menu, Has Decent Chicken Tikka

Sometimes the best of lunch plans go awry against your will. How can that happen? Well, take my lunch at Shafiq’s Halal cart on Broadway & Liberty where I went last week to check out the dosa that popped up on their menu. When I got there super early at 11:30 a.m. I was told they had dosa, but after waiting for 10 minutes, was then told that no, they were out. I don’t have unlimited time for lunch, so it was time for plan B which involved ordering the cart’s chicken tikka.

The chicken tikka ($5.50) is part of the Indian/Pakistani side of the menu. I had OK luck with the chicken biryani and kati rolls and while I was disappointed in not getting my hands on a rare dosa (even rarer at a cart downtown), I was encouraged by the amount of time it took to cook my chicken tikka.

The chicken tikka comes with a side salad of shredded iceberg lettuce, slices of pickle and tomato which is skippable, and is paired with rice studded with pieces of green bean and carrot. You get a sprinkle of cilantro and pickled red onion atop the generous serving of chopped-up dark meat chicken that’s been marinated in a nice mix of spices that isn’t overwhelming but definitely present. I also go a mix of white and hot sauces which did a nice job of adding heat and cold to the other flavors. My only complaint was that a lot of the pieces of meat were large and hard to cut up with only a plastic fork.

Don’t worry, I will be heading back to Shafiq’s to try the dosa. Until then, the chicken tikka is solid, but maybe not as great as the version sold across the plaza at Biryani House.

Shafiq’s Halal Cart, Broadway & Liberty St.

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