Midtown Lunch

The scene of the disappearance.

In the last couple of weeks, the number of street meat carts on William St. between Maiden Lane and John St. has been reduced to one instead of three. It’s always hard to tell where these carts have gone since they don’t use Twitter, but Biryani House and NY Express Biryani, which used to sit across the street from each other have been MIA, although Biryani House’s original cart is still a couple of blocks away at Liberty St. and Broadway.  Read more »

There is no limit to the love for a good plate of biryani from a cart, apparently, as several new carts have popped up all over the Financial District lately. One of the latest, NY Express Biryani, made the ballsy move to set up shop right across the street from the Biryani House Cart on William St. (at John). As the weeks went by, I saw the line grow at NY Express and decided it was time to check it out. The menu is fairly broad, including kati rolls, biryani, the usual meats over rice and falafel, and because I’m indecisive I opted to start with the dish the cart is named after.

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Many people wanting lunch from a cart tend to gravitate toward the collection on Broadway between Liberty and Cedar streets, but some more interesting options can be found a few blocks away on William St. The stretch between Maiden Lane and John St. is home to a smoothie cart, fruit seller along with a Biryani House cart and Halal Gyro Express which serve an interesting mix of street meat, falafel, biryani, kati rolls and some Afghani dishes. A while ago a new cart called NY Express Biryani started parking right across William St. from Biryani House serving some of the same dishes including kati rolls, biryani and chicken tikka. It wasn’t until yesterday that I walked by, though, and noticed a substantial lunchtime line outside NY Express Biryani so I thought I should finally post about its presence. Have any of you eaten there? Is the food worth crossing the street for?

NY Express Biryani Cart, corner of William & John streets