Midtown Lunch

I haven’t been back to check out the Biryani House cart after eating both their biryani and kati rolls the first week they opened. They were both good, but I also had my eye on the chicken tikka masala and some of the seafood over rice options. I headed over to see if the chicken tikka was any good and if they’d changed their menu at all. Basically, I was just looking for an excuse to eat street meat.

The menu hasn’t really changed, although they now have color pictures of some of their wares plastered on the front of the cart. It was a thoroughly crappy and rainy day when I went, but there were still people waiting in line for food, which I took as a good sign that people are liking this cart.

I ordered the chicken tikka ($5.50) and waited while it was cooked. I was happy to see some mango pickle going on, as well as some mystery green sauce and a shake from a seasoning container. I asked for some hot sauce, but only got a little squirt over the top, sadly. The rest of the container was lettuce salad (with Italian dressing, whether you like it or not) and some griddled vegetables that were pretty tasty.

The chicken was a nice change from the usual street meat version. It was bright red and had some kick to it. I could have used a little more sauce (or grease!) of some kind because the rice underneath was kind of dry, but I can’t complain too much. It’s not exactly the style that you find in most Americanized Indian versions of this dish, but I’m totally OK with that. It’s more like the spicing you would find on tandoori chicken. And while I would go for the kati rolls over this, I found it good and perhaps a little better than the biryani I had when they first opened.

Biryani House Cart, Liberty St. (at Broadway)