Midtown Lunch

You all have embraced the Biryani House Cart‘s kati rolls, biryani and chicken tikka as much as I have and for a while now they’ve had a second cart on William St. (btw. John & Maiden Lane) selling the same items as the original on Liberty St. Nothing makes me happier than seeing carts like this branch out, but the other day I realized I’d never tried the meat and potatoes at these two carts: The lamb/chicken over rice. I’ve seen people order it all the time and was curious how they spiced the chicken, or if they did anything different since they sell more than lamb, chicken and falafel.

I think you’ll be happy to see what I discovered.

The lamb/chicken over rice ($5.50) was ordered only after I asked about the signs for biryani that have popped up at both carts. I was given a sample plate of the chicken version and after confirming it was the same biryani they’d been serving, I ordered my street meat combo. I think the guy thought I didn’t like his biryani.

After the white and hot sauces were applied, there was some sprinkling of something from a metal container, a dollop of chutney from another container, and a shake from yet another container before the lid was closed. I wondered what all these mystery additions were.

The sprinkling from the metal container was key, because it was crunchy fried onion and it took this plate of street meat to another level. The other thing that was great about this was the chicken. It was the same reddish, marinated kind used in the plate of chicken tikka and it was really moist. The lamb was nothing special – your usual chopped up gyro meat – although I will say it was nicely crisped on the griddle.

If I went back for the regular part of their menu (they also have chicken teriyaki, which I’m a little afraid to try) I’d get straight chicken over rice and ask for an extra sprinkle of those fried onions.

Biryani House/Armaan Kebab cart, on William btw. Maiden Lane & John