Restaurant Review: Hyderabadi Biryani & Chat

Details: Located at 44-27 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, NY 11355. Official site is http://www.biryaniandchat.com/

The first time I came to this play was around when they first opened. I came by to try their food mostly out of convenience because I was in the neighborhood. It was a dingy looking place. No decorations or anything. Just some tables and chairs and a guy behind the counter. It didn’t look like anyone had even tried the restaurant yet because it was empty and the cashier looked that bored. I ordered some samosas and paid with a twenty dollar bill. The cashier took my money and instead of paying from the register, he reached underneath the cash tray and gave me a taped up ten dollar that was ripped in half. Naively, I took the ten with the knowledge that banks take damaged legal tender. I went to the bank to deposit the ten and the bank teller told me the ten was fake. She was right. I looked at the ten with a little more scrutiny and could see the printer ink washing off the paper. I was really mad. This cashier went out of his way to give me fake money. I decided then and there never to return to this shit-hole of a restaurant ever again.

That was many years ago. Since then, I’ve had friends tell me that this place is okay. In fact, there was an Eater review that gave the place four stars out of five (here’s the link: http://ny.eater.com/2015/10/6/9462351/hyderabadi-biryani-chat-restaurant-review). In light of these developments, I decided to give the place another try.

The first thing I noticed walking in was that the place is a lot warmer. They added some decoration. Most importantly, that shitty cashier was nowhere to be found. Instead, a warm, nicer old lady took my order. Actually, she was likely the proprietor or owner of the place now that I think about it.

Anyways, the food is displayed like at Chipotle and you can pick what you want. The food here is stuff you often find at other Indian restaurants around New York City, like chicken tikka, curries, samosas, and naan. Outside the restaurant, a sign advertised their combos which priced at almost ten dollars, so I decided to get that. I ordered the boneless chicken combo, which was chicken tikka masal over rice with a side and naan bread. I also got some samosas which for four for three dollars.

The food was good, especially at this price point. I think this kind of Indian food is similar to how Chinese takeout is to authentic Chinese food in that there is some resemblance, but it’s significantly altered for a Western palate. I was mostly glad that the cashier who gave me fake money was nowhere to be found and that the lady who took my order was nice.

Overall, I’d recommend this place. A lot’s changed since I was last here and it’s changed for the better.

Score: 5.7/10

Restaurant Review: The Kati Roll Company

Details: Located at 49 West 39th St., New York, NY 10018. Official site is https://www.thekatirollcompany.com/

Came here during the lunch rush on a weekday. Like most lunch places around this time, this place was packed.

What they sell here is Indian spiced meats or vegetables, wrapped in Indian flat bread or roti. I ordered the chicken tikka roll and the beef tikka roll. It was okay. Somewhat spicy. If your expecting it to be kind of creamy like chicken tikka marsala, this isn’t that. It’s spiced with a more liquid, spicy green sauce. The roll itself isn’t too large, but I think it’s priced appropriately at around five dollars for a place in midtown.

The interior is actually nicer than I thought so you can sit in the restaurant if you want. It’s kind of small though. No waiters or anything so you have to pick up your food from the counter.

They also sell a couple kinds of lassi that looks like something they packaged themselves.

Score: 5.6/10 Okay, but I’m probably never going to eat here again.

Restaurant Review: Indikitch

Details: Located at  940 8th Ave, New York, NY 10019, among other locations. Official site is http://indikitch.com/

I don’t normally write a review for fast food or fast-casual food, but I tried Indikitch the other day and felt compelled to do so.

Indikitch is essentially fast-casual Indian food served in the same format as Chipotle, that is assembly line style and very quickly. It’s Chipotle, but with Indian food instead of Mexican.

A new one opened in Midtown and I decided to visit for lunch. The space is very large, clean, and modern. Prices are around ten dollars for a meal.

In regards to how you order, its pretty much like Chipotle. Here’s the link of the menu for convenience: http://indikitch.com/menu.html. First you pick a meal. Personally, I prefer the feast in that you get some veggies and lentils along with nan. Next you pick a meat or if you don’t like meat, then you can pick a veggie or cheese based main ingredient. They all come with rice, too.

One main difference with Chipotle is that while the meat is prepared before hand (like Chipotle), they actually cook it with some sauce on the spot with every order. Some people might appreciate this, some might not, but it’s noteworthy.

As for taste, the food is pretty good. It’s not as good as a sit down Indian restaurant, but its still not bad for something prepared so quickly.

The main reason why I needed to write a review is because Indikitch filled a need sorely missing in this city. That is, we need more food of similar quality and speed as Chipotle, but we need it to taste different.

A while back, I (and I imagine a lot of people) ate Chipotle for a prolonged period of time. I worked in the city and Chipotle was fast and tasted all right. But you can only eat the same thing so many times and after a while, I no longer had any desire to eat there. Ever. And really, I didn’t eat at Chipotle all those times because I loved the taste. Chipotle was just so easy. And relatively cheap. And the quality was far better than McDonald’s or any other fast food chain. But what I really wanted was a greater variety of food, maybe from a different region, with the same relative price, speed, and quality Chipotle delivered. As a wise man once said, “man cannot live on bread alone…,” or burrito bowls.

Luckily for me, Indikitch fulfilled that desire. To a greater extent, Indikitch stands at the forefront of a potentially profitable trend that may be descending upon the city. For example, Korilla, the well-known Korean-Mexian fusion food truck, has opened a brick and mortar location near St. Mark’s. Like Indikitch, they serve Korean food in the Chipotle format.

It is my hope that both Indikitch, Korilla, and any other similar restaurants using the Chipotle method find great success in their endeavors. I envision a day where there aren’t only Indian and Korean foods represented in this format. I want Thai food, Japanese food, Italian, French, English, and every other country represented in this convenient way. Perhaps one day, they will even open a food court where all these competing restaurants work together to provide a truly multicultural and convenient place for a person to eat lunch during the work day while preserving their piggy banks. A true United Nations of fast-casual food.

In conclusion, Indikitch is great. Go try it out. Go try Korilla at their brick and mortar location. Stop eating Chipotle, or at least eat less of it. And prepare yourself for the oncoming onslaught of convenience, speed, and quality, in a multicultural variety of flavors.

Score: 7/10