Filed under Indian + South Asian, Queens
The Hindu Temple Society of North America
45-57 Bowne Street, Flushing, Queens
718/460.8493
$8 to $10 per dish
♥ ♥ ♥
I’ll second Anthony Bourdain for this review: vegetarian food doesn’t have to suck. When Scott was visiting from Dubai, I thought of the Ganesh Hindu Temple canteen as our lunch spot because of his new dietary needs. He’s not vegetarian per se because he likes his sushi and won’t turn down a juicy hamburger if it was offered to him–in other words, he’s my kind of vegetarian.
From the Main Street stop off the 7 train, we walked and walked in the rain until we reached Bowne Street. Worshippers were taking off their shoes before entering the basement, so we did the same thing until we realized that people who were only there for the food kept their shoes on. We joined the long queue and waited for our turn to order several dishes that we ended up sharing for lunch. We staked out other groups who were finishing up to get a table and seats.
The rava dosa, a crepe-like Indian pancake from South India, was delicious and light. The hyderabadi green chili curry seasoned with sweet tamarind and yogurt was my favorite because of its tanginess and acidity. The red chili masala is a little spicier but nothing freshly baked nan could not control. The paneer butter masala is my usual order at Indian restaurants so I was glad to try it here. We all loved the condiments that came in different shades of browns, reds and oranges spiked with the whiteness of thin yogurt on the side. The combination of cardamom, ginger, garlic and lemon was a nice sensation in our mouths and gave us strength to walk the long way back to the train.
Related post/s:
Ganesh Hindu Temple food photos
Kasturi has the same caliber of food, but closer to home
Filed under Indian + South Asian, Union Square + Murray Hill
83 Lexington Avenue between 26th and 27th Streets
212/679.7993
$7 for one dish
♥ ♥
Let’s go there, I said as I pulled the Dr. towards the street crossing. Among the many restaurants in Curry Hill, the South Asian restaurant row in the Gramercy Park area, Kasturi is the only one without the frills. No string of chili lights here or sari-style tablecloths, just straight-up Bangladeshi food. You walk down a few steps and sit under really bright fluorescent lights with the taxi cab drivers on break.
The food is as bright as the lights, and before Kasturi, I never had anything like it. The dishes we tried all had a lemony taste and the saucy stews weren’t thick nor heavy. We couldn’t have enough of the anchovy stew, an interesting mix of ceviche taste with broth from a long-simmered stew. A tamer plate of zucchini and chickpeas smothered with bay and curry leaves was equally good, if not better with pickled hot peppers. We mopped everything else with warm nan. The neon yellow rice tasted better than it looked and a bowl of it proved just right for two Asians after a night out of drinking in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
We didn’t know what kind of food Kasturi served when we walked in and only realized it was Bangladeshi when we saw that the TV was fixed on ATN Bangla. There were plenty of phone card commercials and the diners next to me smiled when I correctly interpreted a commercial with an actor scratching his palms as someone who was expecting some money. They were eating the same dishes and watching them made me think of home: they were using their hands.
Kasturi is one of the reasons why I love New York City. Even after almost sixteen years of calling it home, I still discover new places, new foods and new cultures.
Related post/s:
Down the block is Kalustyan’s where you can buy all your Asian spices
Next door is Saravanaa Bhavan; more families and less cab drivers
