On a sunny 55 degree afternoon, I found myself in front of Pongal, located on 110 Lexington Avenue, as I walked in, I felt like I have just left New York and entered India. The first thing I noticed was the dim lighting. What was supposed to be 12:30pm looked as though it was 8pm inside.
The waiter presented the menus, which offered more than 100 items, I sat in silence scanning the confusingly capacious list of vegetarian selections. Thankfully, aside from the original menu, was the lunch special menu, consisting of 4 choices. He explained that the thalis offer different small tasting. I didn’t hesitate and ordered the Madras thali. ($7.95)
There was no doubt, the decorator pulled out all the strings to make it look as authentic as possible. There were a few artful figurines and paintings hung equally apart from each other up on the wall, red cushions laid on top of the benches on both side of the restaurant, Indian music played in the background which had a smooth settling beat that was pleasing to the ear, and steel cup as drinking utensil.
My eyes widened in shock when the food came. The thali came with a wide selection of different dishes served in 7 small steel bowls on a round tray, 3 condiments, 2 petite vegetarian curries, and 2 different styles of basmathi rice. In the center was a round puffed bread, not nann, (sadly) but poori and papad, a thin, crisp cracker disc.
I started with the papad which had a delicate crunch to it. I dipped the poori into 3 different sauces, one consists of a tomato base, which was pretty watered down, and had neither depth nor flavor to it. The other sauce, a lighter shade of red was even worse, it tasted like tamarind juice: watery, acidic, and a bit spicy. The yogurt, a very common condiment in Indian cuisine sat there waiting for me to use, but it didn’t taste any better dipping the bread into it, it tasted like a cool creamy cucumber yogurt. This was the part where I wish I had some spicy tandoori chicken to go with it. The curry tasted exceptional.
The best part of the meal was the basmathi rice, it came plain and another with sautéed onions with spinach, cooked in a rich broth which gave the rice its yellow color. The way they made it with the special blend of spices gave it a tantalizing aroma and a delicious taste. In 3 spoonfuls, it was gone.
For dessert, I ordered the gulab jamun, ($4.45) a popular dessert in Southern Asia. It was 2 pieces of fried dough, similar to the size of a munchkin you find at Dunkin Donuts, covered in sugary syrup. The top maintained a crunchy exterior but mid way down, the dough was just mushy from soaking too long in the syrup. It had a hint of sweeten condense milk flavor to it and a rose-like aroma but it was just too sweet for my taste. I rather walk down an avenue for a glazed doughnut from Dunkin.
Ugh
I wish you had better Indian food!