Been awhile since I've done a restaurant review, but feel inspired today to write one of a restaurant we have been to a couple of times in the Murray Hill area.
Indo Munch [1] on Lexington near 31st St.
182,Lexington Avenue,
NY, NY - 10016
Ph:212-545-0010, 212-545-0017
Took me awhile to try the new fusion Indian/Chinese cuisine that hit Lexington last year. First stuff I tried was some ready made Indian/Chinese food I bought from a company in India that sells in bulk those packaged prepared Indian food. Good stuff, but not speectacular. Hadn't tried any restaurants until recently. But we started trying a couple of places in the last few months and have quite liked it. The mixing of Chinese and Indian flavors works very nicely, though often individual dishes will lean quite a bit towards one or the other cuisine. Many dishes are served either "dry" or in "gravy." I think the dry is slightly better, but both are good.
Here is a sampling of what we have tried:
Salt and Pepper Paneer appetizer: Indian cheese (Paneer) with a slightly crunchy outside, tossed in fresh ginger, garlic and onions. I am not a huge paneer fan, but this was surprisingly good both in flavor and texture. Just a touch of those very spicy green chilies used in some Asian cuisines to give it a slight kick, and the ginger and garlic really blend well and flavor the paneer. Just right in saltiness as well.
Vegetable Ball Manchurian: Balls made of baby corn, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, peas, mushrooms, peppers and string beans in onion ginger garlic & cilantro sauce. Surprisingly good. I was suspicious at first, but curious. The corn is the strongest flavor by a little. Very pleasant and wholesome tasting.
Szechuan Lamb: Twice cooked crispy meat tossed with red and green chilies. Very nice, though the lamb is not quite as crispy as some places I have had a similar dish and the meat is slightly tough. But the flavor is great. A nice mix of flavors. It is interesting how I can't generally think of lamb dishes in Chinese cuisine, so it is the lamb dishes that most strike me as a mixture of the two cuisines.
Chili Chicken: Stir fried boneless chicken in fiery curry or tossed dry. We ordered dry but it wasn't all that "dry." Not sure if they gave us the wrong version or not, but it was really good. Not fiery at all, but with a couple of different peppers. Most would consider it spicy, but Joy and I found it pretty mild. Perhaps the most Chinese of the dishes I have had here.
Szechuan Fried Rice with Chicken and Vegetables: a little disappointing, but not bad. Almost seemed to me like it was something thrown together just to have some kind of fried rice dish with a little bit of a kick. Might order it again, but probably was our least favorite dish here.
Indo Munch is child friendly mainly because they are willing to make something a little extra. My son for some reason orders an egg there, scrambled. They just shrug and make it for him. He'll eat an egg with plain rice. Which is better than many restaurants we go to.
For dessert we have tried two items. Kulfi is a frozen milk dessert, denser than ice cream and slower to melt. We ordered it twice and each time got a different flavor. The first time it seemed more coconut based and was quite good...we all loved it and Jacob specifically wanted it again. The second time it was more of a pistachio flavor and was even better. We also tried Crispy Date Cake with Ice Cream. Like small fried wontons with a date filling served witha very nice ice cream. Just a touch too greasy, but otherwise wonderful and the ice cream helped cut that greasiness.
You can order online from Indo Munch through their website [2].
Chinese Mirsh [3] is the other Indian Chinese we tried. Only tried it once and would like to go back before I review it. Struck me as higher quality in some ways than Indo Munch, but somehow we have enjoyed Indo Munch more. Perhaps it is just a bit more relaxed. The crispy szechuan lamb at Chinese Mirsh was quite memorable and I want to go back to try that dish again in particular. Quite crispy and satisfying.
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