#27 – GUJARATI THALI at BHOJAN

Once again Time Out New York released their Top 100 Dishes of the year and once again, I’m going to eat my way through every one. And no price point or subway delay will stop me. In no particular order, here’s my take on their Top 100.

SADLY, BHOJAN IS NOW CLOSED.

Gujarat is a region in India that is home to a surprising Jewish community. So that might explain why the new vegetarian restaurant Bhojan serves not just authentic Gujarati (and Punjabi) cuisines, but also ensures that it’s all kosher. Also because kosher New Yorkers are entitled to some delicious Indian food as well.

And the food here is quite delicious regardless of if you’re vegetarian or kosher (I’m neither). We came by for lunch on a Friday because Time Out says the list item is only available at lunch during the week.

Now I’m not sure if that’s exactly true. TONY lists the dish as Gujarati Thali, which is only listed on the dinner menu. They do offer a lunch thali special (that doesn’t specifically mention it being Gujarati) that matches the price of TONY’s list ($8) and is only available Monday-Friday at lunch. So I can only assume this is what we had to get. Do you see how much neuroses and meticulousness goes into this job?

The thali is basically a combination platter of different dishes – a smorgasboard, if you will. It was quite colorful with reds, yellows, whites, and greens. Along with the vegetable dishes, a small helping of chapati bread (similar to nan or paratha) and basmati rice were included to sop up all the flavors.

I guess the sampling changes daily, but we were blessed with a dish of green peas stewed in a creamy tomato sauce and featuring cubes of paneer cheese, an aromatic and rich okra dish, spiced curried potatoes with peppers and onions,  and a smoky spicy eggplant dish. But it doesn’t stop there. We were also given stewed lentils (daal), a portion of earthy chickpeas, a tangy yogurt sauce, a few chutneys, and an extra side of some floral yellow coconut cake, presumably for dessert.

The menu says these thalis are for one person and I would imagine that’s to protect the financial situation of the staff. But they are certainly big enough for two. We had so much food and it was all absolutely fresh and full of flavor. This might be the most bang for your buck in all of Manhattan, let alone in this Indian heavy neighborhood of Curry Hill.

We probably didn’t need to with the amount of food we had, but we also ordered two appetizers. Papdi Chaat was a wonderfully balanced concoction of crunchy dough (think those crunchy wontons at American-Chinese restaurants), curried potatoes, crisp bean sprouts, a sweet chutney, a spicy chutney, and plenty of cooling yogurt sauce. It’s a traditional Indian street snack that has been refined to sit-down restaurant fare. Fantastic.

The other was recommended by our waiter and I believe it’s called Gobi Karare. It was a cauliflower dish that resembled something you’d get at Chinese take-out. I like to call it General Tso’s Cauliflower. The florets were lightly fried until crunchy and mixed with a bright red sweet and spicy sauce. I’m not generally a fan of General Tso’s or cauliflower, but together prepared with the precision of Bhojan, this dish worked.

I highly recommend Bhojan for its healthy, flavorful, affordable Indian food. Whether you’re a vegetarian, you keep kosher, visiting from Gujarat, or just strolling down the street looking for a good meal, Bhojan is the place.

Would Bhojan’s Gujarati Thali make my Top 100 of the year? It gets a 9 out of 10 for the sheer bargain alone. But the fact that the food is both plentiful and outstanding makes the price point almost irrelevant.