My nephew culinary visit: day 7 / part 1: Indian food at The Masala Wala in NYC, New York

Talking with Valentin, I was not sure he ever had some good Indian food before. So I picked The Masala Wala: good food and reasonable prices, especially with their lunch special. I discovered this restaurant back in August and promised Jodi that we would go there to try some street food, as they serve some amazing dishes there.

We sat in the bright dining room dominated by the gold coin representing one of the owners, Satyen Mazumdar, and decorated with paintings representing street scenes in India.

We decided to share the different dishes we ordered and started off with the Dahi Puri, these little semolina puffs filled with spiced potatoes, chickpeas, tamarind, mint and yogurt. 

These one bite puffs are very good and extremely refreshing, thanks to the mint and yogurt.

Then we shared a vegetarian samosa and some veggie pakora that are sort of fritters.

The samosa was delicious, filled with spiced potatoes and peas that added a nice texture, on top of the crispiness of the shell. The pakora were good, slightly greasy, but crispy and kind of comforting.

Then we had one of my favorite Indian dishes: chicken tikka masala that Valentin ordered.

I love the color of the sauce and its creaminess. At that point, I did not really care about the chicken and could have eaten the sauce without it. It had a slight kick that was perfect.

Jodi ordered the Shahi paneer (pressed Indian cottage cheese cooked in a rich cashew-almond cream sauce). In fact, it is not on the menu, but as I mentioned that I tried it last time and could not find it on the menu, they proposed to make it especially for us: that was very nice!

And the three of us were so happy! They should definitely have this on the menu: although a bit spicy, the sauce was heavenly creamy with a smooth taste.

We ate these dishes with some white rice:

And some Naan bread (we picked the Naan basket, my favorite being the butter one):

On my side, I ordered the chicken tikka, cooked in the tandoor oven:

It was good, but I found the chicken a bit dry and did not like the rice that was served with it.

Valentin and I ordered a mango lassi, that is a meal in itself and was perfect to counteract the spiciness of the dishes. 

This was a delicious meal and The Masala Wala is a great place for some good Indian food!

Enjoy (I did)!


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And Remember: I Just Want To Eat!