Madras Mahal
104 Lexington Avenue between 27/28th Streets
New York, NY 10016
(212) 684-4010
Subway: 6 to 28th Street
Bus: M1/102/103 to 28th Street


One Friday evening, a friend and I were Google chatting as to where to eat. We were focused on Asian food, but more importantly, we had restaurant parameters guiding us: inexpensive, BYO wine and not too far in any one direction. Our search landed us at Madras Mahal, a (practically) indistinguishable, vegetarian/Kosher joint on the Curry Hill stretch.

We entered a dimly-lit, comfortably-small and almost-empty room and were seated immediately in a booth. While we examined the menu, the waiters hovered and paced between the back and front of the room, stopping to pour water, open wine bottles and give us glasses.

Our first dish, samosa chaat, which is two samosas split in half and covered in a spicy yogurt sauce, was served cold and came out quickly. To our surprise, Madras Mahal began on a great note... the chaat was absolutely delicious with the perfect level of spice.

We took a bread recommendation from our waiter who suggested alu paratha, a flaky bread stuffed with a thin layer of potato, which came with raita and chutney. We couldn’t stop taking triangles of this wonderful suggestion, which I would’ve liked to eat with our curries, but came out beforehand.

I love palak paneer (also called saag paneer), which is a spinach curry with cheese, and this one, heavy on the paneer and spinach, was quite good. The vegetable korma was less successful. Korma is my favorite curry, and I’ve yet to figure out the exact ingredients, as it seems everyone has a different recipe (I’ve asked friends, parents of friends and many a cab driver), but the general consensus is that it includes cream, tomato and ground nuts. I think Madras Mahal’s korma was too tomatoey which took over the entire dish.

We also chose the Madras thali (combination dinners) to get a sampling of the restaurant’s other offerings; iddly (a lentil/rice cake), vadai (a lentil donut), a mini utthappam (a pancake of rice/lentil with mixed vegetables) and the mini masala dosai (a crepe stuffed with potato and onion) were all served on a round silver tray. I’m not that thrilled by utthappam in general, and this was no different. The dosai (also spelled dosa) was large considering it was supposed to be “mini”; otherwise it was unremarkable.

As we were finishing our meal, a couple Indian friends met up and joined us. Although not really hungry, we raved about the samosa chaat, so they ordered one for themselves, and it was quickly devoured. They also chose the dahi vada, lentil balls served cold in a spicy-sweet yogurt sauce. I had a bite, and the combination of flavors was amazing. I think this may be my new favorite snack food.

The service was friendly enough (although after our friends arrived, they made it abundantly clear that they wanted us to leave), the food was pretty good and the bill came to $24 per person with tax and tip. Is it the best vegetarian Indian food I've ever had? Maybe not (Dimple on 30th and Saravanaas on the next block are both excellent). But considering I’ve already thought of an instance where I can return to Madras Mahal, I think it's worth keeping in the rotation.

Genji Sushi
424A East 14th Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A (East Village/Stuyvesant Town)
New York, NY 10009
(212) 388-1127
Train: 4/5/6 to 14th Street/Union Square; L to 1st Avenue
Bus: M14 to 1st Ave or Avenue A


I only started eating sushi in college, but since my first foray with yellowtail & scallion rolls and nigiri maguro (tuna), I have branched out considerably. I usually only eat sushi with a few people (my mom, sister#3) because I’m very particular, and I really prefer omakase (literally translating to "entrust"), sitting at the sushi bar allowing the chef to serve you with the freshest fish in the order he believes best.

That said, I've been craving sushi, but recently I've been dining with friends who seem fond of all food types, but with whom I’ve never eaten sushi. Interestingly enough, rarely does anyone seem like me when it comes to sushi. I did some research since I chose the restaurant, and I found a small article in New York magazine's food blog "Grub Street" that seemed like the perfect spot.

The neon sign outside screamed cheezy, but the cozy interior, with about 6 tables in the restaurant, and 3 seats at the sushi bar, was welcoming and not cramped nor crowded. The adorable hostess sat us immediately; fortunately, I had made a reservation since there were a number of patrons waiting to dine.

On my first visit, we were waiting for a friend to arrive, so we ordered edamame. Service was kind, but inefficient, and tables were passed over and forgotten, particularly ours. When our delayed friend finally did arrive, it took over an hour for our water and green tea to be served, our bottle of wine to be opened (oh, did I mention Genji is BYO? Very appealing... but after what felt like hours - ok, minutes - of waiting, I finally asked the waitress for her corkscrew and opened the bottle myself), for glasses for the wine to arrive and for our order to be taken. The edamame certainly didn't hold us over, nor was it that remarkable.

When we finally did order, we began with the sea urchin (uni) tempura, which surprised me because the sea urchin was still relatively raw (which most restaurants cannot get right) while the tempura was crispy, a bit heavy, and not greasy, but the ratio of batter to sea urchin was disproportionate, and the sea urchin flavor was lost in the mess of batter. Next we received the Mountain Fuji, a cucumber roll, topped with a heaping dollop of spicy tuna sprinkled with tempura crunchies, which was the perfect appetizer to share. This was followed by a piece of nigiri salmon toro (belly), which was delightful and fresh.

We waited for our next course to be served; in the meantime, the table next to ours was seated, served multiple courses and finished before we even saw our entrees. The restaurant did recognize this and apologized, and we were served a complimentary appetizer (the same Mountain Fuji that we had just finished), but it just left us hungrier for the rest of our food.

My three dining companions shared a number of Genji’s special rolls, including the Genji Roll, a shrimp tempura roll, the Special Roll, as well as a yellowtail-jalapeno roll. I ordered a la carte sashimi of ama ebi (sweet shrimp), baby yellowtail, striped bass, scallop and uni (sea urchin) as well as a spicy tuna roll. Everything we ordered was quite good; the rolls were less imaginative than you’d hope for “special” rolls. Service, despite the diminutive size of the restaurant, continued to be terribly slow; we had to ask for tea and water multiple times before receiving any.

This feeling was just enforced on my second visit with two friends, where I tried the dish similar to the Mountain Fuji, but with spicy real crabmeat on an avocado roll. However, my spicy crabmeat, which was sparse, unlike its spicy tuna counterpart, was served over a cucumber roll by mistake. I didn't point it out because I didn't want to wait another hour to eat. The a la carte fish was of the same freshness, although salmon toro was not available on this visit.

Although displeased with the service, we certainly were not displeased with the bill. With tip and tax, the total on each visit were both around $25 per person. Of course, being BYO helped. Next time I'll just be sure to invite a friend who I haven't caught up with for a long while.