New York City’s Indikitch is planting a flag on its claim to fast-casual Indian food.
The fast-casual dining craze is in full swing, with restaurants of nearly every cuisine popping up.
But Indian food, despite being absolutely delicious, makes up only a sliver of “ethnic food sales” according to The Washington Post.
Enter Indikitch, the Manhattan-based Indian eatery that’s causing quite a stir.
Based on the fast-casual service model similar to Chipotle, their first location in Flatiron opened in January 2014, and Indikitch expanded to a midtown Manhattan location in May.
The restaurant prides itself on its all-natural, GMO-free ingredients and scratch kitchen where the food is made in front of the customer.
Having experienced – and loved – authentic Indian cooking my whole childhood at my best friend’s house, I decided to give Indikitch a try and see if this fast casual experiment can bring aromatic Indian cuisine to the masses.

The line was pretty long but I got to the counter extremely quickly. There are four main choices for the meal: Feast, which is essentially a platter with meat, rice, and a side, the Biryani rice bowl, Dosa (which are kind of like Indian tacos), or a salad.

The entire ordering experience was incredibly quick, lasting maybe 5 minutes from start to finish.

I ordered the Biryani saffron rice bowl with chicken tikka, topped with crispy onion fritters, which came with a pineapple sauce and a peanut mirchi dressing. The bowl was just under $10 — not a bad price for the amount given.

A nice little finishing touch — they use flags to differentiate the orders. You can choose from chicken, pork vindaloo, goan fish, marinated Paneer cheese, mushrooms, or spinach and cheese.

For a drink, I chose the über refreshing blood-orange lemonade, which you have to mix up before drinking to stir up the mint and ginger settled at the bottom. It costs a tad over $3, but you can also get a soda, water, or beer.

I also ordered samosa on the side for $3.50. These deliciously flaky, crispy, deep-fried pastries are filled with potato, peas, and spices.

They packed a surprising spicy heat, which was tempered by the dipping sauces.

My favorite for the samosas was the cool mint and coriander chutney.

My saffron rice bowl was huge, aromatic, and despite being “mild,” was pretty spicy. Not too much to handle, though! And the peanut dressing was perfect with it. I was completely full at the end.

The sign says “Fortune favors the bold,” and with enormous portions, fair prices, and impressively aromatic food fast, fortune may favor Indikitch too.

By Business Insider