Baluchi's Indian on 5th Ave opening this week!!!!

Subject: Baluchis review

Baluchis on Saturday night was fine. But worth the extra money over Kinara. All four of us thought not. Probably a better place to sit in that Kinara, I am guessing, but we got delivery. The Chana Saag was better than Kinara, less spicy. The Chicken Makhani was not as good, the Malai Kofta was not as good, the Veggie Jalfrazie was equal. Overall, less spicy than Kinara, which was good for 2 of the four palates. Dinner plus app was $15 each, and Kinara doe sit for $13 I think....

Yes, cilantro is authentic. My friends from Mumbai are up there, caste/class wise, and they cook with it all the time.

Subject: Re: Cilantro

[quote="camaysar"]As a youth, I grooved through the Indian subcontinent for 2 years, on the "Hippie Trail" in the late 60's. I cannot recall ever tasting cilantro in any Indian food there, unless it was used very sparingly, unlike the food here in the US, which shouts "CILANTRO!!" (Granted, I ate pretty cheaply back then. /quote]

Perhaps you were grooving out too hard with other herbs to recognize cilantro?

Ground cilantro/coriander is used in many masalas and the leaves are often chopped up small and in recognizable leaf form.

I don't mean to derail, but about this cilantro... is that what the Palo Santo people put in everything making my mouth taste funny for hours? I know some people hate it or have an allergy to it; that's not me, but I do think a little goes a long way - sometimes too far.

I usually refrain from reviewing a restaurant until it has had a few weeks to shake out the rust, but I had to post in response to Filmlover's comment that this place "is MUCH better than Kinara."

I had takeout on Saturday too. I live just a couple of blocks away and it came within 25 minutes. I ordered Samosas, Chicken Tikka Masala and Saag Panir. It came with rice and naan. The samosas were excellent. Good and spicy. The naan was pretty good, as good as any naan that comes via takeout, and the rice was fine too. I was disappointed with the chicken and spinach as both were under spiced and lacking any noticeable flavor.

Kinera is far from perfect. Every once in a while the regular chef seems to be out and nothing is working, but for the most part, the food is very good and the delivery is fast. On the whole, Baluchi's on 5th Avenue has a long way to go before I would say that that it is MUCH better than Kinera.

I will certainly give it another chance though. My guess is that Baluchi's will get better and it will become the Indian restaurant we eat at and Kinera will remain our takeout place.

I had take out too and was underwhelmed. The lamb meat was really good, tender, no nasty fatty parts. But the saag, spinach, was bland.

Jamzer wrote: I usually refrain from reviewing a restaurant until it has had a few weeks to shake out the rust, but I had to post in response to Filmlover's comment that this place "is MUCH better than Kinara.

Ugh. The last time that I had Kinara it was truly horrible. I haven't tried any of the vegetable dishes and probable wont and I don't eat bread so I can't comment on the other dishes besides the Madras and Vindaloo.

filmlover44 wrote: [quote=Jamzer]I usually refrain from reviewing a restaurant until it has had a few weeks to shake out the rust, but I had to post in response to Filmlover's comment that this place "is MUCH better than Kinara.

Ugh. The last time that I had Kinara it was truly horrible. I haven't tried any of the vegetable dishes and probable wont and I don't eat bread so I can't comment on the other dishes besides the Madras and Vindaloo.

If an Indian place can't do Saag Panir right, they got issues!

Heh. And all I care about is the Curry!

meh for curry. Spinach is the true test of quality Indian.

At every Indian place I have ever been to I always order either saag paneer or Saag lamb. I agree with Jamzer, it's all about the miracle of turning yucky spinach into something I crave!

and I say meh for Spinach!

I developed my taste for good curry in England back when it was the only decent food that you could get in the country. I never even knew that Spinach was on the menu till a couple of years ago!

EAT YOUR VEGGIES FILMLOVER!

Happy Thanksgiving. Curried or not.

We had a late lunch here on Saturday and loved it.

Service was initially a little slow... had to wait what seemed quite a while for menus and water (they were in the middle of a staff-orientation meeting). We weren't asked if we wanted "drinks" which was ok since we only wanted water, but it didn't appear that they had any liquour/beer in the place anyway.

We shared my personal fave as an appetizer - Ka-Chori (chickpea/potato mix in yogurt/tamarind sauce on a lentil patty) and then shared a shrimp curry, an okra side dish and cumin rice. Everything was great - really fresh, perfectly cooked and very tasty.

We've only had crap experiences with Kinara - the last time, after an hour wait and several phone calls, they insisted they had delivered our order... but if they did, it wasn't to us. And Bombay Grill.... meh.

Looking forward to trying more of Baluchi's menu.

Anyone else been in yet?

We had take out from them again on Friday night and we both felt the same way about them again, bleh!

The food was only ok, nothing special, nothing better than any other place around here, maybe even a tad worse (they tend to be bland). We won't be getting food from them again. It's really a shame, we both like Indian food a lot and aren't able to get any good food near us.