Cuisine: Indian
I’ve had a bunch of Indian food over the span of the past 20 years. But I have to say that I’ve been in a pretty tight box. Chicken tikka masala. Chicken korma. Vindaloo. Makahni. And on and on. Chicken in some sort of creamy sauce with varying spices and varying layers of heat. But pretty much that. And I love it. But Kanyakumari — whose name I will not even attempt to pronounce out loud — brings a whole new level of variation, protein and taste sensations to the table. I gather, like any other country’s cuisine, there are big regional differences and availability in India based on location, religion and other factors that Kanyakumari captures and presents as a holistic presentation of the food of the entire country and not just one area or culture.
How else would we start off our meal with a cow-based appetizer? It honestly didn’t dawn on me until we ordered it that beef wouldn’t typically be a meat served at most Indian restaurants. A buddy of mine and I actually sat at the bar for our meal and quizzed the bartender / server on its inclusion. He — being just as white as we are — mostly shrugged off our enquiry and said that the eatery represented a lot of different Indian foods and that some included beef. Okay. But while the answer as to the inclusion of cow wasn’t to my satisfaction, the space itself was. We were there on a Monday. Earlier in the evening there were plenty of reservations available, but when we rolled up, they’d all been filled. It’s a dinky space, so it became pretty evident how that happened. And while I’m not generally a sit-at-the-bar-for-dinner guy, this ended up being a comfortable and pretty fun experience. The aforementioned bartender was a very nice dude who turned out to be a better bartender than he was a server (more about that later) but we felt in the middle of the action on a bustling Monday.
We started off with a couple cocktails. Weirdly, they ran out of Angostura bitters so my Manhattan order couldn’t happen. Instead I got a boulevardier, which was delicious. And at $20, I sure hope so. We went through the menu with the bartender / server to get an idea of how best to order, what was popular and all that kind of stuff. Because of the uniqueness of the items, it was definitely helpful to get a sense of what we might be doing. We ordered that beef appetizer, slow cooked black gold beef with madras onion and chili and a squid with coconut, curry leaf and garlic. The beef was kind of crisp on the outside and tender and shreddy on the inside. Kind of like a short rib but with a cool, almost crunchy exterior. It was truly different and really a tasty morsel that was also interesting texturally and a really flavorful bite. The squid was somehow better than the beef. Rings of squid, just the right amount of toothiness in a kind of salsa-ish mixture of spiciness and aromatics. It was so tasty, I may have actually yelped out loud. Never again will any food be the right amount of flavorful and spicy after eating this thing. All food is now boring in its wake.
For our main, we decided to just go with the amma mess fish curry with rice water and beetroot pickle, along with a side of ghee rice and an order of malabar parotha, which is a flaky, layered flatbread. What showed up was both the fish and a goat biryani. Which we most definitely didn’t order. Once again, we looked at our bartender / server and said, “what’s this?” He shrugged, stared past us and somehow both heard us and didn’t hear us. We ordered a second round of drinks — my dinner companion getting something off the menu called a makrut lime, which he said was absolutely amazing and me getting something kinda-sorta boulevardier-like cocktail that I still have no idea what it was — and, again, didn’t really get an answer about the goat dish. So we moved on. The fish is like a whole, boneless branzino filet that they then pour this brilliant, orange curry sauce over. And, man, it is amazing. It’s probably the most traditional curry of night, but it is a good one. And the fish was perfectly cooked, tender and flavorful and such a good mixture with the buttery rice. The parotha was very cool, but seems almost a little more gimmicky than it is practical. It’s too soft to be a naan-like bread to sop anything up, but really needs some accompaniment to be anything more than what feels like the inside of a slightly underdone Pillsbury Grands! biscuit. There was some crazy dosa that people were ordering that looks like a cheerleading megaphone, but we didn’t go with that. As mentioned, we also ended up with the goat biryani, respite not ordering it. It’s a rice-based dish that comes in a clay pot with a side of curry sauce and raita. And, honestly, because we were hesitant about its inclusion in our meal, we didn’t immediately engage with it. And didn’t as a whole because we felt weird about indulging in something that magically appeared. I will say that I’m not normally a goat guy, but this was surprisingly tender, and it’s always a good time with anything cooked in rice with a raita kicker. Our standoffishness aside, it did seem like a pretty decent entree.
And then the bill comes and it’s $305 total for the two of us with tax and tip. My buddy looked at the bill and we threw our cards down, and it wasn’t until afterward that I start doing math in my head and couldn’t for the life of me figure out how we go to that amount. I woke up in a panic in the middle of the night thinking that the mystery drink I ordered somehow had Pappy van Winkle in it or something. That that wily bartender had conned me into a market-price cocktail and taken advantage of the whole running-out-of-bitters situation. But, no, it turns out we were just charged for the goat dish that we absolutely did not order. Which, again, was weird since he sat there right in front of us punching our order into a device at the bar right. And, fine, mistakes happen and I’m sure it’s just a one-off, but that’s a bit annoying nonetheless. Regardless of that snafu, the food and atmosphere here are top notch. The rather small, friendly woman sitting solo next to me at the bar was clearly a repeat customer and ordered more food than she could have possible eaten in three sittings and nodded knowingly at me with a huge smile on her face as her multiple plates were placed in front of her. I was both impressed and horrified. But figure she was a regular and knew what she was getting herself into. And while I’m not quite ready to become a regular — my wallet couldn’t maintain — I will save up my pennies and some day get back here with Ms. Hipster to introduce her to the wonders of Indian cuisine beyond the tikka masala.
20 E 17th St. (bet Union Sq. W & 5th Ave.)
646/707-3688
kanyakumarinyc.com
