Travelog # 40 - Curry Hill

Curry Hill
After a hectic day at work, my colleagues suggested we go to Curry Hill for dinner. If you are wondering about the Indian sounding name.. you are not alone. Indian restaurants dominate a two block area near Lexington and 28th. Every other shop is an Indian restaurant of all kind, from Saravanas to Copper Chimney. As I learnt later, that's the reason Murray Hill became Curry Hill in the local vernacular.

We went to a vegetarian restaurant called Tiffin Wallah. The place was small like most other restaurants in this part of town and was bare. But the food was decent and reasonably priced. I ordered South Indian plate (USD 14) which got me Idli, Vada, Masala Dosa, Uttappam and a sweet. The food portion itself was filling but the side dishes weren't enough and had to order extra (USD 2).

Though the restaurant didn't serve liqour, my colleagues bought King Fisher Beer from elsewhere and openly consumed it at the restaurant. That was not only permitted, but seems to be the norm in most of the food only Indian restaurants in Manhattan.

Our order was served in reasonably quick, but there was minor goof up. My colleague ordered Mysore Masala Dosa, instead he got the regular one. To make the matters interesting, our Mexican server didn't understand a word of Hindi or English. After few tries, we finally managed to grab the attention of an Indian waiter who casually told us about the language issue with the cook. Our eyes popped when we learnt that even the cooks in the kitchen are from Mexico and they don't understand English as well. But, these Mexicans from South of the border learn to adapt and pick up Indian culinary skills. Most of these folks are undocumented and work stealth on cash only basis.

We finished our dinner with a hot madras coffee (USD 2) which was served unique coffee mug, which I understand is from crate and barrel.

Overall Tiffin Wallah served us decent food and value for money. Check it out if you visit this part of the world.