Tim wanted to take us to a new spot he likes in his neighborhood, Seva 30-07 34th Street, New York, NY 11103. It’s an Indian restaurant with all the classic entrees but they get a bit inventive with the appetizers. At $3 to $6 per appetizer, we had to try a ton. Unfortunately, this also was the first time ever that I liked a restaurants entrees more than the appetizers.
The Eggplant Chat is alright, lightly battered Chinese eggplant with some spices and tamarind chutney. Tim said it was different last time he had it. The Chicken Samosa filling felt more like over-cooked scrambled eggs.
The Masala Crab Cakes were made with fake crab meat, which I can’t eat because of the food coloring, but our opinion on fake crab meat is, don’t bother. The Bok Choy Crispy Curls were awful! These were just overly fried, kind of burnt, tasted like nothing but grease. They could have just fried some paper and gotten the same result.
The Shrimp Balchow tasted like a Thai dish, sweet and sour, tons of tomato. Lon tasted too much propane though.
The Ground Lamb Spring Roll was the only one I liked and Lon agreed. Tim had a nice fresh Mango Lassi too.
Shockingly, the entrees were much better. Lon got the mixed grill. I could only try the Chicken Malai Kabob, which was succulent and flavorful. The rest had food coloring, tandoori chicken and shrimp, and a Lamb Seekh (Lon said it was pretty dry.)
Tim had the Chicken Saag, which was the best dish. The fresh raw ginger is a nice touch I have not seen elsewhere. The chunks of white meat chicken were surprisingly moist. The whole dish had a lighter feel than most.
Each of us ordered a Naan. Tim had the cilantro and Lon had the onion. Both were puffy and fluffy, buttery and hot. I had what they called Fruit and Nut Naan, which should really be renamed to Coconut Naan. It was lightly sweet and pretty nice. My only complaint is that it was thinner and flatter than the other two.
Tim has had better experiences at Seva before but has noticed some inconsistency. It’s not worth making a special trip for but if you’re in the neighborhood, they have exceptional prices, and you’ll probably be able to find a few diamonds in the rough.
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yum! all those food photos look delicious. do restaurants ever ask you why you take photos of their food?
what a glorious spread of Indian food! Heard they’ve a good lunch special deal though. I used to love Indian curry + naan, but they’ve become a bit heavy for me now. 🙁
Pearl, sometimes restaurants do ask me but it’s only about 15% of the time.
Kim, I agree. I tend to eat more Indian in the winter.
The food all looks amazing. Definitely one of the faves out of all the places you’ve shown us so far.
That sucks…entrees better than appetiser is really rare… technically kebabs are appetisers too…time to come to India for an eating holiday 🙂