Indian Fast Food Cart

The rice-​daal and samosa chat were good. Not expensive. The guy at the cart is friendly and has a different menu everyday

OMG, their food is so good. Fresh, spicy and lick the container fresh. I first saw this place on my way back home a few months ago and remembered reading about this place in Midtown Lunch. For around $ 10, I got their chicken curry over rice with daal (never had lentils this good anywhere) and veggie. Since it was early evening they only had the okra left which I didn’t care of due to the sliminess but everything else was sooooo delicious.
I have seen them at that corner for a few weeks so if you spot them, please let me know.

I love this place, but I have not seen them for quite a few months now. Does anyone know if she relocated elsewhere?

Not always there. Often times this cart will disappear for a few weeks at a time (when they are there, don’t show up after 2pm because they are usually sold out by then). The address on the van that pulls the cart is an Indian restaurant in Astoria/​LIC (does anyone know the name or a phone number? — would be nice to be able to call in advance to see if the cart will actually be there).

As everyone else has said, great food for not a lot of money. I got the biryani, which was heavenly. The ladies are nice and efficient and everyone around you will be super jealous of your awesome food.

The Chicken Tikka Masala is a great deal for midtown lunch. Six bucks gets you rice, lettuce, bread, 2 types of chicken, and 1 vegeterian side. One compartment of chicken is spicy, while the other mixed with a pickled chutney — both very yummy. The vegeterian side is unremarkable.
I meant to take a photograph of this delicious lunch experience, but nearly ate the entire combo before remembering… facepalm!

I love this food cart — it’s the closest I’ve found to home cooked Indian food in the city.
Earlier you get there the better since they start running out of items.

Good Halal cart, clean and friendly service. The rice is not my favorite but usually never is, their white sauce is fantastic and the lamb combo platter is the way to go!

While taking a break and grabbing a coke in the office break room, some of my team members was chowing down some indian food. It looked awesome! Asked them where it was and down the elevator I went for lunch.
This cart is run by two ladies off of Park Ave and 53^rd street ~ about a block from where I work. By the way, the ladies are really sweet and very nice. I ordered the rice topped with chicken and some orange curry sauce. In addition, they gave me this fluffy pita bread and a side of salad. Took it back to the office and dug in…. ummm ummm ummmm! It was soo good.
For only $ 6, this will naturally become a weekly event for me! yeahh… Now, if I can find some Vietnamese Vendors, I would be in heaven!
Cheers and enjoy.

I just tried looking for this cart I don’t think it exists anymore as I could not find it. All I saw was a cart selling fruit salad and juice.

Damn You Indian Cart. I have been sitting here for 15 minutes staring at my screen being completely unproductive. I don’t even think there was any brain activity going on for that span of time. All the energy I could possibly have went straight to digesting the 3 pounds of food I ingested about an hour ago. And now, I am lethargic.
Did this food coma really only cost me $ 6? Did I really finish all of my chicken tikki masala, mystery vegetarian side, and endless rice? Yes, yes and yes. Now I am drinking some coffee, trying to revive my vital signs.
This cart has pretty good food. cheap. fast. like everyone says. it’s not that busy, so it’s a good alternative when you find yourself not wanting to wait 5 – 10 minutes for truck/​cart food. My biggest complaint is that they do not include naan, instead they give you an Indian tortilla, which is not as good as its Mexican counterpart. But maybe this is a good thing, because I do not need any more carbs today.

Delicious. Fast. Cheap.
Tried the veg option and was very happy with my selection. The wannabe naan wasn’t anything to write home about… but the rice was fluffy, the two veg dishes were very tasty and the spicy pickle + onions were nice complements.
Would absolutely recommend to others!

Surprisingly good Indian food from a cart! I got the chicken curry on rice w/​a veggie stew side for $ 6. There was no line when I went around 12:30 PM on a Monday. The chicken was very flavorful and the portion was just right for a hearty meal. However, the pita thing they give you is disgusting. It seemed underbaked and doughy to me. Where’s my naan?!
Don’t forget to drop by the cart next to this one to get a refreshing smoothie.

I have lunch from this cart a few times a month.
I always get the vegetarian platter which costs a very reasonable $ 5.
The food is pretty good considering it is from a cart and the portions are big. Furthermore, the cart is very clean.
One big drawback, unfortunately, is the bread. Indian cuisine is famous for its great breads. However, this stand usually gives you a tasteless side of pita.
I would recommend adding a lassi to your meal. Lassis run $ 2 and are very good.
Overall, this stand is not the best Indian food I’ve ever eaten — but it definitely gets the job done. It’s worth a visit.

This place is value. This place is the true money spot. But for some reason, all the bankers and hedgefund guys don’t usually come here. It’s usually just me and my wise wallet. Satisfying lunch for $ 6. It’s hard to beat that on Park Ave.
A well-​placed visit to mobile India will bring sweet tidings of chicken tikka marsala, vegetable side, above average white rice, and «naan» (it’s really a pita). There’s a vegetarian option as well which looked good. Plus you get all the Indian condiments that you usually find at Indian buffets and restaurants. Definitely a go-​to spot for lunch. It’s also stands adjacent to a wide open plaza with man-​made ponds that you can sit right by. Perfect for those days when you just don’t want to go back to the office (which is Mon-​Fri, 9am-​5pm).

occasionally have lunch at this cart. Being indian myself, I appreciate the ‘home food’ appeal of their offering. Nothing is too greasy. The price is also very good for what you get– $ 5 for 2 veg curries, rice and a roti. in the past they use to give you a piece of pita but when i went today I got an authentic indian roti. It was thin and soft and decently size — perfect for mopping up the curry.
It’s not my favourite place to eat but it is a nice standby.

Lines were decent at this food cart with about 10 – 15 people in line at prime lunch time, 12:30 pm. We figured, if there’s a line like this, the food must be somewhat good. So we figured, what the heck, let’s give this Indian Food Cart a try.
We waited about 10 minutes, averaging about a minute a person to pay and serve. Finally got to the front and ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala ($ 6.00) from the two ladies. As I ordered, I never noticed anyone more miserable than these two ladies. I don’t know if it was the heat wave that NYC has received (with 7 straight days of above 90º humid weather), or if they did not like their job, but generally people in the service industry are happy or try to put a smile on their face. The one lady took my money and bagged the food and nan wrapped in aluminum foil, as the other lady served the food into the styrofoam container. As I walked away, I hoped their mood didn’t speak for their food.
I finally got back to my office and opened the container, and noticed three separate areas for the food, one with the chicken tikka masala, another with the mixed vegetables (onions, peas, and carrots (?)) in some sort of spicy curry-​like sauce, and the basmati rice in the large area. The chicken in the chicken tikka masala was tender and tasty (only slightly spicy) but I found the sauce was a little runny (my coworker got the chicken curry which was also a little thin in consistency but had a nice kick/​spice to it). The mixed vegetables in the curry sauce was thicker in consistency and pretty delicious. I wish they would have used that sauce for their chicken dishes as it left me wanting more. The basmati rice was nothing to rave about, as it was normal rice with slight seasonings, noticeable only by those with a sensitive palate. But with all the spices going around, the rice could have used a bit more flavor. The nan was a big disappointment as it was just warm pita bread.
In all, I thought an Indian Food Cart is pretty original, as you don’t see many others like it. For $ 6, the dish was decently good and I’d probably go back to try one of their spicier dishes. It was worth trying out, but don’t expect anything extraordinary from here.

One of the better chicken and rice places I’ve been to. The Express Power Lunch on Pearl and Wall is better though.
— Foam container w/​3 sections.
section1: pea/​onions in curry — this sauce was kinda spicy in a good way and had more substance than the chicken’s curry sauce. — very tasty!
section2: curry chicken — boneless, very tender, flavorful!
section3: basmati rice — white, unseasoned — nothing special
They also gave a half cut pita (wrapped in foil) but it was cold and a tad stale. I took a bite, spat it out, and threw it in the trash.
Total came out to $ 6

So this place is outside my normal lunching area, but I had a meeting over there right after lunch so I wandered over there early to get a quick bite. I was walking up Park deciding what to get, and I saw the little cart. How could I resist. I miss the old buffet of Rangole for a cheap Indian lunch, but I digress.
From the looks of it they have a vegetarian special lunch platter ($ 4) and a protein lunch special ($ 5), along with a few regular items. I opted for the Tikka Masala which was okay (I had low expectations so that helps). The chicken was tender, much to my delight. The sauce was about what I expected, not spicy and not that complex, but it was okay. The vegetable curry that it came with was really good, I didn’t know what to expect from the menu, but were really good. It also came with nann, but it seemed more like a pita cut in half to me, but it was $ 5 I can’t complain.
I got there at or before noon, so I did not see any line, but have heard that it is possible later in the lunch hours. If I was in the area more often for lunch this would become a new favorite, but I am not, so it is still a special little treat for me.
I sat on the front ledge of the Seagram’s Building, so that always add to the atmosphere. There are no restrooms obviously.

I’m surprised that this cart isn’t on Unilocal yet. If it already is, I’m sorry for creating a duplicate entry (it won’t be the first time — but I do correct my mistake, if I find out that I am, indeed, mistaken). Anyway, enough hypothesizing and apologizing. Let’s get into this little review of the Indian Fast Food Cart on Park and 53^rd.
The link you see above is to Midtown Lunch, which is a great source of Midtown luncheoning knowledge. I wanted to steal his pictures, but instead, I did the right thing of linking.
Okay, really, let’s talk about the Cart, now.
It’s cheap. It’s fast (well, it’s already made, duh). Okay, sometimes, not so fast, when there’s a long-​ass line (for a good reason). It’s nice to sit outside by the fountain and eat among the bodies that are fellow Slaves of Midtown. Sure, there’s a sort of an ants-​like dis-​likable quality to the whole experience, but it’s good for people-​watching, so you smother the bad with the good.
Back to the food itself: It’s not the best Indian food you are going to experience. I know this, despite the fact that I am not Indian and I won’t even start to pretend like I know Indian food well. But I, too, have these things called taste buds, and they have told me that they find the food from Indian Fast Food Cart to be agreeable. I’ve also a note from my money clip, something about how it likes the Cart because it gets to hold on to more dollar bills than, say, a trip to a roofed restaurant with tables and chairs.