Upon being seated, almost immediately, a server came over with some mini papadum and a spicy tomato sauce to dip them in and took my drink order. My water glass was kept in a constant state of fullness, which was great since some of the dishes required a long sip.

the decor; papadum

Elyse had the Bombay Bhel Puri which was a tasty little hill of rice puffs, tamarind, cilantro, tomatoes and onions, causing her to proclaim "God is in the cilantro". I went with the Lamb-Stuffed Tandoori Chicken as my starter which looked like little chicken rollatini but stuffed with ground lamb, spinach and goat cheese and served with a delicious tomtato chutney instead of prosciutto and mozzarella. Very tasty.

appetizers

Farm-Raised Basil Chicken won me over. It was some of the juciest, most flavorful pieces of chicken I've ever had and secondly, there was a lot of it. A LOT. Tomato-flavored rice with cardamom pods accompanied it but I think I would have preferred plain ol' basmati since the chicken was already so flavorful. If I hadn't gotten the chicken, I would have ordered the Tandoor-Grilled Lamb Chops with Pear Chutney but luckily for me, Elyse ordered that and I had a few bites. Very tasty but also very tiny. These chops must've come from a micro-lamb or one that had extrememly little legs. However, the curry leaf potatoes the lamb was served upon more than made up for it, I thought. Absolutely delicious.

lamb chops; chicken

To round out our meal, we had three desserts to choose from. The Emperor’s Morsel, “Shahi Tukra” is a crispy saffron bread pudding topped with cardamom cream and candied almonds. So so so good. Dense, sweet, fragrant, creamy, crunchy goodness. Pistachio Kulfi aimed high but fell just a bit short of its target. Consisting of Indian ice cream with candied pistachio, citrus sorbet & fresh citrus, the sorbet melted so it more resembled a soup and it was super tart, completely overwhelming the other flavors if you had more than a drop or two of it on your spoon. On its own, the ice cream was spectacular.

Emperor's Morsel; Pistachio Kulfi

Devi
8 East 18th Street
btwn 5th Ave & Broadway
New York, NY 10003
212/ 691-1300

Oinks 3.5/5
Why Bother?: Basil Chicken, Bombay Bhel Puri, Emperor's Morsel
Average Setback: Restaurant Week Prix Fixe menu, $24.07; $4 for iced tea