We happily ventured away from "Little Tokyo" on St. Mark's - a tourist wasteland reeking of piss, booze, and vomit- and stumbled upon what seemed like Little India. On 6th St, between 1st and 2nd Ave, there must have been a dozen Indian restaurants, one after another. The restaurants looked similar and had similar menus; how would we choose among the mass of Tandoori servers? Our answer was given to us by a waiter standing by a $5.95 lunch special sign outside Raj Mahal, who stopped us, pointed to the cheap price, and ushered us in to the restaurant. Yes, we're easy when we're hungry and the price is right.
For $5.95, you get two soups, one beverage, nan, a choice of one appetizer (we tried the vegetable samosa and vegetable pakora), a choice of one entree with rice (we ordered chicken curry and vegetable curry), and dessert (a bright orange colored custard). Everything tasted good (their tomato-like soup was superb) and the portions were just right. The price for everything we had seemed crazy but when they're competing against so many similar restaurants on just one street, they have find a way to get the customers in.
