NYC Food Truck Lunch: Chicken Biryani From Ghar Kaa Khaana

Perry, the founder of New York Street Food, brings you his latest review on New York City street food.

We recently stopped by an Indian food cart on East 47th St just west of Park Ave. Most of the other customers on line were of South Asian descent, which is usually a good sign. Another good sign is the cart's affiliated with Mysttik Masaala, a 2012 Vendy Award Finalist for Rookie of the Year.

After perusing the snack menu and main menu, we decided to order chicken biryani, which cost $8, and is available here on Tuesdays & Thursdays.

Biryani is a traditional dish often served at weddings and other special occasions. Basmati rice is mixed with Indian spices such as cloves and turmeric, and vegetables such as peas, carrots, tomatoes and string beans.

Even though there was plenty of chicken and veggies in the biryani, we said yes to the optional toppings of red beans, chopped raw onion and fresh cilantro. In retrospect, the onions and cilantro made sense, but next time we would decline the red beans. They were pretty heavy, and didn't really go well with this rice dish.

While there was plenty of chicken once you got below the surface of the rice, it was not boned. The meat was tender, but we didn't appreciate having to cut the chicken off the bone, and it was too messy to pick up.

As lunch continued, we came across a few clumps of white rice where no spices were mixed in. A little more care should have been taken to mix the rice thoroughly with the spices.

This dish did turn out to be medium spicy, which built up as lunch progressed.

Overall, lunch was flavorful, but we didn't appreciate having to get chicken off the bone. Next time we would also skip the optional red bean topping.

You can find Ghar Kaa Khaana weekdays for lunch on 47th St just west of Park Ave. They don't seem to have much of a social media presence, but they do have a fairly extensive Indian menu that rotates various dishes on different days.

If you're a little further north, the original Mysttik Masaala cart is situated on the SE corner of Park Ave and 54th St. It's only 7 blocks away, but in a city where most people don't go more than 3 blocks for lunch, it's an entirely different group of customers.