The Vendy Awards recently announced finalists in several categories, including their choices for the best Rookie of the Year street vendors for the past year. One of the nominees was Mysttik Masaala, who have only been open for a month, but are getting some well-deserved attention quickly.
We had an enjoyable First Look at their cart, which is located just east of 2nd Ave on 44th St for lunch, not far from the UN. Around 4pm, they move a block south to 43rd St for dinner, serving until 8pm.
One thing that changes daily is the menu, with different main dishes each day. Our selection was chicken vindaloo. It’s also very easy to eat vegetarian at Mysttik Masaala if you want. There’s a meat platter special each day, as well as a vegetarian platter special. Both cost $7.
One thing that does not change daily are the appetizers, samosas and momos. They have chicken and vegetable versions of each.
Instead of getting 6 chicken or veggie momos for $6, we asked for 3 of each. “No problem” was the answer.
Every platter comes with dal, basmati rice and a salad. On the day we went, aloo gobi (a cauliflower dish) was the veggie special, and they gave us a small portion of the aloo gobi to taste (top right in the photo).
We asked the co-owner if the Chicken Vindaloo was spicy, and he told us it wasn’t. We like spicy food, and would not consider this dish spicy, but if you don’t like spicy food, you may want something a little milder.
The Chicken Vindaloo was a little on the salty side, but the boneless chunks of chicken were still pretty good.
Dal, a thick lentil stew, was served over basmati rice, ensuring we weren’t going to be hungry for quite some time.
Aloo gobi is a dish of cauliflower, potatoes and peas made with Indian spices, and it was very flavorful. We’re glad they gave us some to sample.
The momos were excellent. The round ones were filled with ground, well-spiced chicken. The crescent-shaped momos were filled with minced vegetables. We preferred the chicken, but the veggie momos were tasty too. You can get hot sauce on the side, which perked them up even more.
Mysttik Masaala serves lunch weekdays on 44th St & 2nd Ave, and dinner on 43rd & 2nd. You can confirm their location on Twitter here or on our Mobile Munchies Twitter feed. For more information and menus, their Facebook page is here.
