Babuji is a hot new Indian restaurant in the East Village, NYC.

I started reading about it when it first opened and wanted to pay them a visit.  The reviews were glowing for its good food but for me, the ‘coolness’ factor was what attracted me the most.

Several years ago, I was the chef of an Indian Inspired restaurant with French accents just a few blocks from there and so I was anxious to experience the phenomenon that was Babuji.

I finally got a chance to go there last week and took my parents along to celebrate their anniversary.

I attempted to make reservations online and learned that they only take reservations if the entire table orders the tasting menu for $62.00

Upon looking at the options in the tasting menu, I decided against it which was a good decision – more on that later.

 

We arrived at 7 PM on a Thursday evening and the place was jam packed.  We were told that there would be an hours wait and we were directed to spend that time in a bar across the street where we would get discounted drinks.

We spent a little less than an hour at the bar and then I received a text from Warren, the very personable maitre D’ of the restaurant.

We were seated at our table and handed menus.There was a wine list and also a cold case in the back of the room where one could get their own beer from.

We decided on a bottle of white wine.

The room is so so loud that the waiter had to be an inch from your ear and vice versa if you are to talk to each other.  As he spoke to me, I detected an accent I couldn’t put my finger on and he told me that he was half Sikh and half Pathan – an interesting combination to say the least.  He was anxious to speak in Hindi and we did which was so sweet.

We ordered dinner and this was the first course.  It was

Batata Vada 16 GF

Mustard seed & curry leaf potato encased in chickpea flour pastry, topped with fresh radish, coriander and pineapple chutneys, broken chickpea noodles (as written on the menu)

It was certainly pretty, I must admit and quite tasty.  The chutneys were vibrant and tangy and the topping of radish was reminiscent of a street snack in India.

We enjoyed it very much and as we were eating it in silence I saw Chef Jassi walking around the dining room.  He stopped over to our table and my dad who is my PR person 🙂 announced that I was a chef.

Chef Jassi sent us an appetizer of Gol Gappas – which are a puffy bread filled with tangy, spiced water that you put in your mouth whole and experience the burst of flavor.  It was very good and is the first picture on this post.

Next we had the

Yogurt Kebab 14

Hung yogurt croquette spiced with ginger and green chili, beetroot ginger sauce

I had recently read of hung yogurt croquettes and was excited to try them.  I liked the concept but unfortunately it was heavy on cardamom which rendered it a dessert more than a savory dish.  I wish that strong spice had been omitted and that would make this a lovely appetizer.

 

Now for the main course.

We had:

Prawn Coconut Curry 26 GF

Wild caught prawns in a turmeric, mustard seed & coconut milk based curry

and

Babu’s Daal 16 GF

Slow simmered black lentil, ginger & garlic

The prawns came head on which I love and had a marvelous flavor of the ocean.  The coconut sauce was thick and rich.  I wonder how chef got it to be so very thick – addition of heavy cream?  Not sure.

The daal was creamy and my dad said it was sweet.  I don’t think it was sweet but maybe could’ve benefited with the addition of a slight more salt.

We also had the

Tandoori Lamb Chops  26 GF

Raw papaya and nutmeg marinated Australian lamb chops, cumin roasted potato, Persian cucumber raita

This was the best thing we had.  The chops were juicy and redolent with spices. I could’ve had another order of those.

We also ordered the naan basket which was great to sop up the curry and the juices on the lamb plate.

They only have two desserts – the gulab jamun – which are fried cheese balls in syrup – was way too sweet for me, and Kulfi  which is a rich ice cream of condensed milk and flavored with pistachios and cardamom.  This was very good.

The dining room is done in a simple manner with Hindi sentences all over the walls and some cool photos of babu jis which is the Hindi word for father or an older gentleman.

A classic Bollywood film Mughal-e-Azam was playing on an overhead screen which brought a smile to my face.

A little about the aforementioned tasting menu.  I saw several people having that and to me it looked like an overpriced thali.  A thali is a large plate with several items in small bowls that one eats as a meal.  It seemed to have almost everything on the menu and I also saw that there was so much food on it that many of them were going half eaten back to the kitchen.

I am glad that we opted for the a la carte menu.

My overall impression of Babuji:  it is definitely a well thought out ‘cool’ downtown restaurant.

Would I go back?

Sure.  With other friends who haven’t been but I would go for the ambience and not necessarily the food.

Don’t get me wrong – there is nothing wrong with the food but other than the lamb chops I didn’t find anything else to be revelatory.

The service was impeccable and friendly – while extremely professional at the same time.  I enjoyed the banter with the manager, Warren and our very cute waiter Salman.

Since it was my parents anniversary, I have to share the obligatory family selfie!

Would love to hear what you thought of the place if you have been.

 

Until I eat again!