Remember Masala Bollywood, the Indian restaurant on Lexington Avenue in the Curry Hill area of NYC with all those pictures of Bollywood stars festooned in the dining area as well as the rest rooms?

Masala Bollywood (located next to Pongal) had on its menu entrees like Big B’s Vegetable Tandoori, SRK’s Tandoori Chicken, Devgan’s Chicken Tikka, Sholay Lamb Vindaloo, Mangal Pandey Channa Masala, Rang De Basanti Dal Makhani, Bluff Master Chilli Potatoes, Hera Pheri Paneer Dosa etc etc.

Masala Bollywood – Gone Baby, Gone

Alas, neither SRK nor Amitabh Bachchan could save Masala Bollywood.

No Sir No.

Masala Bollywood has been gone for more than a year now.

Does anyone even miss it?

By the way, here’s an excerpt from our review of Masala Bollywood:

“Masala Bollywood stirs the palate with adventure that only a Bollywood movie can deliver,” boasts the restaurant that finds in the Bombay film industry its inspiration.

In that spirit, not only are the walls festooned with pictures of Bollywood actresses and actors but the dishes in the menu contain prefixes of star names and movie titles.

So you don’t have a mere Chicken Tikka but you get Devgan’s Chicken Tikka; not just Lamb Vindaloo but Sholay Lamb Vindaloo; not Paneer Dosa but Hera Pheri Paneer Dosa and so on ad nauseum.

….Our vegetarian entree Legend of Malai Kofta ($12.00) came with four medium sized Koftas in gravy. Numbingly bland, our plate of Malai Kofta lacked any semblance of taste.

There was no respite from our run of bad luck at Masala Bollywood even with our meat choice – Aawara Pagal Chicken Jalfrezi.

We’ve had Chicken Jalfrezi in several restaurants in the U.S. but none as terrible as the one served at Masala Bollywood. Chicken Jalfrezi is a delicious hot curry made with chicken, capsicum (also known as bell peppers or Shimla mirch), onions, green chillies and tomatoes. Mind you, Chicken Jalfrezi is not for the weak-hearted, lilly-livered poltroons. It is a HOT dish.

But the Chicken Jalfrezi placed on our table at Masala Bollywood was a disgraceful parody of the original. It was not even hot, let alone having any taste. Did the kitchen run out of chilli powder, green chillies and Bell Peppers that day?

In Masala Bollywood‘s place now stands Bollywood actor Shiva Natarajan’s Dhaba, one of the worst Indian restaurants in NYC.

Which Indian restaurant in NYC is gonna fail next?

We ask the Indian restaurateurs in NYC – Hey, will your Indian restaurant be the next one to kiss the dust?

Related Stories:
Gone Baby, Gone 4: Indo Munch Lexington Avenue
Gone Baby, Gone 2: Tamil Nadu Bhavan Lexington Ave
Gone Baby, Gone 1 – Ada E.58th St, NYC
Masala Bollywood Review – Awful Food; So-So Service