Temple Ganesh Canteen

I went to Queens again today to get some good food. That borough rules, there is every type of food you can imagine. It's too bad it's not closer. Neal and I have been meaning to go to this place, but it never happened until today, his last day before moving to Berlin!! And I am bummed out because he has been my #1 food buddy for a long time, but he's moving on to the land of beer and sausage so it can't be so bad.

There is this Hindu temple in Murray Hill called Temple Ganesh. In the basement of the temple is this canteen where you can get really cheap Indian food. It's all vegetarian, but it will fill you up real fast. The portions are enormous. I don't really know much about Indian food, so I don't have much to say other than it was delicious. And Anthony Bourdain agrees, so I can't be wrong.

I forget what this is called, but they are like donuts, but a little more dense and savory, not sweet. They are actually pretty bland on their own but are good vehicles for the sauces. I have no idea what the sauces are, yogurt based, I guess. The vegetables on the left are a soup type thing, maybe? At least that's how I approached it, but it was a little too spicy for me to handle.

Rava dosa. I think that basically means this dosa has parsley and onions in it. It's thinner and crispier than the other dosas we ordered.

Butter masala dosa and a mango lassi. The mango lassi was so rich and fruity and cheap! $1 for one of those. I also thought butter dosa meant it would be like..infused with butter, but they really just meant it comes with butter slapped on top. I think I prefer that. On the inside is a potato medley.

These are samosas and yogurt rice. The samosas were alright, a little bit cold, but probably since I didn't eat them right away and waited to for all my food to show up first. But the yogurt rice is SO good! I didn't know what to expect, but I got it anyway. It is a little creamy, like risotto or something, but has some tang to it. It really helps to cut the spiciness of some of the other food.

Uttapam with a sauce to eat with it...I think that unlike the butter masala dosa, the filling came on the side. It's in the bowl on the left and is like a curry. It looks like the soup on the right, but is a different consistency. I can't remember if they tasted similar. The uttapam is like a dosa, but is more pancake-y and thick. It reminded me a little of Ethopian flat bread because it had a little bit of a sour taste to it. But very very slight, and I actually liked it.

There was also some tamarind rice, which I only had a bite of and it was pretty spicy. Then there was a cardamom and mango lassi ice cream bar. I tried the mango lassi one. All fruit type drinks should come frozen and on a stick.

I want to come back here again and again. It's a little bit of a walk from the Flushing-Main stop off the 7, maybe a mile or so, but you'll definitely need the walk after your meal. I have mostly had Indian food that has meat and is based in a lot of cream, so this was a little new to me. It was a lot more starchy and vegetable-based than other things I have tried. Maybe the food I ate today is from a different region than the other types of Indian food I've tried.