Don’t worry, eat curry. We love exploring the city and finding the best Indian restaurants in NYC. Last Summer, we put together a series on the best outdoor dining in NYC during Covid-19. Today we launch our Spring outdoor dining series in NYC with Madam Ji. Madam Ji is a fusion Indian restaurant that elevates traditional Indian cuisine. We are excited to share our outdoor dining experience at Madam Ji with you. It is one of the best Indian restaurants in NYC.
We grew up eating homemade South Indian food on a daily basis. In fact, our childhood vacations with our parents all over the world always included at least one dinner at an Indian restaurant. When we went to college and stopped eating Indian food everyday, we began to appreciate Indian cuisine even more. Now we are looking for the best Indian restaurants in NYC with outdoor dining. Spring outdoor dining is a fantastic way to catch up with friends during Covid-19. Now that the weather is nice out, we highly recommend dining at Indian restaurants with outdoor seating in NYC. It’s a slice of India on your plate.
Best Indian Restaurants in NYC: Madam Ji
Madam Ji is conveniently located in Greenwich Village, just south of Washington Square Park. Executive Chef and Owner, Abishek Sharma was born in Delhi and raised in Queens, New York. Chef Abishek combines the zest and spice of traditional Indian food with the heart and soul of the West. The restaurant is open for dinner daily from 5PM to 10:30PM. Brunch is available from 12PM to 4PM on the weekends. Sister restaurants include Badshah and Swagat. The al fresco dining features a bright mustard patio with twinkling lights, pink roses and lots of greenery. This is outdoor dining in NYC at its finest and one of the best Indian restaurants in NYC.
We dined outside, but the restaurant has a gorgeous mural inside. The bold, bright colors immediately transport you from Greenwich Village to India. The colorful pillows on the complement the mural. Who wouldn’t want to dine at one of the best Indian restaurants in NYC?
Best Indian Restaurants in NYC: What to Order to Drink?
Sip, sip, hurray. We started with a round of cocktails and wine including: Bubbly Maharani, Desi Daiquiri and Rosé . Our favorite was the Design Daiquiri. This cocktail is made with house made mango infused rum, simple syrup and lime juice. It was the perfect way to kick off our meal at one of the best Indian restaurants in NYC.
Best Indian Restaurants in NYC: What to Order for Dinner?
Spice up your life. We started with the Badshah Cauliflower, Goat Cheese and Spinach Naan and Shrimp Pondicherry Bites. The cauliflower was our favorite. It’s a flavorful Indo-Chinese dish that is also known as Cauliflower Manchurian.This cauliflower is fried with sesame seeds and sweet, tangy and spicy tomato chili sauce.
You turn me Naan. We also recommend the Naan. Traditional Indian restaurants will serve regular Naan or Naan with some spices (our favorite is garlic Naan). At Madam Ji, the Naan has a modern American twist with cheese. We liked the goat cheese and spinach Naan, but you can also order the cheddar and jalapeño Naan.
The Shrimp Pondicherry Bites were also quite tasty. The filling reminded us of traditional shrimp curry, but the twist here was serving it on a toasted brioche bun. Our round of appetizers paired nicely with our cocktails. It was some of the best Indian food in NYC. The fusion elements really made the food unique and make Madam Ji one of the best Indian restaurants in NYC.
Rice, rice baby. For dinner, we shared the Chicken Mangolorian, Slow Cooked Lamb Korma, the Smoked Charcoal Eggplant and basmati rice. The Chicken Mangolorian was also delicious and is prepared with ginger and curry leaves.
Our favorite was the Lamb Korma. This slow cooked curry was a taste of heaven in your mouth. We usually prefer chicken dishes at an Indian restaurant, but this might be the best lamb dish we ever had at an Indian restaurant.
The eggplant dish is a traditional Baingan bharta. This South Asian dish is prepared by grilling the eggplant over a charcoal and then mincing grilled eggplant and mixing it with tomato, onion, herbs and spices. It is served with a whole wheat Lacha Paratha. The portions were quite large, and we were able to take some of the best Indian food in NYC home with us and eat it for lunch the next day. Dinner and lunch from one the best Indian restaurants in NYC? Yes, please.
We paired the mains with a crisp Rosé. We usually pair Indian food with a Riesling or Pinot Noir, but we learned a few years ago that Rosé pairs nicely too.
Desserts included Gulab Jamun, Kulfi and Rice pudding. Gulab Jamun is a fried dough in a sugar syrup. Our mom makes it at home, and it’s usually our favorite Indian dessert. Our mom is a pro on this dessert, but Madam Ji’s version came pretty close to our mom’s version. We usually don’t like Kulfi, but Madam Ji’s Kulfi is fantastic! It’s the best we have ever tasted and our favorite dessert of the night. The rice pudding was good, but we preferred the other desserts.
This Spring, check out outdoor dining in NYC and dine at Madam Ji. You’ll enjoy the best Indian food in NYC as well as amazing drinks, outdoor seating, ambiance and service.
Indian food touches your soul before it touches your tastebuds. There’s heaven in every bite.
Preethi Grace Sugirtha
Thanks for sharing about this restaurant. The foods looks nice!
I’ve always wanted to try more Indian food. All meals look yummy as well as the drinks. I’m hungry now.
Oh yes please, I absolutely love Indian food!
I am drooling over these amazing dishes!!! I love indian cuisine, i will check these out next time I am in NYC.
So true that food touches our souls and allows us to connect of our deep humane level.
I would like to explore these Indian food options with you!
These places look delicious! I love Indian food and would love to try dishes in NYC!
Wow! These look really delicious. In fact, you post made me hungry. I have never tried Lamb Korma but my sister was raving about when he had one. Thank you for sharing this and we’ll keep in mind to visit this place should we have a chance to travel to NYC again.
Oh wow! Looking at these makes me so hungry!