What sets Biryani Card apart from its competition, you ask? I shall tell you:
1) Chicken tikka on the menu: proof you're not dealing with the typical chicken-lamb-rice cart.
2) Quality ingredients: Eating the tikka, I bit into a whole cardamom pod. Cardamom is the third most expensive spice in the world, behind only saffron and vanilla. You think the guys on 53rd street are buying cardamom for you? No. They are not. Additionally, the tikka often contains mango pickle, other real spices, and is topped by Sriracha (sometimes the real stuff and sometimes homemade or off-brand, it seems) which maybe isn't how your Bangladeshi grammy would make it but is fine by me.
3) Also on the menu: biryani, and thelawala (Indian street food) in the form of samosas and dal puri. Dal puri is a poofy fry of lentils-a little oily, obviously, but it's tasty and it serves as another indicator this cart has some real cooking going on.
4) Aamir Hussein: Speaking to the chef, we learned Biryani Card is owned by Aamir Hussein, owner of my old favorite cart, Aamir Halal. That cart's done gone and moved to Brooklyn. It was a hidden gem, better than just about every other midtown cart. When it moved, my lunch buddies and I worried we'd find nothing to replace it. Biryani Card relieved us of our worries and so far has proven to be consistently good.
I've tried the biryani and the tikka so far, along with the dal puri and the samosas. I have yet to try the kati rolls or anything else, but look forward to it. read more