Ekta Indian Cuisine - now also at Bryn Mawr!

Ekta has been one of my favorites in Philly for some time based on the following:

• It's arguably the best Indian food I have had. Ever. 
• The quality/taste is consistently lives up to my expectations
• The Fishtown location delivers essentially to all of metro Philadelphia. The delivery radius is actually absurd (Fishtown, Nolibs, Fairmount, Rittenhouse, Center City, Old City, Queen Village), and even though they have pulled back the boundaries a bit, it's still quite impressive.
• Relatively inexpensive.
• The leftovers reheat beautifully - almost the original state. 

Okay okay, I'll stop gushing about this place now. The reason for this post is that one day, we went online to Ekta's website and saw the flashing header had changed to say "NOW ALSO IN BRYN MAWR!" Apparently this has been true since February 2010. 

Bryn Mawr is only about 15 min from where I live, which is certainly closer than 250 E. Girard! I was ecstatic at the possibilities. I thought of all the times I craved just a bite of the amazing curries, sauces and tender meats that Ekta has to offer, but couldn't justify a long drive into the city.... seeing the convenient hours of business for the Bryn Mawr location, I realized I will never have to dismiss a craving for Indian food ever again! 

So, on Sunday, we decided to give Ekta Bryn  Mawr a whirl. Of course, we proceeded with caution. Would the Bryn Mawr location taste as good as Fishtown? Would their Tikka Masala still make us sigh contentedly and love life just a bit more at that moment? Would their Saagwala be so good that it would make us forget that Chicken Tikka Masala was actually our favorite with each new bite?

:: Ekta - Bryn Mawr :: 

address: 1003 Lancaster Ave, Bryn Mawr 

what we ate: samosa chat, chicken tikka masala, chicken saagwala, naan, pistachio ice cream

Sometimes, if I am eating Ekta cuisine with a larger group, I will try other items off of their menu. However, whenever it's just 2-3 people, we generally always order the same thing. Why mess with perfection?! The samosa chat, though, was a new addition for us. 

Samosa Chat: vegetable pastry topped + chick peas + mint + onion + tamarind + yogurt

This was soooooo interesting. I have never had anything like it. First of all, we were surprised that the dish was served COLD. It was layers of fried pastry dough that is used in samosas, flattened to form the first layer. Then around it and on top there were crumbled pieces of fried noodle-type looking things. It looked and tasted very similar to chopped up fried singapore noodles. Then, it was topped with chick peas, onions, mint, sauces, and a few slivers of ginger.

At first, it was weird trying to get used to the fact that this dish was cold, but with each extremely flavorful bite, I was convinced that the medley of flavors wouldn't be as profound if the ingredients had been heated up.  And to be quite honest, I'm not sure what part of this dish should have been heated up. Certainly, the yogurt and tamarind and sauce wouldn't have been? It was almost like a salad. Kind of.  

Chicken Tikka Masala: boneless chicken breast + creamy onion and tomato sauce

If you haven't tried Indian cuisine before, I always recommend that you start with Tikka Masala - it is definitely the most approachable intro dish. This is probably because Tikka Masala isn't really authentic traditional Indian cuisine, but rather an invention that originated with the Brits by tweaking an existing dish to friendly-fy the taste for Western palates. However it was born, I don't care, I love it. 

The sauce is usually orange in color, which is attributed to its creamy tomato base. I don't want to think about how much butter goes into this dish, but I do know it's enough to make it AH-MAAAAZING. It usually has chunks of roasted chicken throughout the spicy sauce and it's best eaten with rice or with Naan (Indian flatbread). 

I thought the Naan at the Ekta in Bryn Mawr was actually better than the Fishtown location. But, I concede it may be related to the fact that we actually dined in and had the naan fresh, rather than after it had been wrapped in foil for the better part of an hour. :)

[EDIT: Apparently, per Soopah, the "naan was hands down better than the naan in fishtown, takeout OR dine-in."

The Tikka Masala did taste slightly different than what we were used to at the Fishtown shop. I'd say it was a teensy bit less sweet, but it still tasted heavenly and I wouldn't really be able to tell you if one was better than the other - just that they were different. SLIGHTLY. 

Chicken Saagwala: chicken breast cooked with spinach + onion + tomato sauce + chopped ginger  

Saagwala is one of my newer favorite Indian dishes. It's essentially like a cream of spinach dish, with pureed or chopped spinach, excessive amounts of butter and ginger.     

The saagwala tasted the same as what we expected, thankfully. The one minor difference is that I felt like the spinach pieces may have been larger at this location? So - rather than pureed/minced, they were closer to a very fine chop? It doesn't really matter though, it was stellar. 

Pistachio Ice Cream

We don't know this for certain, but we suspect the desserts could be made on-site as well. We finished our meal with the pistachio ice cream, that appeared in this round molded shape. The ice cream tasted as though it had some yogurt in it, and was overall pretty tasty and refreshing.

About the comparison to Tiffin

When discussing options for Indian cuisine in Philly, inevitably there will be a debate about the merits of Ekta over Tiffin. The story is that the head chef at (the more well-known and well-marketed) Tiffin left the restaurant at the height of its popularity to start his own place - Ekta. Amusingly, though the owner of Tiffin has an MBA - which is evident from the masterful way he brands his restaurants - Raju Bhatterai, the chef/owner of Ekta, seems to just be mimicking Tiffin's business strategy. And appears to be succeeding!

Ekta is located a few blocks away on the same street as the original Tiffin location. A suburban outlet of Tiffin opened for business in Wynnewood. Raju opened his suburban version of Ekta a few towns down in Bryn Mawr. Personally, I wish both restaurants great success. 

If we're debating straight up food - the short version is that I prefer the fried samosas and pakoras at Tiffin, but the sauces and main dishes really shine at Ekta. 

Prices, Decor and BYOB!

Just wanted to add a note about this. Across the board, the prices at the Bryn Mawr location definitely were $1-3 more than in the city. I'm sure the disparity in rent for each respective zip code has much to do with it. It's not enough to really balk at, but did want to include that detail.

The interior decor in Bryn Mawr is actually very nice. Whereas the Fishtown location does feel very much like a makeshift dining room attached to a takeout counter, the Bryn Mawr location boasts of all the staples that are required to make a Mainline restaurant successful - cleanly and semi-formally attired waitstaff, friendly and attentive service, comfortable but solid wooden tables/chairs.

An added bonus - it's BYOB! There isn't much more to say about that.

Overall, you can't go wrong at either Ekta location. It's only wrong if you don't try it. There - I've said it. Consider yourselves judged until you do.