My Saturday plans of feasting on shellfish at Flex Mussels
with my parents were quashed by a 5 p.m. opening time and a very starving family
at 3:30. But that wasn’t going to stop
me from crossing another restaurant off my bucket list! So we headed to the
Drunken Munkey in Yorkville – because that is by far the most amazing name for
a restaurant that I've ever heard. Also because Indian food
is exotic and exciting and they apparently have great cocktails!
The restaurant was super tiny, but the bar was really nice
and the décor featured lots of monkeys, which I was totally digging. I was starved and dehydrated so I passed on
the cocktail, but after asking the waiter for suggestions my dad ordered a Bramble-
fresh blackberries, simple syrup, blackberry liquor, lemon and lots of gin! I
tried a sip, of course, and it was DELICIOUS! I used his spoon/straw combo to
pick out all the blackberry schmutz when he was finished.
(Sweet and refreshing Bramble!)
Since I gave up meat for Lent, I decided to order the Bagara Baigan
– baby eggplant in a coconut curry.
(Bagara Baigan)
The baby eggplants were so cute! But this dish was a little disappointing.
I just felt like I was eating 4 baby eggplant that had been floating in a bowl
of coconut curry. They didn’t really
come together in the same way a curry with meat would have. I literally ate the eggplant and then used a
spoon to eat the coconut curry like a soup (don’t get me wrong, the coconut
curry was still delicious!) I was a little jealous of my parents Goan Pork
Vindalu (hunks of pork in a spicy chili vinegar tomato sauce- too spicy
for me though!) and Lamb Shank
Rogan Josh (braised lamb, seasoning
spices, tomato curry).
(Mom and Dad's meat-based curries may have had me a little jealous...)
Each dish was
served with long grain ghee rice (with a cashew on top, yum!) and 4 pieces of
naan. Some of the naan was delicious and
doughy while some pieces were a little two crunchy for my liking. Either way, the naan and the rice are
probably the reason I wasn’t completely in love with this meal- I try to stay
clear of carbs. My Bagara Baigan proably
would have been much more enjoyable had a mixed my rice into the dish and
scooped it up with naan, so I suppose that’s my own fault!
The table is also
presented with a bunch of traditional Indian sides during the meal- raita
(basically a tzatsiki yogurt sauce, which was great), lemon dal (a type of
lentil soup that I thought was incredibly delicious and may have hoarded from
my parents), pickled onion (strangely delicious in small bites), and a little
pot of cucumber salad!
(I'm always a fan of extra stuff brought to the table! Clockwise: Lemon dal, raita, pickled onion, cucumber salad)
Of course- I didn’t
stop with just ordering a meal. I had to have two sides as
well. And they were probably my favorite
part of the meal!
First was the Cauliflower Foogath (turmeric roasted
cauliflower with cilantro and cumin) which was an amazing blend of some of my
favorite spices! Second was the Chana Massala (chickpeas, mango powdered, black
pepper, onion). I decided that I’m just
going to order this from Drunken Munkey, put it in a pita at home, and voila
dinner is served! It was delicious and I ate entirely too many chickpeas for
one sitting but I didn’t really care.
(MMMMMMM)
My parents LOVED Drunken Munkey and were super excited by
the meal. I think my mental block
against the rice and naan probably ruined my experience, but I thoroughly
enjoyed the baby eggplant, lemon dal, Chana Masala and cauliflower…vegetables
are great.
I will now order lemon dal whenever I see it on a menu, of
that you can be sure!
Drunken Munkey has brunch on the weekends and pretty great
hours, and you can also order from them online!
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