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Boston getting an Indian/Chinese fusion restaurant
By adamg on Wed, 04/23/2014 - 4:51pm
Chinese Mirch, which offers a menu with Indian-accented Chinese dishes, is prepping a location at 251 Massachusetts Ave.
The small New York-based chain, which already has an outlet in Framingham, goes before the Boston Licensing Board on Wednesday for permission to open, with proposed hours of noon to 1 a.m. The restaurant would also have a seasonal patio with 36 seats.
Loosely translated Chinese Mirch means spicy Chinese food. It is born of the energy of two distinct cultures- Chinese & Indian- as a result of the cultural coalition that took place thousands of years back when Chinese immigrants moved to neighboring India to seek new opportunities. The cultural phenomenon launched a culinary coup where Indian herbs and spices meet a blend of Cantonese, Hakka and Szechuan style cooking.
Board hearings start at 10 a.m. in its eighth-floor hearing room in City Hall.
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Comments
Eh, looks really expensive
Eh, looks really expensive for Chinese food. Though I must say any competition for Nan Ling's pathetic excuse for food is welcome.
Indian-Chinese isn't new to Boston
Several local Indian restaurants offer a handful of Indian-Chinese dishes (like chilli chicken, Szechwan chicken, etc.), though my favorite one, which had a dozen or so dishes (Allston's Indian Dhaba), closed in 2012. Mumbai Chopstix on Newbury Street is an example of an Indian-Chinese specialty restaurant; Chinese Mirch sounds a lot like it, on the fancy and pricey side.
It's the adaptation of Chinese cuisine by Chinese chefs operating in India to local tastes and available ingredients; the techniques used and the appearance of dishes is similar to traditional Chinese cuisine, but the flavor palette is decidedly Indian, and you generally get basmati instead of short-grain rice. Unusual and really good.
Its appearance in Boston reflects the growing number of H-1B workers and ex-pats from the sub-continent, as does the general improvement in the availability of regional cooking (Southern, Bengali, Sri Lankan, Pakistani) outside of the typical Punjabi/Mughal options that were pretty much all we had for many years. It's one thing I can recall Indian friends often complaining about missing here.
Himalayan Bistro in WestRox also has Indo-chinese
Their menu is broken out into South Indian, Nepali, and Indo-Chinese sections.
Full disclosure - I don't actually know how good their Indo-Chinese dishes are, as we tend to order from the Nepali menu and some of the Indian dishes.
My wife and I go there nearly
My wife and I go there nearly every Saturday for the chili chicken on the buffet. Can't get enough of that dish!
I tried one of the Indo-Chinese dishes....
... and thought it was pretty good (like pretty much everything I've ever eaten there).
It's not all that great but..
Chinese Mirch will probably end up being better than any current restaurant in Boston/Cambridge that's serving Indo-Chinese food. However, that's not saying much. Chinese Mirch, to me, will just be a spot that'll stave off my Indo-Chinese cravings until my next trip to NY/NJ area.
Re: the price level, I am not sure it'll be any different than many other restaurants in the area which serving mediocre food at a high price point.
I do have to say that the food at Mumbai Chopstix was utter gobshite. There wasn't a single thing on the menu that I could have referred to as "decent".
Where do you recommend in NYC
Where do you recommend in NYC?
Spice Symphony in Midtown NYC
Spice Symphony in Midtown NYC
Tangra Masala in Jackson Heights (Elmhurst?) or Tangra Asian Fusion in Sunnyside (Same owners/menu)
Mumbai XPress in Queens
Ming in Central NJ (Iselin)
You might find a decent take on some indo-chinese food at a few # of restaurants in Murray (Curry) hill. Chinese Mirch in Murray Hill actually used to be pretty good back in the day. The quality had suffered the last time I ate there (about a year ago).
Now that I think of it, if the quality of food at the newly proposed Boston Chinese Mirch is better than the one in Framingham, I'd call it a win.
Mumbai Chopstix moved or closed
Mumbai Chopstix hasn't been on Newbury Street for a while, I tried it once with workmates and didn't think it was very good. Yelp says it's now in Central Square?
What I really want to know is now that India Samraat closed where can one can get good but not too expensive India food (please don't recommend India Quality).
Finally,
A place to eat!
Does anyone know where I can
Does anyone know where I can get some Norwegian-Thai fusion cuisine.
Oslo
n/t
mmmmmmmm
Pad lutefisk
Maybe the cafeteria here ,
Maybe the cafeteria here , The Norwegian University of Science and Technology
http://www.ntnu.edu/
Khukan – Sisaket
http://www.sisaket-norway-bar.com/
Several decades ago there was
Several decades ago there was a Norwegian Restaurant in the theatre district; I think it was in the alley that now leads to the Transportation Building. Specialty of the house was ground fish formed into boiled fish balls then covered with other fish products.... all an acquired taste.
Just noticed another Indian-Chinese place
Curry n Wok on Mass Ave in North Cambridge specializes in Indo-Chinese, and has a Southern Indian menu, too. Haven't been, but it looks promising.
blah
Yeah i just noticed that they are coming to 251 mass ave, i have been to wok and curry and their indian is ok but the chinese cannot be compared to this one, I have been to chinese mirch in Framingham and in NY and therefore I have had more than 1 experience