Reviewer's Summary: Decent Roll, Too Little Stuffing, Fine Kesaria
If you're looking for Chicken Tikka Masala, Alu Baingan, Saag Paneer, Garlic Naan and Gulab Jamun, then Liebe is not your NYC Indian restaurant.
Au contraire, Liebe is about fusion cuisine. You know things like Rolls, Salads and Kesaria smoothies, stuff that even Indians didn't know existed until a few years back.
Being no strangers to Rolls, Wraps etc we marched toward Liebe on Mott St on a hot NYC afternoon (looking at the countless Chinese faces in Chinatown on the way). Of course, we've had Rolls in NYC in the past, in the now closed Indian Bread Company on Bleecker St, at Kati Rolls on Lexington Avenue and elsewhere.
Located between Elizabeth St and Prince St, Liebe is a small narrow place.
As we walked in around 11:30 A.M. the other day, the small restaurant was deserted except for the staff.
We were warmly greeted by a pretty Caucasian waitress and a heavily accented waiter. A welcome respite, indeed, compared to the rude service and hostile treatment that Desi diners are typically subjected to at a lot of NYC Indian restaurants.
The Caucasian waitress showed us to a table and handed us the menu card.
We quickly placed our order of Malai Kebab Gourmet Roll ($7.45), Veggie Roll with Gobi ($5.45), Gourmet Beverage Kesaria ($4.45) and a side order of Channa Salad ($2.95).
Good Gourmet Malai Kebab Roll
Our Gourmet Malai Kebab Roll came wrapped in a medium thick soft chapathi like roti. Besides the Malai Chicken Kebab or white Chicken Kebab pieces, the stuffing included chopped Cilantro leaves, sliced red Onion and Tomato.
The texture of the roti was soft and nice and we added a dash of Chilli Sauce and Mint Sauce and gobbled it up.
While we enjoyed the flavorful Liebe's Gourmet Malai Kebab roll, we were a little disappointed with the small amount of the stuffing inside. The other gripe we had was though we clearly requested for it to be spicy in the Indian style what we got was just a medium spiced roll.
Was our waitress hard of hearing? Or the kitchen didn't give a damn how we wanted our roll?
Decent Veggie Roll
Just like the Gourmet Kebab Roll, Liebe's veggie Roll too came wrapped in a medium thick chapathi like roti. The Veggie stuffing included Gobi, boiled Potato pieces, spices, slices of red Onion, Tomato and Cilantro leaves.
Again, we enjoyed the Veggie Roll and our gripe here too was that it wasn't as spicy as we requested it. To compensate for the medium spice level of our Veggie Roll, we added a dash of Green Chilly and Mint Sauces.
Excellent Kesaria
Our order of Kesaria came cold to the table without ice cubes as requested.
Kesaria, an Almond and Pistachio Smoothie drink, had a nice flavor and was greatly relished although we'd have enjoyed it more had it been a tad thicker.
Nice Channa Salad
Being gluttonous for anything Indian, we added a Channa Salad to our order.
Liebe's Channa Salad with boiled Chickpeas, chopped Cucumber, Cilantro, red Onion, Tomato with a dash of what tasted like Mint/Green Chutney dressing was delicious and left no room for complaint.
Quick Service
Our Caucasian waitress was friendly and got our food quickly. She even enquired about our preferences about spice level while taking our order and even recommended Kesaria which we enjoyed.
Alas, though we wanted our rolls to be spicy in the Indian style we were served with medium spice food.
Liebe NYC is a compact place with just two tables and about six bar stools. But the small size of the place is no show-stopper as it was clean, served decent rolls and had enough electrical plug points to recharge your iPhone or Android while you charge yourself by digging into its flavorful Rolls.
Will we honor Liebe NYC with a revisit? Maybe! - © NYIndia.us
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