A good dining experience definitely calls for good food, but is that enough? To get an amazing experience, not only should the food be mouthwatering, the ambience, the service and the presentation should all be par excellence.

Vatan, Indian Restaurant in New York City is one such place where dining is a wonderful experience. Love the ambience and the food, the friendly staff  overall makes it a great combination.

The Food:

A prefix three course menu with unlimited serving and delicious taste. An Indian vegetarian foodie’s delight. If you want to just go and have your favorite Indian dish (specially from north or south India), this is not the place for you.

The concept is of a “Thali”, where you get a variety of dishes and the thali at Vatan being specifically a Gujarati thali. Yes, pretty much each Indian State has a Thali of its own 😊, more to come on various Thali’s at Kitchen Rendezvous…stay tuned. Some distinct flavors from the State of Gujarat fill your platter at Vatan.

The first course is appetizers, served with pickles and chutneys (dips). You can order drinks separately and a couple of additional starters are also available on order. We ordered the Gol-guppas (Pani Puri) and I would suggest you skip that for two reasons – one the appetizers in the first Course are going to be enough to fill your stomach and second because they weren’t the best Pani Puri’s! The litchi Martini was good.

The second Course is mains which is followed by desserts.

The Ambience:

I absolutely loved it…the concept of an Indian village Courtyard – “Aangan” has been set up, with beautiful paintings on the walls, a traditional water-well replica, Huge Ganesha Statue,husk roofs and much more. It gives you a feel of being in a small Indian village. Don’t expect the food to be served in fancy china, the steel Thali / Plate is as close as you can get to minimalistic village feel, though Pottery dinnerware would have even more authentic. Just saying 😉

While I am now a repeat visitor, I strongly recommend you at least visit once for the experience and food. Just remember to reserve your appetite for all the food. I also recommend making reservations in advance. You can check my rating on yelp and also make a reservation.

Have you visited Vatan? Share your experience in comments.

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