You can curry love!

Agra is hidden away on the second floor of an ordinary walk-up building which over looks Lexington Avenue. As soon as you open its doors atop a flight of stairs, it’s another world. The ambience is very warm and inviting, the décor is rich in color, walls adorned with ornate curtains plus Indian aromas and spices in the air. The service is very friendly and attentive. The menu has a great selection to choose from - and the food is always fresh and very tasty. They are also extremely accommodating and will be more than happy to alter spices to your needs.

Many Indian restaurants all over are influenced by North Indian Cuisine and also by the Aryan settlers, the Arab and Chinese traders, conquerors such as the Persians, Mongolians, Turks, the British and the Portuguese. As you can imagine, Indian food flourished under the many rulers that India had and as a result - centuries of investment to the art of cooking and a huge collection of lip smacking recipes.

A typical North Indian meal will consist of an assortment of unleavened flat breads like paratha, chappati or poori. Pilaf, dal, and curries made with ghee. Vegetables seasoned with yogurt, greens such as spinach and mustard greens cooked with paneer, a variety of pickles, chutneys to accompany the meal, and yogurt raitas (a sauce that acts as a cooler in contrast to the spicy and hot chutneys) and Tandoori - a specialty and quite popular. At Agra, you will see an extensive menu that features all of the above to choose from. Spices are an essential part of Indian food, it doesn’t mean that Indian dishes are always hot – it just means that it is well seasoned and aromatic. There are some hot dishes in the South of India, but cooks will use their proficiency and blend the spices to not only include taste, but color and healthful properties. For that authentic flavor in your own kitchen, you can obtain a variety of Indian spices and sauces at Kalustyan’s on Lexington Avenue.

We frequent Agra at least 2-3 times a month, they offer a business lunch from 12-3:30 and you can feast for under $10 dollars. You have the following choices: chicken, beef, lamb, keema (a minced meat) or vegetable curry served with basmati rice, cabbage, dal, onion and cilantro chutney. We started with vegetable soup – it is served with pakora (spicy fritters with vegetable/chick pea flour) it is well seasoned and fried, and goes perfectly with the soups offered here. The samosas were filled with potatoes and chicken, and fried until blistery and golden.

Although we've tried many dishes here, the lamb curry is my favorite. The curry that the lamb is cooked in, is made with a variety of spices, with just enough hints of cinnamon, fenugreek, tumeric, chili, onion, garlic, coriander, tamarind, cumin, plus the lamb is nice and tender. My friend had the chicken, and he really enjoyed it as well.

This power lunch was definitely packed with many exotic flavors, stop in and discover this little jewel of India for yourself.

Agra
807 Lexington Avenue
212-308-8281