Masala Express - Owner Vinita Chawla's Casual Indian Cafe in South Clarendon

[cheezepowder]

Masala Express is a newish Indian carryout/cafe (Halal meat) in Lyon Park near Clarendon.  It's in a tiny strip mall on Pershing near Wash Blvd (around the corner from EatBar/Tallula).  The website is still under construction, but it's www.masalaexpress2622.com

Info from carryout menu:
2622-A North Pershing Dr,
Phone numbers:  703-567-1067, 703-647-9079

They deliver ($20 min, 2 mile radius)

Hours are Mon-Th 11am-9pm, Fri-Sat 11am-10pm, Sun noon-8pm

Link to article on ArlNow, which says "The restaurant is owned by Vinita Chawla, a veteran of the hotel
industry. Also helping out is her husband, Naresh, who has run a catering business focusing on Indian cuisine for the past 20 years."

It's a small operation with a few bare bones tables.  Most people were getting carryout.  I got carryout Friday night, liked it, and plan to go back to try more things on the menu.

I ordered the seek lamb kabob, lamb vindaloo, and palak paneer. They were pretty busy with call-in orders, and I waited about a half hour for my order.  They have Comcast xfinity wifi (free for Comcast internet subscribers) so I had no problem filling the time.

The lamb vindaloo had small pieces of lamb, firm potato, and a sauce with some spicy heat to it.  The seek kabob was a little dry but well spiced.  I also liked the palak paneer, which had a thick consistency from the spinach.

Their menu seems to have typical Indian dishes -- tandoori, chicken, lamb, vegetarian, and biryanis.  They also offer a mix and match platter of 1 meat and 2 veggies from a small steam table.

[hapatite]

Ordered take out from here right after it opened. It looked dingy inside, like a hole-in-the-wall Chinese take out place, but the food was good. I agree that the fare here is a bit more spicy than at normal Indian restaurants. We got the vindaloo and it was burning my mouth so much, I had to take several breaks. I've ordered vindaloo at Curry Mantra and Indique and had never had anything this spicy before.