Indika House

"Located in a corner of Bushwick beneath the clattering elevated tracks, this restaurant is decorated with colorful floor-to-ceiling murals of flowers, elephants, the Taj Mahal, and other Indian landmarks. The menu is broad, from commonplace dishes like butter chicken and lamb curry, to rarer regional viands like lamb gassi, a recipe from Mangalore laced with coconut milk and tamarind, making for a haunting sweetness." - Robert Sietsema, Nadia Chaudhury

"Located in a corner of Bushwick beneath the clattering elevated tracks, Indika House is decorated with colorful floor-to-ceiling murals of flowers, elephants, the Taj Mahal, and other Indian landmarks. The menu is broad, from commonplace dishes like butter chicken and lamb curry, to more rare regional viands like chicken gassi, a recipe from Mangalore laced with coconut milk and tamarind, making for a haunting sweetness." - Robert Sietsema

"Indika’s five chaat options include a rare find for Brooklyn: a good eggplant chaat. They keep it simple, with just a few strokes (i.e., just the right amount) of yogurt, tamarind chutney, and a generous pile of red onions on top of the fried eggplant fritters. You’ll get crispy bites of eggplant and a ton of sharp onion flavor, with yogurt and chutney to make the onions a little less intense. One thing to note is that the chaat prices here are double what you’d find at a couple other Indian restaurants in the area—but the quality is considerably higher. The chutneys taste fresh, nothing is stale, and your samosa won’t come drowned in dahi like a soggy, sunken ship. We also like that you can get a surprisingly big portion of the aloo papri chaat as an appetizer for their great combo deal. " - neha talreja

"North Brooklyn is short on Indian restaurants you should travel for, but you’ll probably find at least one in your neighborhood to fulfill your cravings for chicken tikka masala and a samosa. Indika House is that spot for Bushwick. This place has a funky Bushwick name and a long menu that’ll inspire you to switch up your order each time you eat here. The Indo-Chinese section of the menu makes Indika House worth a name drop, with options like gobi manchurian and chicken lollipops that have fried breading, sticky-sweet sauce, and plenty of tartness and tang. Order both of these dishes along with the hakka noodles and sweet corn soup. The kati rolls are perfect for a portable breakfast when you’re sick of BECs, and we appreciate the generous sprinkling of sev on top of a papdi chaat already piled with potatoes, chickpeas, yogurt and chutneys. (You should probably sit down for that one, or at least have a Tide Stick nearby.) This restaurant is currently take-out only, and they have a great special that involves an appetizer, bread, and your choice from a list of entrees that includes saag paneer and, yes, chicken tikka masala." - Neha Talreja

"Decorated with colorful murals, this distinguished Bushwick Indian restaurant in the shadow of the M, J, and Z tracks offers recipes from all over the country on its long menu. But its signature curry is a pungent lamb number. Shot through with coconut milk and colored an agreeable shade of reddish brown, it flings off odors of ginger and cumin. And no, it’s not made with curry powder, though curry is the term applied to the dish by the menu." - Robert Sietsema