I had the opportunity to eat at Purnima last night. We were in New York visiting family, and we decided that we wanted Indian food. One of my family members is a chef in New York and thought he remembered there being an Indian restaurant near Times Square. When we arrived, we realized that we were looking at Purnima of Kitchen Nightmares. We decided to give it a go even though we had seen the Kitchen Nightmares episode when this restaurant was featured. I was a little worried at first due to the way the place looked before the episode. However, I was plesantly surprised. As previous reviews stated, the place was about 20% full during our visit. The wait staff was quick to point out menu items that were good. My wife had the chicken korma and I had the chicken malai kebab. I was not too sure about how spicy I wanted mine, so the waiter brought me the spicy (very spicy) and the mild sauce. Both were delicious. I ended up mixing the two (3 parts mild/1 part spicy), and it made a great dish. My wife's chicken korma was just right as well. Everyone else enjoyed their meal as well. Once dinner was over, the waiter invited one of the children in our group to view the chicken (it happened to be the chef's daughter). So..she and her dad (the chef) went to check things out. When they came back, they were followed by the award winning chef that joined Purnima during Kitchen Nightmares (Vikas Khanna). He introduced himself and was pleased to have. us. The report on the kitchen is that is is very clean and in good working order. This is truely some of the best Indian food I have ever had. If the opportunity araises, definitely give Purnima a try.
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