Biryani Card

What sets Biryani Card apart from its competition, you ask? I shall tell you:
1) Chicken tikka on the menu: proof you’re not dealing with the typical chicken-​lamb-​rice cart.
2) Quality ingredients: Eating the tikka, I bit into a whole cardamom pod. Cardamom is the third most expensive spice in the world, behind only saffron and vanilla. You think the guys on 53^rd street are buying cardamom for you? No. They are not. Additionally, the tikka often contains mango pickle, other real spices, and is topped by Sriracha (sometimes the real stuff and sometimes homemade or off-​brand, it seems) which maybe isn’t how your Bangladeshi grammy would make it but is fine by me.
3) Also on the menu: biryani, and thelawala (Indian street food) in the form of samosas and dal puri. Dal puri is a poofy fry of lentils-​a little oily, obviously, but it’s tasty and it serves as another indicator this cart has some real cooking going on.
4) Aamir Hussein: Speaking to the chef, we learned Biryani Card is owned by Aamir Hussein, owner of my old favorite cart, Aamir Halal. That cart’s done gone and moved to Brooklyn. It was a hidden gem, better than just about every other midtown cart. When it moved, my lunch buddies and I worried we’d find nothing to replace it. Biryani Card relieved us of our worries and so far has proven to be consistently good.
I’ve tried the biryani and the tikka so far, along with the dal puri and the samosas. I have yet to try the kati rolls or anything else, but look forward to it.

Based on my last experience, I have to give it 5 stars. The food was just excellent. Just two problems: the time I went before, the food was mediocre. If I were reviewing just that experience alone, I would probably give it 3.5 stars. The second problem is that the availability of the cart doesn’t seem consistent. Sometimes there’s another cart in the 46^th Street location (outside the hair salon), sometimes they just close early. I always look for the friendly, older Bengladeshi gentlemen that works the cart during daytime.
As others have mentioned, you can customize the menu to your liking. The best part: they put in an egg. That makes the overall platter even better. The second best part, they mix in these seasoned vegetable mix in with your chicken that almost eliminates the need for white sauce. It’s an explosion of flavors.
I’ve also tried the kati rolls, but they are really subpar compared to their chicken over rice platter. The gentlemen at the cart is a very nice man too — sometimes if you’re waiting long, he will give you a free samosa for waiting.
They used to be around until late at night, but I went by the area recently and couldn’t find them. It’s unfortunate because they are a better alternative to the Halal Guys on 53.