Munch India — Restaurant in Berkeley

Munch India operates with quiet rigor from a compact storefront just off Shattuck. There is no dining room, only a kitchen. The entire floor plan is devoted to the hotline and prep station. There is no freezer, only refrigeration. Ingredients are purchased daily, mostly from Berkeley Bowl a few blocks away. Orders are placed online each morning before noon; cooking begins after.

The daily walk-in menu is limited, changes daily, and is prepared to order. The results are consistently superb. Spicing is precise, textures are balanced, and the dishes—drawn from across India—reflect deep training and care. The chefs, Diana Afroza and Nick Ahmed, have cooked professionally since the early 1990s, with backgrounds in Boston, Europe, and India.

Prices are extremely reasonable given the quality and labor involved. They are searching for a larger, dine-in location. If they find one, their costs—and likely their prices—will rise. For now, this is high-level regional Indian cooking, offered at below-market prices. It smells wonderful inside and the people you’ll meet are awesome. Order...

I used to go to their food truck ages ago and loved their food. When they stopped coming, I heard they had opened a restaurant back in 2018. Unfortunately I found out that this is now just a takeout only operation and you MUST pre-order by 12PM the day you want your food.

When we came to pick up, the owner came and talked to us and told us that the reason they had closed was because someone notorious for targeting mom and pop operations sued them for $40k over an inaccessible bathroom and because they either couldn’t fix the issue in their current space or couldn’t afford to move to another location, they had to pivot their business model. Because of the new model, they are just breaking even with bills, so please support them in any...

The Bombay butter chicken was reallyyy good 🤤🔥 the chicken was tender and sauce was delicious - the best butter chicken I’ve had in the US so far! But I had to leave 3 stars because everything else was just okay. I had the samosa, chana dal, basmati pulao, & garlic naan. The garlic naan was the biggest let down 😞💔 it was too thick (like pizza dough instead of the thin, flaky naan dough) & had big chunks of garlic on top, so the garlic flavor was unpleasant & overwhelming 😢😢. The people seemed really...