Ekta Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Philadelphia

The Daily Meal gives a nod to Ekta Indian Cuisine, which has locations in Fishtown, University City and Bryn Mawr.

Ekta is one of two offshoots from Tiffin, the Indian concept launched by Munish Narula. Former employee Raju Bhattarai launched Ekta as a rival to his former workplace, promising a more authentic Indian dining experience. Indeblue was also launched by a former Tiffin employee.

As The Daily Meal notes, there's been bad blood between Narula and Bhattarai ever since their split. Things got so bad police once were called in to settle a disturbance that was documented by the Inquirer's Michael Klein, though the online version of the article has since been taken down.

Regardless, The Daily Meal believes Ekta came out on top where it mattered most.

On the culinary level ... Ekta seems to have won out thanks to Bhattarai’s own blend of garam masala used in much of their dishes. Try the Ekta naan, stuffed with black sesame seed, dry fruit, and nuts, with kid-friendly saag paneer (paneer cheese cooked with spinach, light cream, tomato sauce, and onion) or lamb vindaloo.

The Daily Meal's list also gave nods to three New Jersey restaurants: Dimple’s BombayTalk (Iselin), Dosa Grill (North Brunswick) and Shalimar (Iselin).

While listenng to #XPNStock at my sister's house knowing a bit of Ravi Shankar's Sitar was coming put me in the mood for Indian food.

Thanks to TripAdvisor I saw nearby Ekta Indian Cuisine's rave reviews and I had Uber Eats bring me Basil Naan and Baigan Bharta and both were delicious.

If you like Indian food you should check this place out. There extensive menu includes 12 different types of Naan and when dining in you can BYOB too.WFPB but will settle for vegan. If you select correctly you can get healthy Indian cuisine. I chose the vegetable samosa. They were deep fried so I basically ate the inside and they were good. Opted for the tandoori roti instead of the regular naan for health reasons and it was good as well. I choose the Baingan Bharta (eggplant) and was pleasantly surprised...very tasty and pretty healthy considering it wasn't home cooked. I would definitely go back and try one of their other vegan friendly options.I have been eating Indian food for at least 20 years & have tried dozens of Indian restaurants. Ekta surpasses all of them. This is a first class restaurant. Food is 5-star and the service is also...

Pretty good, but there are competitors around.

Ekta is pretty good -- decent selection, taste, price, and decor. It would be the definitive Indian restaurant to go to... if not for the 3 other competitors in the area that each have their own strength.

Ekta so far does not have a signature dish or characteristic that outshines the other restaurants. The previous restaurant in the venue had awesome Tandori chicken that it was proud of, but Ekta has not inherited its recipe. The butter nan that's served to your table as part of the buffet is a great experience, though, since it's hot and fresh compared to soggy or hard nan that's left out in buffet tubs.

Ekta dishes are on the milder side with moderate amounts of spices in all dishes. Kids who usually can't eat chicken masala seem to enjoy Ekta's chicken masala. (Although I suspect it may have been chicken makhani labeled as chicken masala, since I had their chicken makhani on a different occasion and they seemed the same) There's been chai, desserts, soup, and biryani in the buffet selection every time.

The buffet is definitely better during busy hours like lunch. The difference in taste and freshness is pretty apparent when comparing weekend lunches to...

I've always enjoyed the dinner buffet, which has many quality options and can be very filling. One can definitely get their money's worth just from doing the buffet.

The eating space is generally clean but is kind of small, and dimly lit (I doubt that was for ambiance.) The staff has been friendly to me and helpful with questions.

My biggest problem is an incident that happened last time I was here: A lady with her service dog came in right when I was paying my bill and two staff members immediately told her she couldn't have the dog in the building. She tried explaining her situation, that it wasn't a pet but a trained animal that she had a legal right to accompany her, but they were adamant that the dog wasn't allowed, saying it might "scare other customers." I don't know how the situation ended up being resolved.

Note to the owner: it is illegal to deny someone access to your restaurant just because they require the use of a service dog. That was very unprofessional and...