MADINA-nice Coney Island Avenue alternative

After this week's near-perfect take-away meal from MADINA (C.I.Av. @ Beverley Rd.), I'll offer up some praise. While I haven't quite figured out why there aren't any traditional doughy vegetable samosas here, I have been impressed by the available appetizers, mains and breads...and they won't set you back a boatload.

Chicken tikka chunks are large and lovely spiced. Equally good are the tandoori chicken legs. The long, lean chicken kababs (a buck a piece) are minimally charred and have the right peppery kick and cilantro-studded throughout.

I had some complex-flavored spinach with chicken (just beware of the bones) over the "plain rice" which is really a classic mix of basmati, cumin seeds and enough oil to make it glisten. Complimentary salad included.

Wiped it all up with a "Butter Naan" made fresh by the tandoor attendant (in this case a woman who carefully tended the oven 'til perfection was reached). Sprinkled liberally with sesame seeds and butter-brushed, the naan had a contrasty pillowy edge and crispy thin center. Can't complain at all, even if, as they say, it's really pizza dough - but then some of us love that sesame pizza!

A definite cut above the steam-table Indi-Pak-Banglas on the CIA strip...worth the trip and compensates for the closure of Bukhari down the road aways. It's the location which (until a legal battle) was called KANTACKY Fried Chicken.

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Madina
563 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11218