Why is Indian food always expensive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I have never, in my entire life, paid $5usd for one piece of naan.

Doordash? Those places have a markup over the restaurant's price of course.

I believe the restaurant sets the prices on the apps, but they do increase the price because of whatever fees they have to pay. But still, no lol. Maybe $5 for a pack of 2 or 3, but never for one piece.

I have never seen a restaurant that has sold 2-3 pieces of Naan for $5. Would love to know where you’re eating.

Here are 3 places I like. 1 piece of Naan is $4.
https://www.saffronva.com/
https://www.haandi.com/menu.php
https://pindindianrestaurant.com/menu

Side of bread is $4 or higher at many restaurants. Why are we complaining about Naan? Fries don't even come with the meal anymore at a lot of restaurants - $5 to $8 for a side of prepackaged fried potatoes.

But yes, let's complain about the naan, ok.

DP. I think you are confusing a $4 "side of bread" with a "single piece of bread" there. I don't think anyone has complained about $4 for the amount of naan that you would get with a $4 side of bread in a basket.

So what? A side of fries (pre-frozen and cut, then fried) still costs more than a side of naan which is handmade.

Where's the complaining?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Why shouldn't Indian food be expensive?

Again, vegetarian based ingredients. It’s understandable why a seafood restaurant would be expensive due to the cost and short shelf life of fish. My go to Indian order is usually a samosa (pastry, peas, potato and spices) garlic naan (flour, oil and spices) and a palak paneer (spinach, paneer, oil/butter and spices). It has nothing to do with the food being Indian. I usually end up spending close to what I would spend on sushi at an Indian restaurant and to me based on ingredients it never made sense and portions are usually on the smaller side.

Omg I had to comment on this blatant ignorance. Have you any clue how to make a samosa. It's very labor intensive and surprising the cheaper prices they charge for this. So much easier to buy expensive fish and cook it for 2 min vs making samosas for 2 hours!

Samosas are actually quite quick to make for an experienced cook.

Not nearly as quick as making fresh fish, you didn't say anything that negated their comment.

It takes longer for the filling alone for Samosas, let alone the handmade dough and then actually filling them and cooking them.

It's essentially the same as handmade ravioli but somehow the premium for ravioli made from handmade dough and handfilled with handmade filling is ok, but not the premium for samosas?

ok.

Feel free to pay double if you want. We make samosas regularly at home and it’s really not complicated.

Handmade samosas = handmade ravoli, same type of work involved

Why complain that handmade samosas are too expensive but not complain about handmade ravioli?

What you do at home is completely beside the point. People can make handmade ravioli on the cheap at home too.

But people generally are fine paying a premium for handmade ravioli at an italian restaurant but will complain about the price of handmade samosas?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:There is a difference between quality and type of lentils. There is definitely differences in quality of lentils. The most obvious is age. This is why most people will buy lentils at stores where there is frequent replacement of the lentil stock. Never go to a place where few people buy lentils. Those lentils could have been sitting there for years.

Oh come on. Gradations of lentils is not like gradations of meat.

1lb of organic lentils at Whole Foods is $2.99. Food lion is $1.89. Those are the two extremes I can think of (although I'm sure people know of even cheaper lentil sources!)

Where you shop says you don’t know lentils from lettuce.

I looked up prices online for the two extreme price cases I could think of. Feel free to share your superior knowledge about lentil prices.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Indian good is expensive because it requires certain expertise, equipment and spices, none of which are cheap. It also is expensive because people are willing to pay what the restaurants charge.

Not true except for a few specific dishes. Your run of the mill palak paneer, butter chicken and naan are very easy to make.

That does not even begin to explore the very wide world of Indian cuisine. It’s patently untrue that “except for a few specific dishes”, the rest do not require expertise, equipment or spices.

Do try to make a Dal baati churma or Soan papdi, and report back on how easy they’re to make (and before you go there, these are but two examples of hundreds of dishes that are difficult to make).

Silly argument. No one in India makes soan papdi at home. You buy it from the halwai. When I was a kid growing up in India there would be vendors cycling around the neighborhood carrying the feathery sweet in big glass jars. We’re talking about typical Indian restaurant fare in the US.

I have eaten a soan/halwa combo dessert at a restaurant; was quite good although I don’t really like either separately. I found it rather dismissive to say that with a few exceptions, Indian food is easy to make, when it is likely the other way around, or 50-50.

My point is that just because you can make some sort of bastardized version of some Indian dishes at home does not mean that the actual ones, served at many restaurants, are not time/labor/ingredient intensive.

Take butter chicken, for instance. The dish is believed to be created to use up leftover tandoori chicken. As such, you’ll have to first make tandoori chicken, and then use it to make butter chicken, which let’s just say that “crockpot butter chicken” is most decidedly not doing. Of course, since most of us don’t have a tandoor, if we bake the chicken, you’d then have to take the extra step of infusing the curry with a little smoke to emulate the authentic flavor. If a restaurant charges 20 bucks for a butter chicken and they’re serving the real deal, I’d call that a bargain.

90% of the restaurants are baking the chicken in the oven and using a frozen sauce base among other shortcuts.

And so is Olive Garden but nobody is complaining about their prices.

Anyone who goes to the Olive Garden or those casual sit down American restaurants IS complaining about the prices. This is why they are going under.

Indian restaurants are sort of the Olive Garden of Asian food.

wtf w/ this racist comment?

Prices EVERYWHERE at restaurants are up! Burger places are charging $18 for a burger and fries!

If you find yourself complaining only about $5 for a piece of naan, but not $6 for a side of fries or $4.50 for a side of garlic bread (GARLIC BREAD!!!!), that is racist!

No it's not. It's food.

[Anonymous]

I found Spice Kraft to be fairly affordable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a difference between quality and type of lentils. There is definitely differences in quality of lentils. The most obvious is age. This is why most people will buy lentils at stores where there is frequent replacement of the lentil stock. Never go to a place where few people buy lentils. Those lentils could have been sitting there for years.

Oh come on. Gradations of lentils is not like gradations of meat.

1lb of organic lentils at Whole Foods is $2.99. Food lion is $1.89. Those are the two extremes I can think of (although I'm sure people know of even cheaper lentil sources!)

Where you shop says you don’t know lentils from lettuce.

I looked up prices online for the two extreme price cases I could think of. Feel free to share your superior knowledge about lentil prices.

I said nothing about prices. I said there are different kinds of lentils, from different suppliers, used in varying ways, and some are better than others. If you’re buying lentils at the supermarket you’re not even in the ballpark.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:You’re going to the wrong places if you think Indian food is always expensive. Let me guess, Rasika and Bombay Club in DC? Go to the small, unassuming places in Northern VA where Indian people go.

Where do you recommend?

Also would love to know - everything I’ve tried around me in Fairfax is so bland.

I’m still looking. We used to love Spice Xing in Rockville town center but they closed permanently.

Spice Xing was great! I read Passage of India in Bethesda has the same owners. I don't like the menu as much, but it's solid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a difference between quality and type of lentils. There is definitely differences in quality of lentils. The most obvious is age. This is why most people will buy lentils at stores where there is frequent replacement of the lentil stock. Never go to a place where few people buy lentils. Those lentils could have been sitting there for years.

Oh come on. Gradations of lentils is not like gradations of meat.

1lb of organic lentils at Whole Foods is $2.99. Food lion is $1.89. Those are the two extremes I can think of (although I'm sure people know of even cheaper lentil sources!)

Where you shop says you don’t know lentils from lettuce.

I looked up prices online for the two extreme price cases I could think of. Feel free to share your superior knowledge about lentil prices.

I said nothing about prices. I said there are different kinds of lentils, from different suppliers, used in varying ways, and some are better than others. If you’re buying lentils at the supermarket you’re not even in the ballpark.

Well this is the thread for you! The title is "why is Indian food always expensive?" - please chime in on these magical lentils that are making the food expensive! It would shut down the thread! OP would be grateful! What is holding you back?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Indian good is expensive because it requires certain expertise, equipment and spices, none of which are cheap. It also is expensive because people are willing to pay what the restaurants charge.

Not true except for a few specific dishes. Your run of the mill palak paneer, butter chicken and naan are very easy to make.

That does not even begin to explore the very wide world of Indian cuisine. It’s patently untrue that “except for a few specific dishes”, the rest do not require expertise, equipment or spices.

Do try to make a Dal baati churma or Soan papdi, and report back on how easy they’re to make (and before you go there, these are but two examples of hundreds of dishes that are difficult to make).

Silly argument. No one in India makes soan papdi at home. You buy it from the halwai. When I was a kid growing up in India there would be vendors cycling around the neighborhood carrying the feathery sweet in big glass jars. We’re talking about typical Indian restaurant fare in the US.

I have eaten a soan/halwa combo dessert at a restaurant; was quite good although I don’t really like either separately. I found it rather dismissive to say that with a few exceptions, Indian food is easy to make, when it is likely the other way around, or 50-50.

My point is that just because you can make some sort of bastardized version of some Indian dishes at home does not mean that the actual ones, served at many restaurants, are not time/labor/ingredient intensive.

Take butter chicken, for instance. The dish is believed to be created to use up leftover tandoori chicken. As such, you’ll have to first make tandoori chicken, and then use it to make butter chicken, which let’s just say that “crockpot butter chicken” is most decidedly not doing. Of course, since most of us don’t have a tandoor, if we bake the chicken, you’d then have to take the extra step of infusing the curry with a little smoke to emulate the authentic flavor. If a restaurant charges 20 bucks for a butter chicken and they’re serving the real deal, I’d call that a bargain.

90% of the restaurants are baking the chicken in the oven and using a frozen sauce base among other shortcuts.

And so is Olive Garden but nobody is complaining about their prices.

Anyone who goes to the Olive Garden or those casual sit down American restaurants IS complaining about the prices. This is why they are going under.

Indian restaurants are sort of the Olive Garden of Asian food.

wtf w/ this racist comment?

Prices EVERYWHERE at restaurants are up! Burger places are charging $18 for a burger and fries!

If you find yourself complaining only about $5 for a piece of naan, but not $6 for a side of fries or $4.50 for a side of garlic bread (GARLIC BREAD!!!!), that is racist!

No it's not. It's food.

+1

Lol! It IS food. Stop it with the racism.

[Anonymous]

not Indian and don't find DC Indian food expensive. And Dheli Dahab's butter chicken is to die and get fat for.

[Anonymous]

^^Except Rasika which is...boring Indian.