Indian chain restaurant Chawlas 2 opens in Hicksville
Chawlas 2, an Indian-based chain, has opened a restaurant in Hicksville. Credit: Newsday / Erica Marcus
It’s new to Long Island but more than 50 years old: Founded in 1960 in the Northern Indian state of Punjab, Chawlas 2 has opened in Hicksville.
Founder S. Attar Singh hitched a culinary wagon to his star recipe: cream chicken, cooked in milk and cream, “delicately flavoured with black pepper and green cardamom” and, proclaims the website, “born to live forever.”
Eventually, cream chicken was joined by other dishes and the restaurant, originally called Chawlas, was renamed Chawlas 2. The company operates more than 100 locations in India as well as Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Hicksville now joins South Ozone Park as the first two branches in the United States.
Cream chicken ($8.99 on a combo plate, $11.99 for a full plate) leads off the items “from the handi.” A handi is a deep cooking pot, and from the ones at Chawlas 2 issue more than a dozen stewed dishes such as chicken curry, mushroom masala and mutton saag.
“From the tandoor” come clay-oven-roasted tandoori chicken, chicken seekh kebab and paneer tikka and more.
“From the fryer” items include Amritsari fish and lollipop chicken. Almost everything on the menu is under $14.
Eat in the attractive dining room (it does not look like a chain), take out or, if you’re in the neighborhood, order delivery.
Chawlas 2 is at 70 Broadway, Hicksville, 516-822-2400, chawlas2us.com
