Fast Food

The Bhangra beats bubbling out onto the street, the spicy olfactory haze that wafts around the shopfront, the huge Boston Globe excerpt stuck to the window that proclaims, “Inman Square Indian Imports Authenticity”—something about this place just screams “legit.” Inside you’ll find a mosh of People’s Republicans scrambling to order one of the 113 offerings on the board—numbered, thankfully, for those of us with a culinary sense of adventure but not a linguistic one. Among the old favorites of (pseudo-) subcontinental cuisine, you’ll meet countless dishes you’ve never heard of and make your pick under the watchful gaze of ten gurus, two elephants, and one of the seven dwarves. For $10.95 plus tax, a special will get you a generous meat or veggie dish with naan, rice, and all the appropriate condiments. Sides and light dishes are around $5, and for $2.50, you can have a traditional lassi, flavored anything from guava to mango to the temptingly vague “salty.” If you can’t finish it, just take it home. Trust us—it beats brain break.

225 Hampshire St. Cambridge. Cambridge and Hampshire (#69 bus).