Sigiri

Living in East Village, I have walked by this place numerous time on 1st avenue and 6th street but I usually wrote it off as one of the many Indian and other South Asian restaurants in the area. I also grouped it with the Indian restaurants next door that have very aggressive staff in front encouraging you to go in so I usually just walk by this block as quickly as possible.

This changed however, when a fellow foodie who is also a huge pepper head highly recommended this place for some spicy, tasty Sri Lankan cuisine. As always, if I haven’t tried it before, I am highly intrigued. Especially if its in my neighborhood. The fact it was supposed to be insanely spicy and delicious was also a major plus. And on top of all that, which my friend forgot to mention, it is BYOB with a well stocked bodega below with that had a very large selection of beer.

More after the jump…

There was actually four of us, but we had been snacking earlier in the night and one of my friend wasn’t planning on eating at all so we ordered for three. We got 2 entrees and 2 orders of bread. The entrees were the Kotthu Roti and Fish Stew. The bread we got was called Aapa.

The Aapa was like a thin savory crisp crepe, or mini dosa if you are familiar with south Indian food. They serve you 4 and one of them comes with an easy over egg. I didn’t have the egg version but the others served as great wrappers to eat just about anything else.

The Kotthu Roti entrée was amazing. It was a pile of chopped up bits of roti, chicken, veggies, spices, etc. It came with a spicy sauce that was really good. The name Kotthu Roti is interesting actually because kotthu means “fake” in Gujurati, so Kotthu Roti translates to “fake roti” which it nearly is since roti is typically a circular thing flatbread that is similar to a tortilla and this was shredded to bits a full roti. Anyhow, the sauce it came with was great and the combo was a great filling for the Aapa.

The other dish, the fish stew, was pretty mediocre. It was a coconut milk based stew that wasn’t very flavorful. It had some mild similarity to a bad thai curry dish. I haven’t had any Sri Lankan food before, so maybe it is supposed to taste that way, but either way I wouldn’t recommend it and I wouldn’t get it again.

The place is BYOB and below there is a great bodega below with a full fridge of interesting beers sold by the bottle. Everything from some of my Belgium favorites, some Asian beers i have never heard of, microbrews from the states, and everything in between.

The meal was $15 a person with tax & tip plus whatever drinks you want to bring in so all in all it was a very cheap meal. The only disappointment was the fish stew, so this is definitely worth a repeat visit. I didn’t really get the super spicy food I was hoping for, but overall it was pretty tasty. The staff recommended I try the grilled food next time if I want really spicy food so I will definitely give that a shot on my next visit.

I am glad I finally paid this neighborhood spot a visit after two years of walking by.

Sigiri
91 First Avenue (between 5th & 6th street)
New York, NY 10003
(212) 614-9333