Pongal: What’s Vegetarian Editorial Review

Pongal is a kosher South Indian vegetarian restaurant on Lexington Avenue in Murray Hill, and nothing on the menu contains meat or fish. Since 1996, the kitchen has turned out dosai, uttapams, thalis, and chaat in a rustic, historically preserved building. Pongal also prints a full vegan menu beside the main one.

Find it at 103 Lexington Avenue. The owners named the restaurant for South India’s three-day harvest festival, which starts every January 14.

What to order

Start with a dosai. Everyone does. The masala dosai, a crisp rice crepe filled with spiced potato, costs $18.95. The paper masala dosai comes gigantic for $20.95. If you want something softer, order the onion and pepper uttapam for $19.95. Lighter plates include upma at $17.95 and tamarind, lemon, or tomato rice at $16.95. Kashmiri pulav, with raisins and cashews, costs $18.95. Cold day? Order rasam, a spiced lentil soup with tomato, for $12.95.

Try the namesake dish at least once. The Pongal Special costs $28.95 and brings a rice and lentil dish, both sweet and spicy, with a medu vada, sambar, coconut chutney, and yogurt. Bringing kids? Pongal makes a cone dosai, a plain dosai rolled into a cone, as a kid’s special. For something different, the specialty list adds spinach, mung dal, and ragi dosai.

Street food runs $14.95 a plate for samosa chaat, bhel poori, or pani poori. Spinach or onion pakoda, at $18.95, makes a good shared starter. Two people who can’t decide can split the Mysore Special Thali for $28.95, with idli, vada, a mini onion uttapam, and a mini masala dosai on one tray.

North Indian food? Covered: palak paneer, mutter paneer, and malai kofta at $22.95 each, plus the $28.95 Royal Thali. Finish with mango kulfi for $13.95 and a $4.95 Madras coffee, Pongal’s filtered coffee boiled with milk. On weekdays from noon to 3:00 PM, the Chef’s Special Thali costs $15.95 and brings idli, medu vada, and your choice of dosai with sambar and chutneys.

For vegans

Pongal’s vegan menu covers most of the South Indian side of the kitchen: idli, medu vada, the dosai and uttapams, the chaat, curries like channa masala, bhindi masala, and baingan bhartha, and the rice dishes. Pongal makes its whole wheat breads without dairy. For dessert, vegans get chocolate or vanilla vegan ice cream. Skip the paneer dishes, the kulfi, and the gulab jamun, which Pongal fries in ghee.

The kitchen

With no meat or fish and a kosher-certified kitchen, a vegetarian faces no shared-surface problem. We rate cross-contamination 4 of 5, because the same kitchen cooks with paneer, cream, and ghee. If you avoid dairy, order from the vegan menu and tell your server.

Hours and booking

Pongal serves from noon to 9:30 PM Sunday through Thursday and until 10:00 PM on Friday and Saturday. Reserve on Pongal’s site, book a party, order online, or call (212) 696-9458. Inside you’ll find booths, and there’s an outdoor section too. Pongal also caters with pickup, delivery, or a full staff.