Photos courtesy of Bang
Bringing the myriad flavors of Indian food to a casual setting, husband-and-wife team Sharf Emdad and Tanjina Quazi opened Bang in January at Savor at The Westchester.
“We saw there was a gap in offering healthy, flavorful Indian food in this type of [setting],” Quazi says, noting that the mall’s clientele is looking for meal choices that are better than fast food. “The Westchester provides a great location for our new concept, and we got lots of great feedback as we rolled out our menu.”
The menu, with a varied selection of bowls, vegetarian sides, and meat dishes, “is a gateway to what Indian cuisine can be about,” Emdad says. All dishes are nut- and antibiotic-free, non-GMO, and all the meat comes from grass-fed animals. The name, short for Bangladesh, is also a nod to the spice of the cuisine. But Quazi and Emdad kept American palates in mind: Nothing is overly spicy, with just the right amount of kick.
Expect bold flavors and some new (to this palate) tastes. Favorites include a jackfruit-seed hummus (unlike any hummus I’ve eaten before and utterly delicious), the guava-mango salad, and the butter chicken. All the meats are marinated in flavorful ingredients, rendering them tender and tasty.
Bang’s menu allows for customization; order a classic bowl or a wrap or design your own. There’s also the keto-friendly Stix, comprised of a main protein, a sauce, cucumber and tomato. The sauces move up on the heat index from the cool creaminess of cucumber yogurt and the refreshing Green Zest sauce with cilantro, mint and ginger, to the spicy Bangin hot sauce with chili d’arbol, roasted onions, tomato and sambal. To drink, there’s hot chai, masala coffee, mango smoothies, and nitro chai, which has a milky creaminess without the dairy.
The couple say their approach to “lighter and fresher” Indian food fits with current trends of cleaner eating and plant-based diets. “This is Indian food you can eat every day,” says Quazi. And I just might be doing that.
Bang
125 Westchester Ave
White Plains
914.646.9455
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