The board where the vegetarian option is not a consolation
Every office has a group that eats no meat, and on most catering orders they are handed the thing that was left. Indian food is the exception on our list: chana masala, dal makhani, paneer tikka masala and vegetable pakora are dishes people choose over the meat rather than settle for.
For an office lunch that changes the social arithmetic. The vegetarian colleague eats the same meal as everyone else rather than a version of it, and the person who placed the order is not fielding a quiet complaint afterwards.
Butter chicken, chicken tikka, tandoori chicken and lamb rogan josh are all zabiha-sourced.
- Hyderabadi biryani — one tray that feeds a room
- Butter chicken, chicken tikka, tandoori chicken, lamb rogan josh
- Chana masala, dal makhani, paneer tikka masala, vegetable pakora
- Basmati rice, naan, raita and kachumber salad
Heat arrives separately, always
An office is the least forgiving room for spice. There is no host to ask, people are eating between meetings, and the colleague who cannot manage the heat will not say so — they will eat rice and leave.
We cook to a moderate base and send the heat alongside, every time, without being asked. It is the single reason Indian catering succeeds or fails in a workplace, and it is entirely within our control.
It reheats, which almost nothing else does
Curry and biryani are genuinely good the next day, which matters more in an office than anywhere else: there is a fridge, there are people who missed the lunch, and there is a real budget question about what happens to the surplus.
Ordering slightly over on this board is not waste in the way it is on fried food. That makes it one of the few menus where we will suggest rounding up rather than down.
