Lala Masala

Gol gappe, bhel puri, vada pav — the hand-to-mouth street snacks most Indian menus file under starters — are the main event at Lala Masala, not the warm-up to it. This Hickson Avenue counter is entirely vegetarian, a fact it treats as a starting point rather than a constraint, and it builds outward from chaat the way other kitchens build outward from a curry list. For a diner in Kingston's Old Sydenham core, the practical draw is range: one order can be a fifteen-dollar build-your-own thali, or it can be a fistful of chaat eaten standing up.

The thali is the clearest read on the kitchen. The build-your-own format hands the table bread, grains, three curries, a side and a sweet in a single order — the value spine the rest of the menu is organized around. Around it runs the street-food range that gives Lala Masala its character: dahi puri for the cool, tangy, crunchy end of chaat; cholle bhature and amritsari kulcha when the meal wants the weight of a proper plate; paneer kathi rolls and pakoras for the fried, handheld middle. Paneer butter masala is the comfort anchor, richer against a paratha than against rice. And then there is the noodle burger — a spiced noodle-and-vegetable patty served in a bun, the Indo-Chinese flourish that shows this kitchen isn't precious about tradition.