# Why is food court naan so god-awful? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 8, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-food-court-naan-so-god-awful/311659 "2005-07-08T21:11:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-food-court-naan-so-god-awful/311659/21 "2012-04-17T12:27:23Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > There is a small local chain of mall Indian restaurants her in the Boston area that serves a pretty decent naan. It’s not rectangular, and I don’t think it’s microwaved – there’s a delay before you get it, and I think it’s actually made fresh. The piece is rioughly circular, with bubbles and small locally crisp and browned areas. It’s definitely not “sweet”. > > Unfortunately, they’ve withdrawn from the mall closest to me, but they’re in other area malls. This sounds like what I can get at the grocery store, and yes, it’s pretty good stuff. It wasn’t in the grocery stores around here in 2005 (at least not the big mainstream grocery stores; it may have been in the Indian grocery stores and/or Trader Joe’s), so perhaps the distribution wasn’t wide enough at that time for the food court Indian place to use it. Or maybe it was too expensive. I’d be shocked and appalled at any Indian place that didn’t use at least this stuff today, though. (Assuming they don’t have a tandori to make their own, of course.) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-food-court-naan-so-god-awful/311659/22 "2012-04-17T13:30:23Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > There is a small local chain of mall Indian restaurants her in the Boston area that serves a pretty decent naan. Is it Gourmet India? There’s one in the Prudential Center food court, and they do indeed make fresh naan on premises. It’s as good as any restaurant serves. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-food-court-naan-so-god-awful/311659/23 "2012-04-17T13:35:55Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Is it Gourmet India? There’s one in the Prudential Center food court, and they do indeed make fresh naan on premises. It’s as good as any restaurant serves. Yeah. There’s one in the Burlington mall, too. As I said, I’m pretty sure they make the naan there, because of how long it takes between the order and getting it. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-food-court-naan-so-god-awful/311659/24 "2012-04-17T14:12:33Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > I often wondered about that…I mean, do they pay $50/hour to work there? Even worse, they do it to themselves! HDOAS is an employee-owned company! ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-food-court-naan-so-god-awful/311659/25 "2012-04-18T04:20:11Z")
Really? I don’t think I’ve ever had bad naan. Then again, I haven’t been to a food court and had Indian in ages. I am lucky to have a really amazingly delicious Nepalese place a 10 minute bike ride away. Their naan is so warm and fluffy, with an ever-so-slight crunch to the outside. Heavenly stuff. Anyway, one time I asked the owner how he makes it so delicious. Unfortunately, he rebuffed me. He said it was naan of my business. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-food-court-naan-so-god-awful/311659/26 "2012-04-18T04:29:22Z")
**Autolycus,** jokes like that are a real PITA. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-food-court-naan-so-god-awful/311659/27 "2012-04-18T09:28:48Z")
Bad puns are, however, the bread and butter of the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-food-court-naan-so-god-awful/311659/28 "2012-04-18T09:35:44Z")
> [@cruel\_butterfly](#): > > Please excuse my ignorance, but… > …what is naan? If I were going to describe it, i’d say it’s not quite a tortilla and it’s not quite a pita. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-food-court-naan-so-god-awful/311659.md?page=1)