Desi Dhaba

Desi Dhaba is a counter-service South Indian and Hyderabadi kitchen operating inside Midtown Market, the Indian grocery at 3967 Main Street just south of 39th & Main. The same kitchen ran for several years as Mint Masala; under the Desi Dhaba name — “dhaba” being the roadside truck-stop eatery of North India — it serves Hyderabad dum biryani, Andhra and gongura curries, chicken 65, and a breakfast-tiffin board of idli, vada, dosa and puri from 9 in the morning most days. KCUR listeners put it on their November 2025 list of the metro’s best South Asian restaurants. The owner has not been identified in any published source.

Description

Desi Dhaba is not a stand-alone dining room. It is the kitchen inside Midtown Market, the Indian and South Asian grocery that took over the old Thriftway supermarket building on Main Street just south of 39th, near Murray Davis Park.¹² Customers order at the counter and can shop the aisles — Indian snacks, frozen parathas, produce and spices — while they wait.¹ The restaurant advertises free parking, carryout and delivery, and a catering inquiry form.³

The menu is unmistakably Telugu and Hyderabadi in orientation. The official site leads with “India’s favorite Hyderabad dum biryani, bonda, masala dosa, medu vada, poori masala, chicken 65, veg korma, samosa, sambar.”³ The ordering menu breaks into Indo-Chinese starters (chicken 65, dragon chicken, chicken lollipop, cashew pakodi); rice and biryani, including a chicken fry biryani with deep-fried chicken pieces and a mutton fry biryani; vegetarian curries from dal makhani to a gongura dal made with sour sorrel leaves; non-vegetarian curries — Andhra chicken, gongura chicken, methi chicken, pandumirchi (red-chili) chicken, mutton curry and mutton ghee roast; a breakfast-tiffin section of idli in four styles, five dosas, vada, punugulu, Mysore bonda, chole bhature and puri; and a short list of Indian sodas and dairy drinks (Thums Up, Limca, Frooti, Amul badam milk).⁴ The second first-party site, hosted on the former Mint Masala domain, pitches the concept in the dhaba idiom: “the bold, unapologetic flavors of India’s legendary roadside kitchens straight to Kansas City’s Main Street.”²

Ownership and history

The building’s lineage is documented; the operators are not. The Brazen Gourmets’ survey of Kansas City specialty groceries described Midtown Market as “a new Asian / Indian grocery store in Midtown … Some of you will remember this space as the former Thriftway market in Westport near 39th and Main,” and linked it to the market’s online store, kcmintmasala.com.¹ Under the Mint Masala name the in-store kitchen was listed on Grubhub as “Midtown Market and Mint Masala,” and Yelp still carries a “Mint Masala Restaurant” listing at 3967 Main.⁵⁶ DoorDash’s store record for the address, originally created under the Mint Masala name, now displays as “Desi Dhaba (Main Street)” — the clearest evidence that this is a rebrand of the same operation rather than a new tenant.⁷ The grocery’s online shop reads “Sorry, we are temporarily closed. Coming soon!”⁸

The Desi Dhaba brand’s social accounts date from 2025, and KCUR’s listeners were recommending it under that name by November 2025.⁹¹⁰¹¹ Who owns Midtown Market and the restaurant, whether the kitchen changed hands when the name changed, and when either opened are all unpublished.

Links

• Website: https://www.desidhabakc.com/
• Online ordering (first-party): https://www.desidhabakc.com/order
• Second first-party site (former Mint Masala domain): https://mint-masala.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/desi_dhaba_kc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Desi-Dhaba-KC-61573900140985/

Menu

Last verified: 2026-08-28 · Source: the restaurant’s own online-ordering page (desidhabakc.com/order) · Confidence: High. Names as published.⁴

Appetizers / starters

• Chicken 65 ($13.99) · Chicken Lollipop ($13.99) · Cashew Pakodi ($12.99) · Dragon Chicken ($16.99)

Rice and biryani

• Vegetable Biryani ($8.99) · Jeera Rice ($9.99) · Mushroom Biryani ($13.99)
• Chicken Dum Biryani — marinated chicken and basmati cooked together ($14.99) · Chicken Fry Biryani — crispy fried chicken layered with basmati ($15.99) · Mutton Fry Biryani ($22.99)

Vegetarian curries

• Gongura Dal ($9.79) · Palak Dal ($9.79) · Dal Makhani ($13.99) · Palak Paneer ($13.99) · Mushroom Curry ($13.99) · Paneer Butter Masala ($15.39) · Cashew Masala Curry ($18.19) · Cashew Paneer Curry ($18.19)

Non-vegetarian curries

• Andhra Chicken Curry · Palak Chicken · Butter Chicken · Methi Chicken · Pandumirchi Chicken ($13.99 each) · Gongura Chicken ($20.99) · Mutton Curry ($23.79) · Mutton Ghee Roast ($23.79)

Breakfast / tiffins

• Idli ($9.79) · Ghee Idli ($11.19) · Masala Idli ($12.59) · Ghee Kaaram Idli ($12.59)
• Plain Dosa ($12.59) · Masala Dosa ($15.39) · Onion Dosa ($15.39) · Ghee Kaaram Dosa ($15.39) · Special Dosa ($20.99)
• Vada · Masala Vada · Punugu · Mysore Bonda ($8.39 each) · Chole Bature ($13.99) · Puri Combo ($9.79) · Samosa ($2.10 each) · Puri ($2.10 each)

Breads, combos, beverages

• Plain Tandoori Naan ($1.75) · Garlic Naan ($2.10) · Butter Naan ($2.10)
• Veg Combo — veg biryani, veg curry, naan, raita, water ($22.40) · Non-Veg Combo — chicken dum biryani, chicken 65, naan, raita, water ($28.00) · Butter Chicken Combo ($22.40) · Rice with Spicy Chicken ($19.59)
• Mango Lassi ($5.59) · Masala Chai ($4.19) · Thums Up · Limca · Frooti · Amul Badam / Kadhai Doodh / Cool Cafe · MTR Badam Drink ($4.19 each) · Karoun Yogurt Drink · Kuii Drink ($5.59)

Sources

Footnotes

1. “Specialty Grocery Stores in the Kansas City Area,” The Brazen Gourmets. Retrieved 2026-08-28 — Confirms: “Midtown Market (3967 Main St) — A new Asian / Indian grocery store in Midtown … the former Thriftway market in Westport near 39th and Main”; links to kcmintmasala.com. ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Desi Dhaba — second first-party site on the former Mint Masala domain. Retrieved 2026-08-28 — Confirms: “Desi Dhaba … Authentic Indian street-kitchen flavors on Main Street”; “The Dhaba Story”; signature dishes; “3967 Main St, Kansas City, MO 64111”; (913) 326-9291; hours Sun 9:30–10, Mon–Thu 9:30–9:30, Fri–Sat 9:30–10; order.online links; service area list (Westport, Midtown, Plaza, Brookside, etc.). ↩ ↩²

3. Desi Dhaba — official website, home page. Retrieved 2026-08-28 — Confirms: “3967 Main Street, Kansas City, MO 64111”; (913) 326-9291; hours Mon 9–9, Tue 5–9, Wed–Sun 9–9 with carryout/delivery windows; “authentic south Indian dishes, India’s favorite Hyderabad dum biryani, bonda, masala dosa, medu vada, poori masala, chicken 65, veg korma, samosa, sambar”; online ordering, carryout, delivery, free parking, vegetarian options; catering page. ↩ ↩²

4. Desi Dhaba — first-party online ordering (Menufy). Retrieved 2026-08-28 — Confirms: address “3967 main street”; phone; business/carryout/delivery hours; every item and price in the Menu section; “Tasty Rewards.” ↩ ↩²

5. Grubhub — “Midtown Market and Mint Masala, 3967 Main St” (listing title; aggregator, cited for the name only, not for prices) — Confirms: the in-store kitchen previously traded as Mint Masala. ↩

6. Yelp — “Mint Masala Restaurant, 3967 Main St, Kansas City” (listing title dated July 2026; page not fetchable) — Confirms: a Mint Masala restaurant listing persists at the address. Provisional. ↩

7. DoorDash — store 28798428, created as “mint-masala-restaurant-kansas-city,” now titled “Desi Dhaba (Main Street), 3967 Main St” (aggregator; cited for the rebrand only, not for prices) — Confirms: same store record under both names. ↩

8. MintMasala (Midtown Market online store). Retrieved 2026-08-28 — Confirms: “Sorry We are temprory closed. Coming soon!” password page. ↩

9. Desi Dhaba (@desi_dhaba_kc), Instagram — Confirms: account exists under the Desi Dhaba name (profile not fetchable). Provisional. ↩

10. Desi Dhaba KC, Facebook page (ID 61573900140985) — Confirms: page exists; the 6157… ID series corresponds to pages created in 2025. Provisional. ↩

11. Brian Ellison and Halle Jackson, “Food recs: Kansas City’s best Indian and South Asian restaurants,” KCUR Up To Date, 2025-11-15 — Confirms: Desi Dhaba in the listener-recommendation list. ↩