A large share of restaurant food is now eaten somewhere other than the restaurant. That single change has reshaped menus, and Indian food has been affected in specific and predictable ways.
The box is a cooking vessel
Food sealed hot into a container continues to cook in its own residual heat, and the steam it releases has nowhere to go. Everything inside is effectively being held in a humid environment.
Vegetables soften further, bread absorbs moisture from below, and anything fried loses its crust within minutes of the lid closing.
By the time the box is opened, the dish has been through a second cooking process the kitchen did not control.
Why gravies won
Sauced dishes survive this treatment better than almost anything else, because the sauce is already wet and its texture is not degraded by more moisture.
They also hold their temperature longer, since a dense liquid has more thermal mass than the same weight of dry food and loses heat more slowly.
Indian food was well positioned as a result, and gravy-based dishes make up a growing share of what delivery-focused kitchens choose to offer.
What has been pushed off menus
Crisp fried starters, freshly griddled breads and anything assembled to order have all proved difficult, and many kitchens quietly restrict them to dine-in orders.
Where they remain, they are packed separately with vented containers and the customer is expected to combine or reheat, which shifts part of the preparation to the household.
Dishes whose appeal depends on temperature contrast within one plate are the hardest of all, since everything in a box equalises during the journey.
Kitchens are laid out differently now
Operations built primarily for delivery organise around batch production and rapid assembly rather than around a pass and a dining room.
That favours the base gravy model strongly, since it produces consistent output at speed with a small team and minimal equipment.
It also allows several menu identities to run from one kitchen, which is why the same premises may appear under different names on a delivery platform.
Seasoning has shifted upward
Food eaten twenty or thirty minutes after cooking tastes flatter, because volatile aromatics have dispersed and the dish is served cooler than intended.
Kitchens compensate by seasoning more assertively and by adding fresh aromatics late, so that something remains by the time the box is opened.
Diners who eat the same dish in the restaurant and at home often notice the difference and attribute it to the kitchen, when it is largely the journey.