Khansama Tandoori Restaurant - Packed with Spices

when i was at little india on sunday, i had the opportunity to savor the first proper indian meal of my life. after visiting the museum of shanghai toys (which was in little india), my friend and i hunted around for some nice indian cuisine.

eventually we came to a neat little place called “khansama tandoori restaurant“. it is one of the few places at little india that serve authentic north indian delicacies; most cater south indian food. al fresco dining is offered on the ground level, which was brimming with caucasian customers. we were escorted to the second level that was air conditioned, purple-walled and almost empty.

Teh Tarik (”Pulled” Tea)
Price: $1
Drink rating:

for drinks, we ordered teh tarik (”pulled” tea) which was frothy enough, but a tad too sweet. i was fine with it though.

being first-timers at north indian cuisine, we spent a long time scrutinising the menu before deciding what to order. almost all the menu items had indian names, and we had to carefully read the english descriptions to find out what the food was.

for appetisers, it was samosa that came with two dips — green curry and sweet chili sauce. interestingly, it was the first time i came across the term “samosa”. the fried turnover has all along been better known to me as the curry puff.

Samosas (Curry Puffs)
Price: $3
Dish rating:

the samosas turned out to be instant favorites. they were of a generous size and came with tasty dips. the spicy potato filling was yummy while the turnover itself was not too oily. i felt like i could eat it guilt-free.

Chicken Curry
Price: $6.50
Dish rating:

as we didn’t really know what to order, we opted for chicken curry as our first dish. surely chicken curry can’t go wrong! the dish was cooked traditional north indian style, whatever that means. a slightly saltish curry, thicker than the regular chinese curry chicken, which tends to be quite soupy. the curry was satisfactory, but the chicken needed more work. the meat wasn’t as tender as i had hoped, and i felt we got more bones than meat.

Fish Masala
Price: $8.50
Dish rating:

when the fish masala was served, i couldn’t differentiate it from the chicken curry at first sight. the dish was definitely more delicious though. it was cooked in onion sauce with onions, tomatoes and cream. the onion sauce must have been one mean concoction of various indian spices.

Saffron Rice
Price: $4
Dish rating:

along with our chicken and fish dishes, we had saffron rice, one of the many rice variations they served. it was nothing special to me, except that it was yellow and had a tinge of sweetness.

Green Salad
Price: $4
Dish rating:

with all the curry and all the spice, we needed a vegetable dish and we found our choice in the green salad. it consisted of onion, cucumber, carrot, raddish, green chili, lemon and tomato. on paper it looked good. but in actual fact it was nothing but an arrangement of fruit slices and cut vegetables on a dish! i give it a one star rating. that was one dish we almost didn’t touch.

for my first north indian meal, i enjoyed most of it very much, despite being a picky eater. we didn’t have to wait long for our food to be served. the service was prompt. the appetiser and gravy dishes were good. the restaurant was nicely decorated in somewhat “indian colors” (purple, red) and looked clean. with indian music playing in the background and indian music videos showing on the two flat screen television sets, all of it makes for a rather authentic indian experience.

Khansama Tandoori Restaurant
Little India
166 Serangoon Road Singapore 218050
(65) 6299 0300
Service rating:
www.khansama.net

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