It screamed, “Best teh tarik in the world!” (or something to that effect). The place is Steven’s Tea Garden, a mamak restaurant chain. As a teh tarik lover, I had no choice but to go in. Right?

Okay, actually it’s really the cute sarong-wearing lunghi-clad guy at the entrance that enticed me to enter the restaurant. (you’ll see that I even took his photo!)

Teh Tarik (“pulled” tea)
RM$3.88+

On each table are slips of paper with check-boxes that allow you to mark down your order. I immediately put a tick next to the world’s best teh tarik. At 4 ringgit, it’s the most expensive teh tarik I’ve ever had. Well it should cost a premium for the best stuff, I guess.

The tea came with a super thick layer of froth on top, just the way I like it! I’ve had my fair share of the drink where the froth is thin or non-existent because it hasn’t been tarik or “pulled” enough. It pleases me so when I see a head of bubbly froth, kind of like cappuccino :)

The balance of tea flavor and sweetness of the condensed milk is mixed just right. Sometimes when it’s not done properly, it may get more bitter towards the bottom. Not this one though; the taste is consistent throughout. It is not sickly sweet, yet I don’t find myself reaching for more sugar.

Simply put, the taste is quite perfect! The only other teh I’ve had that fares a wee bit better is Sri Vijaya, thankfully, in our very own Little India!

That’s Steven, the cute Indian guy wearing a white tee, sarong and slippers that attracted me in the first place. He can be seen welcoming customers at the 24-hour outlet in Mid Valley Megamall just opposite toast box. Not only does he have to demonstrate the art of pulling the tea, he also has to entertain the many amused passers-by that want to take a photo with him!

The friendly manager informed me that Steven’s Tea Garden would be making a debut in Singapore soon! I think that’s great news!

Besides teh tarik, the restaurant also sells various mamak cuisine such as roti canai, nasi lemak and mee goreng. Boy, would Singaporeans love those!

This is the aforementioned Sri Vijaya Restaurant, with a REAL sarong-wearing lunghi-clad Indian guy at the entrance. I love that place!

Steven’s Tea Garden ( Halal certified)
Various outlets
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Website

Posted by Veron under Malaysia | Tags: 24 hours, Halal, Indian, Kuala Lumpur, Teh Tarik

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At least, that’s how I remember it.

When we paid a visit recently, we found that Mr. Teh tarik has upgraded itself to Mr. Teh tarik cartel. No longer is it a modest little pushcart in the outdoors. Now, it occupies an actual stall unit in the Far East Square building!

But if you ask me, I still prefer its old look. There is somewhat of a 60s feel when you queue up at a wooden pushcart stall, purchase your drink and wait for the Indian seller to tarik (pull) your teh.

Photo by ixii

This is how Mr. Teh tarik looks like in its (his?) former days. People would drink their teh under big umbrellas.

Photo by dc6

Still, it’s always a good thing to see a thriving business being able to upgrade itself! In fact, this reminds me very much of the game lemonade tycoon.

I used to run a little lemonade stall in the game. Similarly, I started out with a tiny lemonade pushcart and eventually was able to afford an air-conditioned stall with multiple upgrades! Haha!

But I digress. At Mr. Teh tarik (cartel), you can enjoy both hot and cold drinks, including the Milo Dinosaur and Horlicks dinosaur! They also have all different renditions of teh. teh o, teh tarik, teh halia. You name it, they have it.

Iced Milk Tea & Hot Ginger Tea Si
SGD1.50 & $0.90

So I put that to the test. I ordered teh halia si (tea with ginger and evaporated milk), and — surprise, surprise — they actually had it!

Prices here are extremely affordable too. No wonder the place is always packed and people have trouble finding seats!

Not only do they have tea, they serve coffee too, similarly with all the different renditions. So the next time you’re done dining at one of the numerous restaurants at Far East Square or China square, do pop by Mr. Teh tarik cartel to get your fix of teh or coffee!

Mr. Teh Tarik Cartel ( Halal certified)
Far East Square
Singapore 049944

Posted by Veron under Dining | Tags: Far East Square, Halal, Indian, Malay, Singaporean, Teh Tarik

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I got curious about these cute-looking hollow breads after seeing people eating them on two separate occasions. My friend called them “the two bombs”. Eventually we learned the proper name, “poori”.

Poori
SGD2.40

The poori was served with two vegetarian sides — chickpeas and curried potato. I’m not a fan of chickpeas (or any kind of peas for that matter) but I loved the curried potato! Do they use some special breed of potatoes for this? It certainly looks very yellow and very fresh!

As the poori is just a thin layer of wheat and completely hollow on the inside, it started deflating shortly after it was served. This doesn’t affect the taste of the food, but food bloggers and photographers may want to take note.

Teh Tarik (“Pulled” Tea)
SGD0.80

What’s Indian food without some good ol’ teh tarik (“pulled” tea)? The one over here tasted only average. The froth layer was a tad thin too. Having had the awesome teh tarik at Sri Vijaya Restaurant previously, probably anything else would always fall short!

Game to try a different kind of thosai, I skimmed through the menu and found something with an unfamiliar-sounding name — rava thosai. A quick check with the staff revealed that this had a green chili and onion filling. Sounds good to me!

Rava Thosai
SGD1.70

The thosai came folded neatly and had multiple holes on the surface. I found the green sliced chili and onion to be severely lacking or else this would have made for a much more flavorful dish. As usual, it was served with different types of gravies. As usual, my favorite was the orange-colored coconut chutney.

The Indian staff would gladly scoop more gravy onto your plate when any of it runs out. For me, it really completes the entire Indian dining experience!

I just needed to get some pictures of these metal buckets of gravies!

Chicken Masala
SGD3

And now, we get to the best part — chicken masala! For $3, you get a juicy chicken drumstick with lots and lots of fiery-red gravy! That gravy was practically bursting with flavor! It was rather spicy (it had all sorts of Indian spices) too and went extremely well with both the poori and thosai. Heck, with a gravy that thick and tasting that good, it would go well with anything!

This one is a must-try!

Like Sri Vijaya, sri kamala vilas (not to be confused with the more famous and similar-sounding komala vilas restaurant) is a no-frills coffeeshop too. No air-conditioning, fairly large place with ample seating. It is tucked at the foot of a HDB block beside tekka market, along buffalo road.

I know I had visited sri kamala vilas to try out the thosai. As it turned out the thosai wasn’t exactly worth making a special trip for. But at the end of the day, the chicken masala really made it all worthwhile!

Posted by Veron under Dining | Tags: coffee shop, Indian, Little India, Teh Tarik, Thosai

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A street-side coffee shop I’ve found is Sri Vijaya Restaurant, where dining is definitely no-frills (authentic dining experience!). So do not expect any cushy seats or air-conditioning.

Oh, the food is freaking cheap too!

Teh Tarik (“pulled” tea)
SGD0.90

My, was I pleased with that thick froth on my teh tarik (“pulled” tea). The staff must have “pulled” the tea several times to create a bubbly froth that thick! I love a good frothy teh tarik!

Bubbles and froth aside, that was one of the most excellent teh tarik I’ve ever had (and I’ve had a lot of it before). The tea was extremely rich but not overpowering. It was also not overtly sweet (but I know some people may like it sweeter). By any standard, this was the perfect teh tarik. Definitely better than the famous one at Lau Pa Sat!

Chapati
SGD2.40

Like Ananda Bhavan Restaurant two weeks ago, Sri Vijaya is also a vegetarian restaurant. You can choose from a variety of vegetables to go with your chapati!

The chapati is served folded in half into a semicircle. I’m no expert but I thought it tasted a tad flaky and powdery for my liking. Or is that the way it’s meant to be?

Anyhow, my main purpose in going to this place was to try out the thosai, which I’ve heard is the best around!

Paper Masala Thosai
SGD2.50

Two weeks ago at Ananda Bhavan Restaurant, I had exclaimed:

At the next table, we noticed people eating thosai that were 2-3 feet long! Boy, am I gonna have one the next time I drop by!

That’s the paper thosai and this time round I got to have it! (so I didn’t drop by the same place, but we should always be game to try out new places right?) my paper masala thosai was two feet long! Yay! It was big and long and boy, was I surprised at how crispy it turned out too!

I also loved the gravies that were served with the thosai. We could have as much of those gravies as we wanted! The staff would walk around with big metal buckets and scooped more gravy onto our plate whichever gravy ran out (authentic dining experience!).

But herein lies the real deal — the potato masala! It was creamy (very yellow and fresh potatoes), spicy (all the yummy Indian spices and chili), tangy, tasty and had a lot of oomph! (“Oomph” may just be my new pet word after “hawt”!)

By the way, what are those purple bits speckled among the yellow potato filling? Are those pepper?

Update: Oh, those are mustard seeds! Thanks, NTT!

(Check out what the staff is wearing! How’s that for authenticity? He looks ready to “pull” a teh tarik anytime!)

The restaurant lies on the fringe of Little India along a row of shophouses. After exiting from the Little India MRT station, we found ourselves walking back and forth along Selegie Road before finally realising we had already walked right past Sri Vijaya Restaurant without realising it! It’s along the main road so keep a lookout for it!

Ah… I love Indian food!

Posted by Veron under Dining | Tags: coffee shop, Indian, Little India, Teh Tarik, Thosai, vegetarian

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Roti John
SGD2.50

French bread is typically used in roti john. It is pan-fried in beaten egg mixture and onion so that it gets crispy on the outside. The cheese prata shop serves an ample portion of the bread along with a generous serving of sweet chili sauce. Very savory and satisfying! One serving is already enough to make a full meal!

For those of you who love the simple yet delightful roti john, here’s a bit of the history behind it.

The origins of roti john can be traced back to 1976. A man named shukor ran a stall in taman serasi hawker centre, opposite the botanical gardens. At that time, his caucasian expatriate customers (always addressed as “john! John!” regardless of their actual names) frequently ordered onion omelettes along with French bread. It got so popular that shukor decided to fuse the two together.

And that is how roti john came to be, affectionately named after his foreign clientele.

Locals grew to love this humble dish as well, which has clearly stood the test of time. It was named one of the 15 Singapore hawker legends by makansutra in 2005.

I have yet to try out shukor’s legendary roti john. Today, the stall is run by his daughter at serangoon garden market and I would love to pay a visit one day! Despite being an ubiquitous dish, a good roti john is hard to come by. Most hawkers can’t get it right; either the French bread isn’t properly prepared, or the wrong kind of chili sauce is used.

Sometimes chicken or tuna is also added but I still prefer roti john the way it’s meant to be — plain and at the same time oozing with rich egg fragrance and onion flavor. Oh and the chili sauce has to be sweet and served in a large quantity for this dish to be properly enjoyed.

So what goes well with roti john? A piping hot glass of teh tarik (“pulled” tea) of course!

Teh Tarik (“Pulled” Tea)
SGD0.80

It is a shame that the drinks here are really mediocre. teh tarik is supposed to have a frothy top from repeated “pulling”. But the guy who “pulled” the teh must have gotten tired of doing it. There was little froth on the teh tarik we ordered.

Even their Milo Dinosaur isn’t made the right way. It should be a saturated Milo drink topped with a generous heap of Milo powder. Instead they stinge a lot on the Milo powder, resulting in a very thin Milo that is nothing like the real Milo Dinosaur.

Maggi Goreng Pattaya
SGD4.00

An interesting dish worth mentioning is the maggi goreng pattaya. We often come across nasi goreng pattaya. This maggi version, however, has maggi mee substituted for the rice. I didn’t really fancy it though.

No matter how much I love their roti john, I have a major complaint about the service over here. At any one time they have a dozen staff on duty, yet service is always slow! We were there on a weekday evening when they didn’t have many customers. Most of the staff were standing around and chatting with one another. Each time we asked for someone to come over, he would say “wait” and point to another guy. This went on for about 15 minutes before we finally had our orders taken!

I don’t know whether it’s due to the Malay “relak lah brother!” attitude that they seem so slack in serving their customers, but such tardiness can get real frustrating when you are hungry or in a hurry.

They should have a warning sign somewhere that reads: niqqi’s the cheese prata shop — not for people on the move!

Niqqi’s the Cheese Prata Shop ( Halal certified)
16/18 Clementi Road
Singapore 129747
(65) 6872 1030

Open 24 hours

February 3, 2007: My list of Best (& Worst) Restaurants in Singapore for 2006
- Nominated for “Best Hawker Stall”

Posted by Veron under Dining | Tags: 24 hours, Halal, Indian, Teh Tarik

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We were at khansama tandoori restaurant, a place that serves authentic North Indian delicacies as opposed to the more ubiquitous South Indian eateries. The alfresco dining area on the ground floor was brimming with customers, mostly tourists. We were escorted to the second level that had air conditioning, purple walls and almost no customer.

Teh Tarik (“pulled” tea)
SGD1

For drinks, we ordered teh tarik (“pulled” tea). It was frothy enough, but a tad too sweet. I was fine with it though.

We also had samosas as appetisers. These came with two dips — green curry and sweet chili sauce. This fried turnover is more commonly known as the curry puff.

Samosas (curry puffs)
SGD3

The samosas turned out to be instant favorites! They were of a generous size and went well with the tasty dips. The spicy potato filling was yummy while the turnover itself was not too oily. I almost felt like I could eat it guilt-free!

Being new to North Indian cuisine, we spent a long time scrutinising the menu before deciding on what dishes to order. Almost all the menu items had Indian names. We had to read the English descriptions carefully to find out what each dish was.

Chicken curry
SGD6.50

Going for something that seems familiar, we opted for chicken curry as our first dish. Surely chicken curry can’t go wrong! The dish was cooked traditional North Indian style with a curry that’s thicker than your average Chinese curry, which tends to be quite soupy.

The gravy was satisfactory, but the chicken needed more work. The meat wasn’t as tender as I had hoped, and I felt we got more bone than meat.

Fish Masala
SGD8.50

The fish masala was definitely more delicious. It was cooked in onion sauce with tomatoes and cream. The onion sauce was one mean concoction of various Indian spices; it was bursting with flavor!

Saffron rice
SGD4

Along with our chicken and fish dishes, we had saffron rice, one of the many rice variations they served. It was a shade of yellow and had a tinge of sweetness.

Green salad
SGD4

With all the curry and all the spice, we needed a vegetable dish and found our choice in the green salad. It consisted of onion, cucumber, carrot, radish, green chili, lemon and tomato. On paper it looked good, but in actual fact it was nothing more than an arrangement of fruit slices and cut vegetables on a dish! That was one dish we virtually left untouched. I rate it one star.

Still, I enjoyed my first North Indian meal very much despite being a picky eater. The service was prompt. The appetiser and gravy dishes were good. The restaurant was also nicely decorated in very “indian” colors (purple, red). With Indian music in the background and Indian music videos on the two flat screen television sets, all of it makes for a very unique Indian experience.

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

Posted by Veron under Dining | Tags: alfresco/outdoor dining, Indian, Little India, Teh Tarik

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