A friend and I were at Khansama Tandoori Restaurant, a two-storey eatery in Little India that serves authentic North Indian delicacies. 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 few customers.
We had samosas as appetisers. These came with two dips – green curry and sweet chilli sauce. This fried turnover is more commonly known as the curry puff.
S$3
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The samosas turned out to be instant favourites! 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.
S$6.50
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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.
S$8.50
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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 flavour!
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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.
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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 chilli, 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.
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For drinks, we ordered teh tarik (“pulled” tea). It was frothy enough, but a tad too sweet. I was fine with it though.
Despite being a picky eater, I enjoyed my first North Indian meal very much. The service was prompt. The appetiser and gravy dishes were good. The restaurant was also nicely decorated in very “indian” colours (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.
Little India
166 Serangoon Road
Singapore 218050
Tel: +65 6299 0300
Service:
www.khansama.net
May 24, 2006
Wah, how can u tell north indian delicacies from south indian food? Teach me?
And also, i just realise that Fish Masala is the most exp dish of the day, but then it worth it anyway =)
May 24, 2006
3472
North Indian food is milder and less spicy as compared to South Indian food. That is the prime difference. The food we had wasn’t really spicy, unlike the usual hawker centre Indian food.
Jun 8, 2008
1
Green salad in india is as u see there !
Salad concept is different in india..
btw i won’t recommend Khansama to anyone…. a big cockroach dropped on our table when we were dining there….fortunately we had finished our dishes….
the staff didn’t bother about what happened …even tried to cover up saying that it doesn’t happen every day !!
Didn’t see a pinch of apology in their behaviour.
Jun 8, 2008
3472
Every culture has its own unique way of preparing salads, I guess!
Thanks for warning us. That cockroach incident sounds nasty and I wouldn’t want that to happen to anyone. Yikes!
Feb 13, 2010
10
Yummy!
It’s a mouth watering food!
I just love Samosas with a cup of Tea.
Feb 13, 2010
3472
That’s a great combination right there! I love a hot teh tarik with Indian food.
May 20, 2015
1
This is the Indian restaurant to eat at! Its at Little India, the happening place. Well this restaurant is always busy, but once you get a table (outside), you just have to sit back and enjoy the food and the music. You are served authentic Indian food, with a very good service level. The Chicken tikka is great, so are the currys and the naans! The prices are on the high side, but I guess it is worth, compared to restaurants in Little India! Go for it!
Six of us got a table outdoors, which was nice and breezy. We enjoyed –
Pappadums – were crispy but a tad salty. Still enjoyable because of the whole black perrercorns.
Non Veg Tandoori Platter which had an assortment of different flavours of chicken Tikka, Chicken Kebab, Mutton Kebab, Fish Tikka and Tandoori Prawns for $35. Value for money!
Chicken Biryani is so fragrant and fluffy I took a few servings! And it was all gone before I could go for the second round. Absolutely delicious.
Cheese Naan, Garlic Naan, Rumali Roti, Butter Chicken, Bhindi Masala all excellent – as usual but I must compliment Palak Paner (cottage cheese cubes in spinach) which was warm and melted in my mouth, yummy!! And I was informed by the staff that the cottage cheese is daily imported by air from New Delhi.
I must compliment Khansama on the impeccable service. Very attentive and accommodating.
You might want to sit indoors at the second level if u prefer air conditioned dining.
With a bottle of wine, bill came up to $25 each, which I felt was reasonable. We were all absolutely stuffed and happy!