185. Khansama

I saw an Indian guy holding a stack of fliers but when people neared him, they turned away from him. None of the people walking in front of me took the thing he was giving away. So, I did the different thing, I stretched my hand out to take the phamplet he was giving out. I was curious. It was a phamplet of this Indian cuisine restaurant called Khansama. The illustration on it showed a restaurant built of the castle's design. And I wondered if there is such a place nearby because I didn't see the castle.

And my doubts were answered when I went to the restaurant for lunch today with a few of my colleagues. It happened that they wanted to try out the restaurant too.

The exterior which was painted like a castle didn't give a genuine castle feel but the interior did. The interior was of a pretty authentic Indian architecture where the walls were nicely done up with plastered silicon to create the fake existance of doors. I didn't mention it was wholly an authentic Indian feel because there were many modern standing lights which was more of westernised designs. It was a fusion feel which I thought was great, taking away the common perception of an autocratic Indian feel.

Though hidden in a corner, business was brisk at lunch time. This paid off the hard work of the man who gave out fliers every morning.

*I didn't eat the following sets so I shall have my comments reserved.


Chicken Briyan Set @$6.90

Under the artificial coloured rice (not saffron), generous amount of chicken.








Butter Chicken Pratha Set @$6.90












Tandoori Chicken Briyani Set @$6.90

Chicken Thali Set @$9.90

I was curious about the 5 small bowls of accompanying condiments/dishes so I decided to order this set. Enquiring the name Thali with my Indian colleague, it meant plain rice with the small bowls of condiments.

I took individual shots of the condiments for a clearer view.














(L-> R) : Curry Chicken, Vegetable Curry, Curd(yogurt) and Lantil Curry

All the curries was tasty, went well with the briyani and chapati (roti). I didn't like the curd. It was actually yogurt with onions. I thought it tasted a bit like sour cream but the idea of adding them to the briyani was pretty weird.

The briyani rice wasn't oily. In fact, I felt it was slightly dry. Nonetheless, I felt it was better than being oil-laden.

This ball aroused my curiousity the most. It was a dessert. I remembered my ex-Indian colleague brought me food from India which he claimed it was sweets. Not wrapped up and it was like our brown sugar tiles. It was very very sweet and on further enquiry, I got to know it was made of sugar and ghee. No wonder, my ex-colleague said it was a sweet.

This ball was immersed in sugar syrup. For a moment, I thought if it will be as sweet as the 'sweet' I have previously eaten.

Surprisingly, it wasn't. It was of acceptable sweetness. It was made of flour. It was like madeline made moist by immersing in sugar syrup. And....a surprise inside, a raisin was added. I tasted of a hint of orange in the ball. It was nice.

Sweet Lassi @$3

Lassi is a traditional drink of India. Lassi is actually a sweetened yogurt drink. It was more diluted than the Nestle yogurt drink we get in supermarkets.

I once saw a variety show on India. In India, the Lassi drink was actually served in clay cups and a very generous amount of sugar was added to half the amount of the yogurt drink seen here. It was stirred quickly and the drink was made frothy. Then, they smashed the cups after they finished the drink because clay cups were much cheaper than other material made cups.

I guessed in Singapore, we are more health conscious. The lassi drink wasn't too sweet; a hint of sourness. The aftertaste was mouth-puckering. I liked it!

They have the salty version and other fruit-flavoured lassi(s).

Prices for set meals were of nett price.

Khansama

8A Biomedical Grove,

Immunos Building

Singapore 138 665

Tel: 6774 0300

Other outlet

87 Science Park Drive #02-01

#01-k1 The Science Hub

Singapore 118 260

Tel: 6776 0300