Thursday, December 17, 2015

Zaffron Kitchen Westgate Singapore

My trip to Singapore always will end being a day trip for work and all i do is travel from Changi airport to my office in Jurong and back. Never had a time to venture out much. And because of this, my lunches with my team guys always end up in Komala's, which is a nearby shop that serves Indian style fast food.

This time round i stayed back for two days, so we ventured for a longer walk through Big Box Mall to Jurong East Mall ( JEM) and to an interconnected Westgate. I was certainly impressed with all these malls so close by and connected. Reminded me of Manila.

We ended up in a place called Zaffron Kitchen , that came highly recommended by my team. In their words, " Its one Good , Decent Indian place" .

From the entrance, it does not look a normal conventional Indian restaurant, rather a more French eatery. Their deco, inspired by British Indian  was tasteful in brown hues and well lit  with large glass windows at the entrance. There is a bar area in the restaurant that gives it a very sophisticated look. Zaffron Kitchen Westgate is one of the International Property Award Asia Pacific 2014 winners - to top it off.

First thing as we sat down on the table, the conventional menu book wasn't brought to us, but rather a nice Ipad in a wooden casing. How cool.


Everything is self service ie you get to order on the ipad and then confirm quantity on the app.



The menu comprises of north Indian and South Indian cuisine. They had Kebabs, Tandoori items, curries, Briyanis and for the slight twist, Burgers and Wraps. I LOVE THIS PLACE.Everything fuses the wonderful tastes of Indian flavours, like the Breaded Fish and Chips that are served with Masala fries, or the Sheekh Mutton Wrap. We opted for the traditional items this time. I have another excuse to visit this place next time to sample the western stuff. We even saw Teh Tarik on the menu.

We ordered only couple of items on the menu. All are not big eaters around me :-). But every single one of them blew me out. Tantalizing on the tastebuds, all of us relished each bite. They were rich, authentic and pleasant on the eyes.


Butter naan ( SGD4) and Paneer Butter Masala (SGD13)  was a match made in heaven. The bread was light and crisp, the butter was not overpowering  and the Paneer was truly the softest and tastiest, unlike those frozen ones you get in many Indian shops in KL.



The Vegetarian Briyani came as a surprise for me. Soft grains of Bhasmati rice cooked with herbs and spices inside a sealed pot and comes with Dhal, Papadam and Raita condiments. You can't see the rice here , its hiding underneath the layer of bread that has been brushed on with light butter. YUM YUM!!!!


We forgot to take pictures of this dish when it came, hands reached out too fast . The vegetable Sheekh Kebab was so perfectly grilled. It was a tad spicy if you bite into the green chillies but on the whole a wonderful starter.


Aloo Gobi Masala ( SGD12) is another power pack dish. The spices , ghee and butter blended so well that after a mouthfull, you would just want to plop down back on the chair and sleep.


Lastly the Gulab Jamun ( SGD5.50) , ended the entire meal to perfection. The syrup not too sweet , laced with rose water just made it stand out from the other Gulab Jamun's i have tried.

As per their tagline, Indelibly Indian Inside - thumbs up from me. Try it for yourself and let me know what you think.

Bon Appetit!

Westgate Zaffron

Opening Hours
Mon - Thur : 11.30am - 9.30pm (close 3:00pm - 5:00pm)
Fri - Sun, eve of PH and PH : 11:00am - 10:00pm
*Last order 30 minutes before close

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Absolute Thai Main Place USJ

Mom wanted to give a treat to a Thai Restaurant she just went with her friend recently. Its situated in Main Place USJ on the first floor, just as you get out of the escalator.Its called Absolute Thai. I've seen this outlets in other shopping malls before but this is the first time entering one.

Deco inside was very pleasant as we walked in, with the waitress calling our "Sawadikap" as we walked in. Don't mind the fact that they looked more like Nepalese or Bangladeshi's and not Thai..LoL Well lit with wooden strips walls, super comfy chairs and everything that can make you feed comfortable in that place.





                   


They have VIP rooms that provides you the privacy if you need..
We went in directly with our order, telling the waiter we will be ordering Vegetarian dishes. Now, the menu here had no marking which dish was vegetarian, so we were at the mercy of our English Vocab between the waiter and us. And because of this, we were just hoping for meatless dishes to arrive and not pure vegetarian , ( ie they might have some stock or paste that we might not know about)

We had the Bean Curd dish and Stir Fried Mix Vegetables with Garlic ( Rm16.90). We asked for the Bean Curd to be Vegetarian and Sizzling and this is what we got.


Taste of the sizzling Tofu was nothing fantastic. Neither spicy nor bland. And it definitely did not bring us back to Thailand. More of Petaling Street. And the same for the mix vege dish. Though the latter tasted wonderful. Vege's were crisps with that amazing taste of garlic. ( YEP, both came meatless)





The main dish we were looking out for was the Tom Yam Soup served in a Firepot for 4 pax ( RM41) . There are two choices for this , ie Red or Clear soup. We went for Red. The outcome as below.
                                                                      AWESOME!!!!!!



Loaded with Brocolli, Cauliflower, Shiitake Mushrooms, Tofu, Baby Corn cooked in an amazing spicy Soup. It was spicy but not too much to smoke your ears. Even the kids had this with rice. 
Thumbs up !!!

We also ordered the plain omelette ( RM11) . It was ordinary.


  For dessert, a must on for Ragu at any Thai restaurant is the Manggo and Sticky Rice dish. And to tell you honestly, he judges the entire restaurant based on that one dish .This time, the coconut sauce was mildly tangy with a good consistency . Not too thick .. However the main actor , ie Mr. Mango needs to be sweet and juicy. It wasn't this time. Probably its the season. So there goes one disappointed guest who went home that night.


Not forgetting for the carnivorous, we had Thai Fish Cakes,(RM 17.90 for 5 pieces) . Ragu and dad ate it all. Definitely not a favorite of the kids. The adults enjoyed it well.



So final opinion on this place. Some dishes were just mediocre, and can be found in many other Chinese restaurants,although the Tom Yam Soup is definitely a recommendation. We might have missed out on some other good dishes. If you have tasted,please do share. They have 13 other outlets in the country so you are bound to see one. You can check out their location at
http://absolutethai.com.my/


Bon Appetit!!

Absolute Thai Main Place
Jalan USJ 21/10,
 Usj 21, 47630 Subang Jaya, 
Selangor, Malaysia

Tel : 0377298708