Monday, August 31, 2009

Indian Times

A Heady Blend of Intoxicating Flavours

Being a rabid fan of Indian cuisine, I just had to visit the restaurant after reading the rave reviews of Indian Times Restaurant on Hungry Go Where. Gathering my family members, we drove down to Big Splash one Saturday night.

The well-spaced seating, subdue lighting and dark timbre undertones of the restaurant was a cool respite from the heat and noise of the weekend Big Splash crowd. After looking through the menu and surveying the buffet spread, we decided to go for the buffet as it provided a better value for money and allowed us to sample a good range of the restaurant's dishes.

The food was carefully seasoned and prepared. Each mouthful yielded a burst of complex flavours so characteristic of indian cuisine. There was a good balance between the rich curries, zesty chutneys/salads/raithas and delicately seasoned kebabs.

The highlight of the dinner had to be the succulent, free flowing kebabs. The meal began with an assortment of kebabs (fish, chicken, mushrooms,vegetables)laid out on the grill. The kebabs are already cooked so you only need to grill them for a minute or 2 to warm them up. Each bite was a juicy delight, especially the tandoori chicken and fish tikka.



Free flow of juicy meat!


Baskets of plain, butter and garlic fluffy naans were also included in the buffet. These were replenished as quickly as they were devoured.

The buffet spread consisted of flavourful basmati rice, an assortment of curries and vegetarian. My favourites were the Palek Paneer (cottage cheese with spinach), okra and dal. They were a great complement to the grilled dishes. One juicy bite of the butter chicken followed by a piece of flaky naan swabbed with dal makhani --YUM!

Amazingly, I still managed to find room for dessert. There was a simple fruit salad which helped to cleanse the palette, then I launched full scale into the rest of the desserts. My only grouse is that the desserts were rather limited. Other than the fruit salad, there was only caramel custard, milk balls soaked in syrup and vermicelli with lightly spiced milk, pistachios and semolina. The vermicelli dessert is a must try. Even though I usually do not like milky desserts, I ended up eating 2 bowls. I loved the different textures that each spoonful brought and yes, even the sweet favourful milk. I also ordered some kulfi and was pleasantly surprised by the generous amounts of pistachios in the ice-cream.

The service was attentive yet unobstrusive. For example, a waiter noticed that one of our kebabs had burnt on the grill and quickly replaced it. However, the waiter serving our table did not seem familiar with the menu (new perhaps?)and had to call a colleague each time we wanted additional ala carte items (e.g. kulfi, masala tea). Other than that, his service was impeccable.

Indian Times
Playground@ Big Splash
902 East Coast Parkway, Blk B #01-05
Food: 7.5/10
Price: $$$$
Service: 8/10
Ambience: 7.5/10
Yum: Kebabs, palek paneer, kulfi

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