sakunthala

My mum refused a gift for her birthday, saying that we shouldn't waste money. And we weren't able to celebrate over dinner until Tue, which is 4 days later. Blame it on my bro's working schedule!

One day, my mum and I were watching Bizarre Foods on Travel & Living channel and Andrew Zimmern was wandering down the streets, somewhere in India. As he savoured the street food, my mum got intrigued by the Paneer, that Indian cottage cheese.

That's when I got the idea to dine at an Indian restaurant. I was thinking along the lines of Muthus's Curry or Banana Leaf Apollo but these are non-halal.

That's when Suhaimi Yusof's boisterous ad for Sakunthala's Food Palace came to mind....

fish head curry

This is the 'small' portion. And the clay bowl that it came in was already more than 40cm diameter.

The curry was a, "Hell yeah!" Nicely spiced with more kick, unlike the one I had at Velu's.

Knowing my parents love for this part of the fish anatomy, I just have to order this. My only favourite part was the cheek, which I gleefully dug out before my parents could.

You should see my dad slurping down the curry gravy...

Paneer Makhani

I had wanted to let my mum try the Palak Paneer, for I had raved so much about the spinach-based gravy. But they only have the Makhani version, also known as the 'butter-masala', where the gravy is made of tomato cooked in butter.

That tangy gravy sure went well with the naans that we ordered.

Gobi Manchurian

'Gobi' means cauliflowers. My mum had requested for it and the only gobi dish I know here is this.

Apparently this is a chinese dish that has been 'localised' by Indian restaurants everywhere.

When the dish arrived, we were looking at it, wondering what it was. It sure didn't look like cauliflowers and we assumed it to be the Fried Squids that we've ordered (it looked weird, both ways).

Mum mum took a bite and that's when the truth hit home. And it was really nice! The cauliflowers were coated with batter and deep fried before being tossed into the sauce.

Fried Squids

This has got to be the best fried squid/calamari dish ever! For me, that is.

Forget Fish & Co. or MFM or whatever seafood places. The one served to us that day was GOOD!

up-close

The batter was crunchy like there's breadcrumbs. And it was nicely spiced to complement the taste of the squids.

And the squids were nice to the bite. Neither too soft nor tough & chewy.

I think I can just come here again for this dish alone. Just hope that the same cook will be on duty....

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Frankly speaking, I was a tad apprehensive about dining here, seeing that they serve BOTH Indian and Chinese cuisine under 1 roof.

I mean, what decent Indian restaurant does that?

But yeah, for someone who loves varieties, I shouldn't complain, rite? I should try the chinese cuisine next time.

We also had the Badami Chicken which arrived when my fingers already got soiled so no photo of that.

The gravy was this really mild curry that seemed to carry a strong almond taste which also goes well as a dip for the naans. I believe grounded almond powder was added. It's also yummy!

But the naans, they weren't soft and fluffy like the ones I'm much accustomed to (where they were baked in the tandoor). I have this sneaking suspicion that they're the kinds that can be bought off the shelves... Like the ones sold at Mustafa... For they were this thin type, served all cut-up into 4 pieces each.

Hmm....