Biriani in Bamboo, Novelty Indian Dish at Swaadhisht Restaurant, Serving Kerala Cusisine, 47 Chander Road, Singapore

Swaadisht restaurant entrance. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Exterior entrance of Swaadisht restaurant, showing Angela's reflection.

Swaadisht is Hindi from Sanskrit for tasty or delicious.

Website

Their website said they use no artificial colourings or preservatives.

Entrance

The restaurant is in a street full of ground floor restaurants, but easy to find with the name and street number large and clear. The doorway was welcoming.

Decor

The decor appealed to me, lovely Indian ladies wearing traditional outfits, with ear-rings and nose rings and musical instruments. The clever and colourful touch was the cheerful, red artificial tulips placed in the upside down white wall lamp shades making them look like vases.

You order by capturing the code which is on the tabletop onto your phone. Tick the items you want.

Drinks 

Mango lassi, rose milk, fresh lime juice. Swaadhisht restaurant. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Starter

We started with fried cauliflower. Different. Tasty. The restaurant name is apt.

Main Courses

The real humdinger was the main courses. A real piece of theatre, on a par with the top Michelin restaurants. 

First, the dramatic, different, chicken rice in bamboo. The 'rice in bamboo' was three dollars extra but worth it. First, the drama of seeing it pushed out of the bamboo in a big roll. 

It tasted good. One person said they preferred it to the usual white rice, being less greasy. Another person preferred other rice, but admitted that you should have it for one person in a group just for the dramatic experience. 

You can have this bamboo dish with chicken or other meats or fish.

I was so delighted by the novelty of this experience that I said to my friend Jaya, "I would love to visit this restaurant again." 

He asked when? I replied, tonight, and tomorrow.

We had the leftovers packed up, in small lidded plastic boxes. So we could enjoy the food again, later. 

We could try the biriani with goat meat, mutton or prawn.

Bamboo chicken biriani. Mango lassi. Swaadhist Restaurant. Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Other diners had ordered thalis, rice with a mixture of small bowls. Listed on the menu as traditional set meals.  The thali set meals are chicken, vegetable, fish curry or fish fry (fried fish, I presume, maybe chopped up fish?).

A thali - a platter with bowls of food. Swaadhisht restaurant, Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Filling food, appreciated by diners who like filling food. From my limited viewpoint, facing in, most of the other diners on arrival looked like they had already eaten.

Our rice was enough for two. We could also have had chicken or curd rice, ghee rice or jeera rice.

Desserts

I was not over impressed with the desserts.  As is the case worldwide nowadays, the restaurant seems to have a chef or chefs for main courses but desserts are bought in. We ordered kulfi.

Kulfi is frozen. The packet showed the kulfi with pieces up the outside. We had only one teeny red piece on the outside and none I noticed in the middle.

Kulfi dessert came in a packet. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Kulfi contents and wrapper. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

The colour was brighter, but the nuts on the outside were missing. Desserts were good enough, although not the wow factor of the main course.

We tried all three of the desserts we were offered. In the cabinet they had on display two items. 

We ordered gulab jamun. It came up hot and soft. In England we used to have it cold, which gives a firmer texture. On the plus side, the gulub jamun had lots of lovely syrup.

Service

Willing rather than efficient.

Getting there and where next on the way home?

 Nearest MRT stations are Little India on the blue Downtown line. Or Farrer Park MRT. Exit E. (Little India's Exit C takes you past a lot of small shops.)

Glossary

appam - thin milk pancake. Wiki reveals Appam (also known as Aappam) is a type of thin pancake originating from South India. It is made with fermented rice batter and coconut milk.

kappa - tapioca

paneer - Persian word for cheese, the most common cheese on the Indian sub-continent, fresh with a short shelf life, so eat it fresh, non melting, white, often in dice-size cubes

parak (palak is spinach)

pakora - fritter, deep fried in chickpea batter. The contents could be potato, cauliflower, spincah or paneer (white cubed chees)

parotta (also spelled parota)  flaky, layered, flatbread

Useful Websites and Information

47 Chander Road

Singapore 219 5465

tel +65 9880 1680

https://www.swaadhisht.com/

https://www.rewardsnetwork.com/blog/indian-food-glossary-32-words-demystify-restaurant-menu/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parotta

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Authentic or Typical Singapore Dishes: Chinese Chicken rice; and Indian fish head curry

Chinese Chicken Rice
The Singapore standby dish is chicken rice. My standby dish. Many hawker centres have a kiosk serving chicken rice. 

The dish comes from Hainan in southern China so it is often called Hainanese chicken rice. How does it differ from any old chicken rice? The rice might have the chicken stock added to make the rice tasty and stick together to be easily formed into a ball or half sphere.

I went to the place reputed to have the best, in the food court in Waterloo Street. Nothing remarkable, just a generous portion of well cooked chicken on well cooked rice. If you are not into spicy food, this Chinese dish is for you. It often comes with a piece or two of cucumber or vegetable. It's worthwhile asking for more and paying for more in my view. Or buying a vegetarian side dish of a dish from a vegetarian stall.

In addition to the mean or generous addition of the vegetable garnish, you often get soup, which is supposed to be eaten afterwards, to fill you up.

Fish head curry

Indian Food - Fish Head Curry

On the other hand, if you like spicy food, look for an Indian food. The Singaporean signature Indian dish is the local dish, fish head curry. The fish head is large and requires a casserole and you might have one between four people as the main dish is a group meal in a restaurant.

On the other hand, with Covid-19 meaning organizer discourage sharing, you might want to divide up the food between the diner before starting to eat. 

I like to ask for a serving spoon, or to grab one on my way to the table. The waiter usually brings the green banana leaf platter.

Banana Leaf

The other local feature you will notice is that your white rice and white rice refills are served on a fresh green banana leaf. The banana leaf section is used for each diner instead of a white porcelain plate, or metal thali. 

A thali is a tray with plate and two or three or more tiny bowls of food.

Thali

If in doubt, I order a Thali, ideally one with dessert included. Check the prices. It is usually quicker and cheaper to order a Thali than to keep with waiter waiting whilst you decide between this and that.

Muthu's Branches

Muthu's has expanded from its original restaurant in Little India to other branches in Suntec City and Dempsey Road..

I wrote a review of Muthu's back in 2016. It's quite handy to write a review on Tripadvisor. You can look back at what you liked. I commented that I liked the mango lassi, but thought the cashew nut chicken did not taste much of nuts. I also recalled that you could get our family favourite Indian dessert, gulub jamun.

If you miss out on visiting Muthu's, you can buy packets of gulub jamun in Mustapha's department store. 

UK - and Gulab Jamun

We first discovered gulab jamun in London, England, at our local tandoori restaurant, which has since changed hands. The dessert dish was served cold, which is how we like it.

I have also seen packets of gulab jamun in London, England. Look around any oriental supermarket or the big 24 hour branches of supermarkets. You can also buy packets of gulub jamun on line from Lazada and others. 

Our first attempts at cooking up the paste were not successful. The mixture fell apart into a sludge. We bought ready made gulab jamun for a while, until we had the courage to try again.

Incidentally, to remember the spelling, both words have the letters A and U in a different order. The first word Gulab has the A in the second syllable, like a gull in the LAB. The second word has the A in the first syllable, like JAM. Gulab Jamun.

Gulab Jamun is popular in India, Pakistan and Nepal, as well as in Little India in Singapore, and Indian restaurants in London, England. the ingredients are milk solids deep fried, to make a white or cream coloured ball with a brown outside, served in a sugary syrup. Extra flavours and ingredients could be rose water or pistachio nuts inside or almonds as a garnish.

Gulab jamun dessert with almond garnish.

What's the difference between gulab jamun and ras mulai? The ras mulai is white whilst the gulab jamun has a brown outside.

Gulab jamun looks brown, unlike the white ras mulai.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainanese_chicken_rice

https://www.muthuscurry.com/outlets

https://www.lazada.sg/products/mtr-gulab-jamun-mix-by-sonnamera

http://www.mustafa.com.sg/mustafalocationmap/

About The Author Angela

Angela Lansbury is a British author who has lived in the USA.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 

She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

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Indian Desserts, Drinks and Teas: chai, gulab jamun, halva, jelabi, kulfi, lassi

Shikrand at Sakonis restaurant in Hatch End.

Eggless cake with ice cream at Sakonis. This is the chocolate and nuts version of the Sakonis restaurant's Indian cheesecake. (Better than frozen mousse cheescakes I've had elsewhere but not as good and sucky and sticky and yummy New York Cheesecake.) Good if you like chocolate and nuts. 

Mango pulp at Sakonis.

Problem
What do the names mean?

Answers
Desserts:
eggless cheesecake and ice cream
gajar halwa
Wiki says:

Gajar ka halwa (Also known as gajrela or gajorer halwa,^[1][2] is a sweet dessert pudding originating from the Indian subcontinent, associated mainly with North India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.^[3] It is made by placing grated carrot in a pot containing a specific amount of water, milk and sugar and then cooking while stirring regularly. It is often served with a garnish of almonds and pistachios.^[4] The nuts and other items used are first sautéed in ghee, a South Asian clarified butter.^[5]

The dessert is a favourite all over Northern India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It is traditionally eaten during all of the festivals in India, mainly on the occasion of Diwali, Holi, Eid al-Fitr and Raksha Bandhan.^[6] It is served hot during the winter.^[7]

Nowadays, gajar ka halwa is a popular worldwide dessert with many variations such as red velvet halwa, carrot and beetroot halwa, and cheesy carrot halwa.

gulab jamun - (usually 2 in a portion) ball like a sweet dumpling with brown outside in syrup
halva - smooth
jelabi - batter spirals in syrup, often orange colour, very sweet and sticky, crunchy
kheer - wiki says:

 'Kheer is a rice pudding from the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent, made by boiling rice, broken wheat, tapioca, or vermicelli with milk and sugar; it is flavoured with cardamom, raisins, saffron, cashews, pistachios or almonds. It is typically served during a meal or as a dessert. It is also known in some regions as payesh, payasam, payasa, phirni, gil-e-firdaus and fereni.'

kulfi - flavours could include malai, mango, or pistachio); Indian ice cream, sometimes with gritty texture, often a tapered cylinder with a flat top.
mango pulp - my friend tried it in Sakonis and was expected fplain fruit puree and found it too sweet
rasmalai (listed as 'each' meaning you get one ball)
shikrand - yogurt - I tried this at Sakonis in Hatch End and recommend it.

Drinks
chai - spiced tea, tasty, more flavour than fruit tea (chai as in 'a cup of cha' and 'char lady' which could be from chore or chai) From Sakonis - I recommend it
lassi is a non-alchoholic white refreshing drink, a mixture of yogurt and milk with salt or sugar/syrup or fruit added
fresh lassi (salty/ sweet)
mango lassi
passion juice

Where to try and buy
1 UK: Sakonis restaurant, Hatch End, London, England.
Also shops and restaurants in Harrow (Sakonis) and Rayners Lane (other) and Wembley.
2 Tesco, Hatch End and other branches for packets of gulab jamun.

3 Singapore: Mohammed Mustafa 24 hour supermarket near Farrer Park MRT (railway) station. Look in the chiller cabinets gulub jamun and for other made up desserts. You can also buy dry mixes.
4 Singapore: many restaurants and delis in Little India.
5 Other Indian delis, supermarkets and restaurants worldwide.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Sher, North Indian cuisine, Singapore

An Indian friend was given the task of finding an Indian restaurant in Singapore on a Sunday night, away from Little India which is crowded on Sundays, and away from the traffic jams or diversions caused by the FI race.

The place he selected was Sher. It's near the Night Safari on a bus route. Half a dozen small businesses are grouped together, including a DIU shop next door selling a long-handled broom and brush for about $5 (circa £2.50).

Corridor type layout is not my favourite but it has two advantages. The advantages are: passing waiters can be grabbed, privacy.

The moment we stepped in it was obvious the place was run by a husband and wife family team, very jolly, chatty and friendly.

What did I like most?
Drinks: Lime juice starter. Freshly made, fresh tasting, less common in the UK, and half the price of what would be my second choice. Alternative mango lassi. They also do sweet and sour lassi.

Food: Fish starter.
The tandoori grill looked nice but repeated the fish starter; also it included prawns, to which I am allergic.

Washbasin on the wall, Malay style, lets you wash your hands before or after eating with your hands, without occupying the toilet. Toilet: out the back door and in a short corridor alongside. Small. Plus points: Water shower to wash yourself, Malay style. And amusing philosophical/motivational sayings on the wall.

It's like Indian style restaurants in London, with the addition of the fish. Desserts: only two: warm gulf jamun. Divided views on this. One diner was diabetic and would have liked fruit (here and at restaurants all over Singapore and the world). Another thought the glum jamun was tasteless and so was the kulfi. But I was happy with my gulf jamun.

The name Sher means lion or tiger.

lutely the best part was the friendliness of the owners. We felt treated like family or long-lost friends from the minute we arrived, and the effect will double if we return. By the time you read this I shall have moved on from this area of Singapore. But our friend who lives in Singapore has already made plans to go back with his other friends.

Paul Welikande, proprietor.
Sher
Casual dining and bar
North Indian cuisine
 23 Sembawang Road, Singapore 779079
Tel:64553356.

Angela Lansbury BA, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker.

Shopping for Asian Ingredients in London and Singapore

Where do I find a cafe and car parking, and toilets and durian, rosewater and recipe cards?

China, India, London, Singapore and more - shopping, cooking, eating!
Head for the Chinatown shops for oriental recipe ingredients and Indian restaurant areas for your exotic fruit and vegetables, herbs and spices for curry ingredients and savoury dishes as well as for sweets such as gulab jamun which I mentioned in my last post. In North Harrow there's a large supermarket size grocery store near Headstone Lane station (where the London underground comes out as overground - so you see lot of bridges over the high streets). If you're driving there's parking behind. It's open from 9 am until 6 30 during the week and later at weekends.

London's Chinatown has Loon Fung, which is also in Alperton, Tottenham and Silvertown. The have a website and an online article said they sell Malaysian durians. Delicious durians, despite the fact they are called the world's smelliest fruit, like ripe banana, dead rat, what you will. Durian, the most delicious sweet taste, like banana and chestnut custard, but the worst smell, like over-ripe cheese, ripe bananas, dead rats, or to be more alliterative ripe rats.

How do you avoid the smell, and transport the goods home? Vacuum-packed durian, apparently, is what was once promised, although demand and supply might add fresh durians you can feel and smell here and in other suppliers.

Wonderful Waitrose recipes and cafes
We find lots of unusual recipes in the Waitrose supermarket Weekender newspaper and they also have large recipe cards. This week's discovery was that Vindaloo came from the Portuguese pork dish of pig's cheek, pickled in red wine vinegar, now known simply as a spicy dish, think Vindaloo, vine origin.

I must admit I feel a bit squeamish about this, especially as I am involved with catering for Christmas parties and with lots of committee meetings held in people's homes on an everybody bring something basis. Pork might not be suitable for your friends and family and colleagues and club. The extended family and friends could include Muslims eating halal, Jewish people eating kosher, liberals who simply prefer not to eat pork, Hindu or other vegetarians. Vegetarians may be vegans who won't have milk or cheese or eggs any product containing animal parts. You could try substituting chicken, meat imitations made from soya, or simply spicy vegetables.

Time for recipe writers to include alternatives to every ingredient. Until they do, I have to race off hunting for hard-to-find items for the recipes. If only Waitrose sold all the ingredients for every recipe on a quick grab and go shelf, recipe and ingredients together, like the packaged Indian meals I have seen in Morrisons, with the bread, meat, rice and warming/cooking instructions.

Waitrose Recipe Cards, Cafe and Toilets
You'll find large Waitrose stores in central London and if you are not travelling by car, it's easy to find which ones are near stations. Take a big zip up holdall or wheeled trolley in case you are tempted to indulge in extra. Some Waitrose stores have a cafe and toilets, so you wait for friends whilst doing your Christmas and holiday entertaining shopping.

Singapore Sweetmeats and Suppliers
In Singapore you can buy hard to find ingredients such as Rose water in Mustafa's. Not Mustapha, but Mustafa. I always say it's in Little India, though in fact it's slightly down the road from the MRT stop. If you don't like crowds, avoid Sundays or shop at night. It's open 24 hours.

Singapore Markets
Most big housing estates also have wet markets, usually right next to the station, so called I have always imagined because they are wet underfoot. You can't take fresh, sulphur-smelling durians on the MRT (underground-overground railway) nor in buses and taxis. (Unless you've managed to triple wrap it so well that nobody can see it nor smell it - which is the whole idea of the rule that the smell doesn't upset others. In any case, although I love durian, I don't like fresh durian, I like the chestnutty flavour in ice cream and cakes - which also have to be wrapped and sealed. Yes, you can get durian sometimes at some London restaurants, but more rarely and seasonally.

Singapore Stores
Most big Singapore stores have a food court on ground floor or basement and often another at the top or half way up. Alongside the kiosks selling savouries and vegetables ready cooked are stall where you can buy fresh fruit on sticks. And juice drinks (check if they are adding sugar syrups if you are health conscious or dieting or diabetic).

Japanese
If you want Japanese ingredients the ideal place to look is in a Japanese supermarket underneath a Japanese department store. Right in the centre of Singapore at the main crossroad under and over the Orchard crossroads and station. Two stories of underground shopping and if its raining an underground street at basement level along Orchard road linking several department stores and shopping complexes. To target one store, or go shopping-hopping, look up Japanese stores in Singapore, such as Daiso (Ion, Orchard Turn), Isetan, Katong Market, MeidiYa supermarket.  Or search by buildings such as ION and IMM, or areas such as Jurong. Lots of sushi and ready made dishes to take away are at deli counters in the front of Japanese restaurants in major shopping complexes.

Central London Chinatown Chinese Store and suburban Branches
www.loonfung.com/contactus

Your north Harrow Asian grocery supermarket:
V B and Sons Cash and Carry, 539-545 Pinner Road, North Harrow, Harrow, HA2 6EQ.
Tel: 020 8861 1000.

Singapore's Mustafa
mustafa.com.sg

Blog on Singapore stores
http://www.sassymamasg.com/where-to-buy-your-groceries-in-singapore-mama/

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, author, blogger, speaker. Past president of a London Toastmasters International group. Private lessons and public workshops on public speaking in China, Singapore and UK. Rent-a-writer. See more about grammar, spelling, public speaking and comic poetry by Angela Lansbury on lulu.com , Facebook, LinkedIn, You Tube.

Gulab Jamon, brand Royal, bought as a takeaway from Coriander restaurant in Hatch End, North London, England. That didn't last long. All gone. Must get some more. In Singapore you should be able to find two or three styles (and/or brands) and sizes (e.g. 6, 8, 12, 24) in the freezer/chill chest display sections of  Mustafa's in Little India.