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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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.

Delicious Khana - North Indian Cuisine - yes the food is delicious

Problem
Where to eat in North West London? Indian - but not too spicy.

Answer
After sending somebody out to race along Hatch End Broadway reading all the restaurant menus (about sixteen restaurants) the person with the veto (the one paying) chose Delicious Khana. K h a n a is Hindi for food or a meal. So the name delicious k h a n a means delicious food or delicious meal.

The restaurant is easy to find. In Hatch End you might be able to park almost outside in the s l i p road. Arriving on foot, if you live locally or walk down from Hatch End station to the shops, cross at the pedestrian lights to the restaurants and shops beside the parking slip road and there is the restaurant.

After a few reincarnations, (previously as the Pizza and Prosecco bar) it now has Italian food on the back of the menu but also North Indian food on the front of the menu. Plus of course Prosecco on the wine list.

I do like the new decor, much more elegant, with white table cloths and napkins, two elegant white mock pillars dividing one wall into three. I chose to sit at the banquette along the wall - I like to have my bag beside me and not on the dirty floor.

While we waited up came the poppadums with a set of three condiments, a mild mango and what looked like yogurt. The poppadums were just right, not greasy and not so crisp that they shattered and scattered like confetti.

The drinks were just right, too. A very moderately priced Prosecco, or wine mixed with fruit juice to make the mango Bellini, which I ordered, nothing sensational but just right.

The starter I ordered was spinach and cashew nut croquettes, which came up as circular flat patties. Not over spicy. Not much taste of cashew. However, just right.

The three lamp cutlets were yummy. One cutlet was as filling as a normal meal. I was surprised when somebody told me to stop eating or at least slow down, because the main course was still to come. The starters made a main course in themselves - I had forgotten what we had ordered and thought the lamb cutlets were the main meal.

The main course was fish in sauce, a chicken dish, and a l o o gobi, potato with cauliflower. On the side we had white rice. A rice enthusiast declared the white rice was, "perfect, light and fluffy and flavoured - better than I can make it. Chinese rice cookers turn it into a sticky mess." I am a bread and potato person. I was glad to have a hidden piece of potato. Plus a peshawri naan, flat bread sandwich contained a yummy middle layer of coconut. Peshawar means from the Peshawar region.

We were by now singing the praises of a second course.

Delicious Desserts
For desserts we were offered some American-international desserts including red velvet. I could see my fellow diners' wary looks.

The invisible clouds overhead parted. The sun shone through. Real home cooked Indian desserts! R a s m u l a i, gulab jamun, kulfi. We immediately decided, three Indian desserts, three of us dining, obviously one of each of the Indian desserts, please.

By now I wanted water and a tooth pick, as well as the restaurant's business card. Whatever I wanted appeared fast and unobtrusively. The man in charge was Alan. He reminded me of the late, handsome movie star, Yul Brynner.

The kulfi was surrounded by red sauce. The dessert's owner tried it and declared was rose flavoured.

The gulab jamun had been heated. In the microwave we presumed. We should have said, "Don't bother heating the gulab jamun. We are used to eating it cold."

Our leftovers were packed up. Yes, Delicious Khana does serve delicious food and yes, we will go back.

Delicious Khana
435 Uxbridge Road
Hatch End
HA5 4JR
tel:020 8428 2052
delicious-khana.co.uk
Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share my posts.

Coriander Restaurant, Hatch End, NW London

 "Show me another pleasure like dinner which come round every day and lasts an hour."
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand.

Coriander Restaurant
The name Coriander suggests the owners are interested in ingredients. We have tried this restaurant a couple of times recently and liked the flavours.

Familiar Food
Look at their online menu. You can see they serve classic dishes such as chicken pasanda (with nuts). I must admit I like chicken korma which is mild and creamy. Not ideal for anybody on a diet.We had a mixed grill, a curried fish and a lamb dish.

What's different?
The more unusual main dishes include fish? Last time we loved it. This time I was underwhelmed. I also saw pumpkin but that was a main vegetarian dish and not a side dish.

Desserts
The only exotic dessert is kulfi in mango or pistachio flavours. If you like chocolate or surgery desserts they have some.

Drinks
Mango lassi, sweet lassi or salty lassi costs  £2.95. You can get a glass of Pinot grigio rosé at £4.70.
Disappointingly Prosecco is only by the bottle. £21.95.  Mateus Rose likewise £16.95. You are a few steps away from the Wetherspoons pub.

Side breads
I like peshwari nan and stuffed paratha.

The menu advises you to tell them if you are allergic to assorted ingredients such as molluscs and crustaceans.

In advance of my latest visit i looked up some terms from the menu:
Salli - with potatoes

Finally, coffee.

Decor
The lights all around you are constantly gently changing colour. Bubbles rise up. Opinion was divided on the decor. One person thought lights changing colours looked cheap. However, I just loved the novelty. I found the colours warm and restful, as well as intermittently warm and lively. A novelty. I also loved the bubbles. they are at the front, in the back room and even in the mirror of the ladies toilet.

When we asked for our leftover chickpeas to be wrapped up, this was done.

What was best? Absolutely without doubt the peshwari nan, with the topping of orange coconut. The other plain nan, which comes up automatically with the grill, was OK, but the nan with the topping was wonderful.

Coriander Restaurant
282 Uxbridge Road
Hatch End
Middlesex
HA5 4HS
Tel:020 8428 8166
or 020 8428 9781.

Prices in May 2016. Please check for updates.

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.