Indian Vegetarian - by Brahmin chefs

TRY THIS !

Bajji (Indian snack ala 'tempura')
Slices of potato, onion, bread, carrot coated in a red batter & deep fried.

Vegetable Kofta
An assortment of vegetables topped with a thick creamy gravy and a few cashew nuts. Not spicy at all.

There's a story behind how I ended up with both. Being a bit of a glutton, to accompany the one tosai I ordered, I thought I'd try a side dish picked randomly from the menu - the Vegetable Kofta. The waiter informed the guys in the kitchen. There was some talk & movement in & out of the kitchen. After sometime, he came back & said that they couldn't make it because the cook was away. He recommended the bajji instead but it was deep fried, so I was hesitant but finally gave in as he was quite persuasive.

So, I tried the bajji, which was crispy but way too oily. I took only 1 1/2 of the 4 piece set and packed the rest. Then to my surprise, the kofta appeared! Apparently, the cook came back and saw the order. So I tasted a bit of it- it was good - and packed the rest.

That reminds me - On an earlier visit, when I ordered Teh 'O' kurang manis (tea with no milk and less sugar), but I got teh halia 'O' (ginger tea with no milk) instead! Such, an adventure eating here - you never know what you'll get! Maybe that's why I keep going back there, ha.ha...

Set Lunch
They also have set lunches served in large metal trays lined with banana leaves. A mountain of white rice comes in a small oval platter placed in the centre of the tray, surrounded by 5 small cups of curried veg., 1 cup rasam (sour soup), 1 cup buttermilk, 1 cup payasam (sago & milk dessert), 2 small deep-fried salted dry chillies & 1 piece of pappadam.

As I was cutting down on carbo, I had to ask them to reduce the enormous rice portion, twice. It was still quite a lot but I gave up trying to lessen it. The guys just could not believe it and I didn't want to be a difficult customer.

Lunch is served only from 12 noon. So, I can only have the set lunch on weekends or public holidays. Tosai & snacks like bajji, samosa and vadai are available throughout the day. There's also supposedly a healthier version of the (rice) tosai - 'atta tosai', made of wholemeal flour like in a chappati. But it was quite a letdown as the atta tosai turned out to be a rubbery pancake.


Shop : Bakti Woodlands, Jalan Leboh Ampang (opposite BSN)