Punjab Grill - 17th August 2012

After hearing rave reviews (apparently one of the best if not the best Indian restaurant in Singapore) from some of his Indian acquaintances, Erap II decided to take the plunge on their advice to bring us to Punjab Grill for BML.

The restaurant is located at the extreme western end of the shopping area at MBS, and I unfortunately alighted from my taxi somewhere in between. MBS is a bit like a strip mall, and by my calculation, an end to end walk is probably in the region of 0.8km. So by the time I arrived at the restaurant I was real hungry.

Businessman excused himself from this lunch as he claimed he was pre-occupied. We think it was mainly because we were having Indian food that he decided not to come. So we proceeded to order 4 sets of the non-veg set lunch + 1 set of the veg lunch set for Dann. That’s right folks, Dann had gone vegetarian thanks to his good wife clearly reminding him the very morning that as part of his Buddhist high beliefs and philosophies, that the 17^th of August is to be a vegetarian day failing which all manner of ill fortune may befall him. Dann was not pleased, mumbling that he regretted his wife not exercising selective amnesia.

In addition to the lunch sets, we also ordered a Raan Hari Singh Nalwa, which is the pot roasted leg of kid (a house specialty) and the palak paneer.

We were first served our starters which were the battered fried fish, yoghurt marinated chicken cooked in a tandoor and a lamb kofte. For Dann, it was a large wedge of broccoli, roasted potato stuffed with cauliflower, and a kebab of yoghurt blended with some spices. The starters were presented in a European style dining setting (long white plate), which I personally find unappealing (don’t ask me why). I’ve started to tire of every restaurant (chinese, indian, European etc) starting to adopt such a mode of presentation whenever its purported to be fine dining. In any case, the fried fish was so-so, it was lightly fried and the batter was crispy and not oily, but somehow the flavour of the fish seemed a tad bland. It’s like a good tiny piece of fish from a decent fish and chip shop. I reckon it was partly because of the choice of using sole as the fish, which I think is not a good choice as it is too thin and delicate in flavour and frying it this way may not be ideal. The yoghurt marinated chicken was tender and juicy with a tinge of yoghurt flavour. As for the lamb stuffed with cheese, this was a real tasty morsel, the meat was rich in flavour (for those who like lamb), and the sauce was cheesy and rich. My only complaint here is the texture of the meat, which was minced up so finely that it was almost bordering on being pasty.

For the vegetarian starters, the broccoli was cooked just right. It was cooked right through yet still crunchy. Dann claimed that he could tell it was an Australian originated broccoli as opposed to a chinese one. According to him, the more luscious head and higher head to stalk ratio was indicative of the species (we’ll have to check). As for the potato cake and yoghurt kebab, I would say that they were tasty, but I cannot make much of a comparison since I haven’t had anything similar to this before.

We were then served the roasted leg of kid. My my, this was surely one wonderful looking dish. It came on a metal serving dish, a whole leg covered in marinade and spice. The photo here does not do justice to what it looked like when it was served. The meat was really tender and the marinade soaked right through. It was hearty and delicious, although someone commented that it was a tad on the salty side. I suppose this should be eaten together with some naans or white rice, but somehow the starch had yet to arrive in this instance. The waiters probably weren’t expecting the lot of us to simply gobble down whatever was portioned out on our individual plates before the rice was to be served.

Just before the mains we were served with a mango sorbet as a palate cleanser, which was nothing out of the ordinary.

Next up were the mains, which were the chicken tikka masala (apparently one of the UK’s favourite national dishes), the river sole cooked in a plum and tomato gravy and a 5 lentil combination, which was cooked into thick gravy like broth.

We were also served the rice, naan and roti together with the mains. The naan was cooked just right with crispy edges yet un-burnt throughout, and unlike some naan’s there were no chewy uncooked bits in the centre. 

The roti was also done well and had just the right amount of crispiness to it.

The chicken tikka was excellent. The meat was tender and the masala was not too spicy and full of flavour. It was an excellent accompaniment to the lovely rice.

But the river sole cooked in a plum and tomato gravy was my favourite dish here. It was cooked perfectly. The chunky pieces of fish meat were still moist when I took a bite, and the gravy it was cooked in was excellent. It was creamy and tasty but not overpowering. My only complaint was that there was not enough fish to go around.

The 5 lentil broth was also tasty and is perfect for eating with the roti. It was rich and filling. In fact it was too much that we couldn’t finish.

We were also served our palak paneer, which was very well done. The spinach was fresh and there was no use of any artificial colouring that you sometimes find in other palak paneers. It was thick, almost like a marinade paste, whereas you get it more gravy like in some other establishments. It also had just the right amount of saltiness, with a good proportion of cottage cheese. This is one of the better palak paneer’s you can find in Singapore.

As for the 2 other vegetarian mains, namely the button mushroom with corn, and the bell peppers with cottage cheese in tomato gravy, I suppose they were ok as they did not elicit any particular reaction from our reluctant one-day vegetarian.

Finally we were served our desserts. This was a trio of (left to right) apple and walnut kheer, gulab jamun, and a mango saffron crème brulee. I thought all 3 desserts were wonderful, in particular the apple and walnut kheer and the mango saffron crème brulee. However Jon and Erap II were not in agreement with the kheer. As for the gulab, jon also gave it a thumbs down. My personal view was that the kheer was fantastic. What everyone felt tasted like rice grains were the finely chopped apple pieces, but owing to the rich sweetened cream sauce, you could not really taste the apple. I figure this was more to provide texture to the dessert. The sweet milky sauce was a real treat, and I readily lapped up Erap’s surrendered portion whilst Collin lapped up Jon’s.

As for the gulab jamun, I suppose you could say that the round ball (jamun) of dough made with milk solids was a little stodgy and the sweet syrup (gulab) that it was wallowing in may not be to everyone’s liking. But I think having such a massively heavy lunch may have worked against it. I thought it was not bad.

But the real star of the dessert show was the mango saffron crème brulee. Everyone around the table voted it best dessert. It was cooked to perfection with a crispy caramelized top and a soft pudding like interior. The taste was also exquisite, with a not overpowering mango taste and a tinge of saffron. Dann commented that he’d rather have this anytime over a standard crème brulee, and I’d say I’ll probably agree with that.

Overall, this was one massive meal in terms of calories, but somehow despite the quality and standard of the food, we were unable to finish all that was served. After a 3 second investigation, we realised that Jon who is the usual wolf with a voracious appetite had somehow turned into a sick puppy. Was it illness, the food, the ambience or the company???? Alas, it was the overhang of work related angst which manifested into his poor performance at the Punjab grill. Poor Jon…. But we do hope you keep it up ol’boy, so that the rest of us can continue to have more to eat at our next outing!

The total damage for the meal came to S$326. We came to the conclusion that most of the gravy based dishes here were probably better than at the Song of India but that the grilled dishes (leg of Kid) were actually tastier at the Song of India. So if it is grilled Indian dishes you are looking for, please go to Song of India, but if it is the gravy based ones, do head down straight for the Punjab grill!

By Club Scribe

The Song of India - 2nd March 2012

Despite the non-discriminatory, democratic, and open minded nature of our club, amazingly for all of its history, this is only the second time we have picked an Indian restaurant for a BML! (first time was at Vansh) Nope, we are not racists; it’s just that some amongst us are slightly allergic to Indian food. But since the reign of the dictatorial regime of Jon “TKY” Choo, all pleas such as “huh Indian food for BML?” or “Can try something else or not” have been broadly swept aside, and his democratic offer for those dissenting is simply “it’s ok, don’t force yourself to come if you don’t like!” (done grinning and laughing with pleasure …..just like the devil)

On some level, I had to agree with Jon on his choice this week as well as his offer to those not wanting to come. I personally like Indian food quite a fair bit, and just like some who practice being vegetarian once in a while, or fasting once in a while, for me it’s Biryani more than every once in a while.

As with tradition (being the poor planner that he is) Dann could not make it back in time (despite knowing – in advance for the rest of the year - that he is the designated driver 4 outta 6 weeks almost every Friday!) and we thus had no choice but to flag a cab to the venue.  The restaurant is wonderfully set in what I suppose you can consider as period housing. Dann was already seated as the 4 of us entered the restaurant. Shortly after, businessman arrived and complained about the shitty state of parking affairs for this establishment as he had no place to park his beautiful brand new charcoal grey 4.7l/434hp monster of a Maserati GranTurismo S, but to go valet at Sheraton hotel just down the road.

We proceeded to order for starters the Murg Paprika Tikka and Adraki Chaapen, which is the chicken pieces, marinated in yogurt and grilled lamb chops infused in a mixture of spices.

Both were excellent, with the chicken remaining succulent, juicy and tender with a mild yogurt flavour, and the lamb being a real treat with a robust but not overpowering lamb flavour, which went very well with the spices infused in the meat. Despite the somewhat dry look of the lamb chops when presented, the meat was actually very tender, although some bits of meat was difficult to reach or was stuck to the bone.

And just like a party of Mughal princes, for the main dishes and dessert, we ordered the following –

(Please note that the sumptuous orders was more a symptom of the fear of under-spending by Jon Choo due to a 25% discount available on the Amex card, rather then any special generosity on his part)

Seafood:

Malabar Fish Curry

Chettinad Prawn Curry

Lobster Moily

Meat:

Chicken Tikka Masala

Nalli Ghosht

Vegetables:

Baingan Bharta

Paleek Paneer

Starch:

Plain Naan + Garlic Naan + Mushroom & Truffle Oil Naan

2 x Saffron Rice

Dessert:

2 x Malai Kulfi

1 x Alphonso Mango Kulfi

For the seafood, the Prawn Curry was a total waste of our order. For this, we have none other than Dann to blame as he was looking forward to ordering something that someone else does not eat so that he could fulfill his dream of feeling what it felt when we ordered beef.

The Malabar fish curry was however quite decent, with the fish pieces being chunky but not dry. The curry was also creamy with a little bit of spice. The lobster moily was again another order which we could have done without. (Again Dann’s fault as he wanted to make sure Jon’s wallet takes a heavy blow) There was nothing wrong with it, except that it was a tad over-cooked and whilst the accompanying creamy sauce was tasty, the whole dish was just not worth the S$50+ price tag.

For the meat dishes, the Nalli Ghosht was wonderful. Our party was unanimous is agreeing that the lamb/mutton dishes were the specialty of this establishment. The meat was tender and fell off the bone, and the gravy was rich and tasty. The chicken tikka masala (apparently a british favourite when I was still in London) was also well cooked with a mix of chopped vegetables. The meat was well marinated, tasty and very tender.

For the vegetables, the eggplant (Baingan Bharta) was so-so. The eggplant was finely chopped, but lacked texture. I suppose such dishes were invented also because they were a good complement to naan.

As for the palak paneer, this dish was well made, with fresh cottage cheese and lots of ground spinach. You could taste the richness of the spinach, which is sometimes lacking in other palak paneers I’ve had where there is too much ghee and other additives added, which gets in the way of the spinach. The only criticism I have is that it could have done with a tad more salt. 

The naan breads were oven toasted to perfection. Thoroughly cooked with none of the doughy bits you sometimes have in undercooked areas, and despite this, it did not suffer from over burnt corners. The quality of the flour was also good as the taste of the naan did not give off any of that starchy powdery/floury taste, which I dislike.

The saffron rice was also fantastic. Grainy and fragrant, it was rice at its best. The unfortunate thing however was that our main dishes would have gone well, or maybe even better had we opted for plain rice rather than saffron rice as the combination of the main dishes with the saffron rice was almost too rich. My advice would be to stick to plain/garlic naan and plain rice if you are likely to have many gravy based dishes. We actually ended up wasting a fair bit of the gravy, for which I believe a lot of cooking effort had gone into, because the flavourful rice and naan’s we had reduced the need for much gravy.

Coming to dessert, we ordered only 2 portions of their house kulfi and 1 portion of a mango kulfi to share. Kulfi is a bit like Indian style ice cream, and The Song of India’s version is definitely one of the better kulfi’s I’ve tasted. Very creamy and tasty yet not overly sweet. The mango version resembles a hybrid between a popsicle and ice cream, and is apparently made with Alphonso mangoes (which are one of the favourite mango varietals amongst Indians). A real treat, especially in our hot/humid weather.

Our bellies were at the point of bursting by the time we called for the bill. Total damage was a mere S$353, which was a steal considering the copious amount we ordered and ate. Of course this was thanks to businessman’s 25% discount card courtesy of Amex, which saved Jon a massive S$105 if I remember.

Upon leaving the restaurant, Jon (high on curry and spice) decided to attempt at replicating a Hindi movie “dance around a tree” move with one of the pillar’s at the front entrance. He obviously failed badly as his moves looked more like an old uncoordinated pole dancer in Patpong.

Whilst Collin was busily filming Jon’s less than elegant dance moves, Dann was faced with a small predicament as there were 5 of us that needed to be ferried back. Hoping for lady luck to be on his side, he asked businessman if he would be so kind as to ferry the club president back to the office, since as president he should have the opportunity to ride in the new maserati. Unfortunately for him, businessman was not going back to One Shenton, and so Dann had to live with the consequences of his poor planning and pay for 2 cabs back to the office. The result of his poor planning led to a total damage of S$30+ for Dann, and lots of time wasted waiting for cabs for the rest of us.

I dare say I was full right till dinner and even then I could not stomach my customary portions during dinner. The Song of India is definitely one of the better Indian restaurants in Singapore, although there is much more Indian cuisine that the BMC must explore before we can conclude on the best.

By Club Scribe

The Businessman's Club Charter