Gabbar Bistro & Bar @ Clarke Quay - Spinning To A Mix Of Bollywood Music And Scrumptious North Indian Cuisine

Gabbar Bistro & Bar is a fairly new modern Indian bistro bar located at Clarke Quay. Its live Bollywood music performances often draws huge turnouts, where diners get to experience an international DJ spinning the latest Bollywood and Punjabi mixes over an extensive selection of drinks which includes wines, cocktails and Single Malts. However, customers return to Gabbar time and time again not just for its music, but to satisfy their cravings for a scrumptious North Indian cuisine.

Lamp Chops (tasting portion) 4/5 

The Lamb Chops here wins the hearts of the Indian diasporas and locals alike. Its mouthwatering aroma delivered my expectations. Marinated for 12 hours with hung curb and spices, the meat was succulent, tender, and flavourful with just the right amount of spices. For a drink and a quick bite, this serves equally good as a bar bite too.

Surkh Laal Chicken, Tikka Fish Amritsari and Hariyali Chicken (tasting portion) 4/5

From the tandoor, we tried Surkh Laal Chicken, Hariyali Chicken and Tikka Fish Amritsari. The reddish Surkh Laal chicken was punchy with spices with a tinge of heat. The Hariyali Chicken didn't lose out either with its well-seasoned, creamy spinach marination. I have had quite a few unpleasantly dry and bland Fish Tikka before, but the version here was moist and flaky.

Dal Makhani (tasting portion) 3.5/5

Dal Makhani is a comfort food, and also quite nutrient-dense with beans and black lentils. I would have liked it even more if it is slightly more tomatoey to have some tartness to balance the richness of it.

Assorted Naans (tasting portion) 4/5

Options aplenty for naans. We tried Roti, Tumeric, Olive and Cheese, Garlic, Butter and a Lachha Parantha. Each of them was soft and fluffy, but if you can only choose one, go for the Olive and Cheese naan for that full-bodied flavour.

Chicken Biryani 3.8/5

Chicken Biryani is a great option for a quick lunch. It seems like a basic dish, yet there is complexity in the use of spices and the way the rice is being cooked and put together with the meat. Mine was packed full of flavours but not too overwhelming with aromatics and spices. Hidden underneath the pile of fluffy basmati rice is load of tender chicken cubes.

Paan Ice Cream 4.8/5

If you visit Gabbar, do go for its Paan Ice Cream. Made with betel leaves, the sweetness and milkiness were at the right amount to mellow down the sharp herbaceous flavours of the betel leaves. The spiced and nutty topping intrigued my taste buds in every bite. It was such a unique and delicious ice cream, I strongly encourage you to give it a try.

 

Besides dining in, Gabbar Bistro & Bar also offers island-wide delivery for you to dine at the comfort of your home. You can order island-wide delivery at www.sgdelivery.online

Photos and words by Si An. A girl who is allured by travelling, loves the feel of freedom, smell of the rain and the aroma of fine coffee and food. Note: This is an invited tasting.


Gabbar Bistro & Bar
Clarke Quay
3B River Valley Road
#01-14
Singapore 179021
Tel: +65 87555597
Facebook
Nearest MRT: Fort Canning (DT Line), Clarke Quay (NE Line)

Opening Hours:
Daily: 11am - 1030pm

Direction:
1) Alight at Fort Canning MRT Station. Take Exit A. Turn right and down River Valley Road. Turn right onto Tan Tye Place. Walk to the end of the road. Turn left onto Clark Quay. Walk to destination. Journey time bout 5 minutes. [Map]

2) Alight at Clarke Quay MRT station. Take Exit C or G. Walk to the river front. Turn left and walk down the river. Cross the bridge. Walk to destination. Journey time about 5 minutes. [Map]

Butter & Spice @ Katong Point - Budget-friendly Northern Indian Cuisine

Butter & Spice at Katong Point serves up Northern Indian cuisine at budget-friendly prices. It also sets itself apart from others by offering set menus. Priced at $10, each set meal comes with a side of basmati rice and naan, together with a main that is of a smaller portion compared to an ala carte order, hence making it great for solo diners.

Chicken Tikka Biryani 4.5/5

Despite its small space, Butter & Spice uses a tandoor for their cooking. What is a must-order here, is definitely the Chicken Tikka Biryani ($8.40). Each biryani is prepared only upon your order. Brimming with herbs and spices, the piquant masala gravy served at the side brightens the dish with zest and adds a final punch of flavour to every spoonful of the biryani. The generous amount of chicken tikka given was unexpected. Each chunk was tender and moist, carrying a hint of smokiness atop of their spiced marination. The portion is good for two persons.

Lam Saag 3/5

Lamb Saag ($13) is similar to Palek Paneer but with Lamb pieces instead of cottage cheese cube. I really like the spinach, which has the right amount of garlic to bring out its flavour. However, the lamb cubes was a tad dry and too gamey for my liking.

Garlic Naan 2.8/5

To go with your curries, a selection of tandoori-grilled naan is available in various flavours such as cheese, garlic, and butter. We had Garlic Naan ($2.10). I feel it can be softer and fluffier.

Prawn Butter Malasa (Tasting portion)  3/5

 Dal Makhani (Tasting portion) 3/5

On the menu, there are also seafood and vegetarian dishes such as Prawn Butter Masala ($14) and Dal Makhani ($10). Both fall short of the robustness that I expect, which would usually leave my tongue tingling with stimulation from the spices if I met a good one. I was told there was no tomato puree inside the Dal Makahi, which makes it even milder and creamier. However, if you like curry that is buttery and creamy, this will work for you, especially given that black lentil is starchier than yellow lentil.

End your meal with their Masala Chai Tea ($1 add-on). Freshly brewed with chai tea and finished off with fresh milk, just the way they have it back in their hometown.

Written and photography by Si An. A girl who is allured by travelling, loves the feel of freedom, smell of the rain and the aroma of fine coffee and food.


Butter & Spice
Katong Point
451 Joo Chiat Road
#01-01
Singapore 427664
Tel: +65 97776349
Facebook
Nearest MRT: Dakota (CC Line)

Opening Hours:
Mon-Sun: 11am - 1030pm

Direction:
1) Alight at Dakota MRT station. Take Exit A. Walk to bus stop at Block 99 (Stop ID 81181). Take bus number 16. Alight 4 stops later. Walk to destination. Journey time about 15 minutes. [Map]

Food Panda Delivery - Indian Curry House

Food delivery has gotten even easier and convenient with the Food Panda App that is easily available on the smart phone. The Food Panda Home Delivery App can be easily download from the Apple App Store, Google Play and Windows Store

It was a raining day and we were too lazy to cook. Hence I went to the Food Panda App for rescue. Upon launching the application and keying in the postal code of our place, the application listed down the restaurants that are opened for delivery. After browsing through the restaurants list, I decided to try some Northern Indian cuisine from Indian Curry House. It will be perfect for the cold raining weather.

Navigation of the restaurant's menu is easy with photos and description of the dishes. After adding the food order, the basket will display a summary detail of the items, total amount as well as the expected delivery time.

Last but not least, proceed to checkout to make payment with a choice of Cash On Delivery or Online Payment.

I wasn't expecting a panda greeting me when I received my delivery. It came in a very cute delivery plastic bag with my food neatly packed and secured. The greatest part is my food arrived warm.

Check out the spread of food I have ordered from Indian Curry House. The Chicken Biryani, Butter Chicken, Baingan Bharta are packed in plastic containers while the Butter Naan is wrapped in aluminium foil.

Butter Naan

Butter Chicken, Baingan Bharta

The warm Butter Naan was really good and fluffy. The naan goes excellently with the Butter Chicken and Baingan Bharta packed with aromatic spices.

Not seen in the picture is the chicken pieces and a hard boiled egg underneath the pile of fluffy basmati rice. This is definitely one delicious Northern Indian feast. The Food Panda App has made home food delivery is a one simple and seamlessly easy.


Food Panda 
Website: https://www.foodpanda.sg/
Download at Apple App Store, Google Play and Windows Store

Indian Curry House
Sixth Avenue Centre
805 Bukit Timah Road
#01-03
Singapore 279883
Tel: +65 64636289
Website: http://www.indiancurryhouse.com.sg

Withlocals - Eat with Locals

Photo credit Withlocals

Recently I came across this website called the Withlocals which I thought it was really cool. Under the website you can choose to Eat Withlocals, Tour Withlocals and Activities Withlocals. You can either register to be a host or a guest. I thought this is really an interesting concept whereby you get to experience the local culture with a local family. So example, if you are on a trip to Thailand, you can choose to eat, tour or involve in an activity with your local host.

Vegetable Fritters

To understand and experience this innovative concept, I gathered my foodie friends, Ian and Si Han to Eat Withlocals in Singapore. I decided to visit Beena who has registered to be a host in Singapore. Being a foodie and blogger, I thought it would be interesting to experience and learn about Indian cuisine which is not my forte.

Vegetable Fritters

The build up to the actual day is actually quite mixed. We do not know what to expect but at the same timing looking forward to meet the host and try her cooking. As I am visiting someone's home, I bought a box of chocolate for the host. We started with brief introduction of ourselves and what we do for a living to get to know one another better. Things started to warm up a bit more with the wines and when the Vegetable Fritters were served.

Puri

Soon dinner was served and Beena cooked us a feast. Beena is an excellent cook and she is one that cooks from scratch. Besides rice, Beena also prepared Indian Puri. She made her own dough and then deep fried them. The puri bread was so good that Si Han asked for the recipe.

Potato

I have been cutting down on my carbo intake but the Potato made by Beena was so good that I could not help going back for more. Ian even made the comment that how he wishes all curry puff is stuffed with this beautiful potato fillings.

Dal

A staple Indian dish is the Dal which can be eaten with either rice or roti. A lot of Indians are vegetarian and this provides the main source of proteins. To be frank, I think I can just eat the whole bowl by itself without the rice or roti. Dal is similar to baked beans in my own context.

Chicken

Beena also prepared a Chicken and Prawn dish to complete the dinner experience. I think Beena was afraid that we cannot handle spicy so she has toned down the spiciness. Nevertheless, the dishes were just as beautiful with the play of different spices lingering on the palate.

Prawn

Wrapping up the wonderful night is a warm dessert prepared by Beena's hubby. Pardon me for my bad memory but if I am not wrong the dessert is called Sooji Ka Halwa, made with ghee, semolina and cashews. Usually Indian dessert are very sweet and I was glad that this was done less sweet which is perfect for me. The textures of the dessert tasted like having couscous coated with honey sweetness.

All the three of us left Beena's place with a smile on our face and a satisfied tummy. We really appreciate Beena opening her place for us and cooked us such a wonderful feast. More so that she cooks from her heart and prepared everything from scratch. How I wish she would be my neighbour and I could go over to her place to have my meal everyday. Thank you Beena, you have been a great host.

To find out more out Withlocals, check out their website at https://www.withlocals.com

D'Bell @ North Canal Road

Indian cuisine does not always come in big pots and pans, or heavily greased with butter. D'Bell at North Canal Road serves modern Indian inspired dishes meant to be shared, even over your favourite cocktails, if you preferred. Cook without butter, light but rich on the palate, you can now enjoy Indian dishes without filling the guilt.

Papadum Cones 4/5

First we had Papadum Cones ($5.80) which is crispy papadums shaped into cones and filled with a refreshing vegetable relish to tease our appetite. I could taste the cumin in almost every bite just the way I like it to be and it was extremely crispy.

D'Bell Kofta Kebab 4.2/5

Next served on the table was the D'Bell Kofta Kebab ($18), beef croquette filled with cheddar cheese, prunes and dusted with semolina. The prunes teased out the taste of the beef which was quite an interesting combination. With the cheese in between and the mini naan at the side, it sort of reminded me of a burger? Beef, cheese and bread? Richer in taste among the starters, it is best to have it last. It would also serve a good companion to wines and cocktails.

Tandoori Fish Nazaka 3.8/5

The Tandorri Fish Nazaka ($22) comes in cubes of butterfish cooked over a charcoal flame. It is not heavily seasoned which is exactly how I like it. However the texture was not as tender and moist as I would like it to be.

Masala Aloo Tikki 4.5/5

The Masala Aloo Tikki ($10) instead of being overshadowed by its meaty counterparts, the crispy potato cake filled with green peas masala and coated with tamarind fruit chutney and minty yogurt sauce delighted me the most. The combustion of flavours and textures really took me by surprise. Bits of savoury, sweetness, sour is extremely yummy, not to forget the crispy topping.

Chilli Cheese Naan 4/5 and Kashmiri Naan 4.5/5

For the mains, of course we must have the quintessential naans to go with the different curries and Dal. We have the Chilli Cheese Naan ($8) and Kashmiri Naan ($8) which were freshly baked from the tandoor. Both type of naans were soft and fluffy but I much prefer Kashmiri with the curries. I simply love the combination of sweet and savory. I felt the curry did not really go well with chilli cheese naan. It was kind of overwhelming and did not do the curries justice with both flavours fighting against each other.

Goan Prawn Masala 4/5

Chicken Tikka Masala 4.2/5

Mutton Rogan Josh 4.5/5

For the curries, we had the Goan Prawn Masala ($22), Chicken Tikka Masala ($18) and Mutton Rogan Josh ($20). The prawns were succulent, the chicken was tender and the mutton simply melted in the mouth. They were all very well executed and flavourful. Perfect match for the delightful naans.

Amritsari Dal 4.2/5

The Amritasari Dal ($12) which is simmered overnight on charcoal flame in authentic village style was grainy and chunky. Along with the curries and dal, we were served 3 different dips. The Fruit Chutney, Mint and Pickles have their own distinct taste and characters. The sweetness of the fruit chutney complemented the chilli naan very well. The pickles cut the creaminess of the curries by adding some tanginess to it. It was so good that I even asked for a second helping.

Mango Kulfi 4/5

For a sweet closure, we had the Mango Kulfi ($7.50), a Indian ice cream prepared with Alphonso mango. Not quite sure how to describe it but the consensus was it tasted like a frozen mango lassi. A very enjoyable dessert to cleanse the palate after all the curries and spices.

Overall, I did not go home with a heavy stomach but with a pleasant taste and spices lingering in my mouth. The 2 storey Indian restaurant besides the dining area on the ground floor,  has a bar on the 2nd floor which is very conducive for corporate events or even private celebrations. If you are looking for somewhere to chill, you may want to give this a try.

Written By Si An. A girl who is allured by travelling, loves the feel of freedom, smell of the rain and the aroma of fine coffee and food. 


[CLOSED]
D'Bell
43 North Canal Road
Singapore 059299
Tel: +65 65364046
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DBellSingapore
Website: http://www.dbell.sg/
Nearest MRT: Clarke Quay (NE Line)

Opening Hours:
Mon-Thu: 1130am - 230pm, 6pm - 11pm
Fri: 1130am - 230pm, 6pm - 12midnight
Sat: 6pm - 12midnight
(Closed on Sun)

Direction: 
1) Alight at Clarke Quay MRT station. Take Exit A. Walk towards the traffic junction of North Bridge Road and North Canal Road. Cross the road and turn right onto North Canal Road. Walk along the shophouses to destination. Journey time about 5 minutes. [Map]