Tiger Mike - An Indian celebration in Kota Damansara

Dear Bee Lan,

Please keep this in your archive, and info Tun please. Info Tun that this Restaurant is better than the one in Scott Road, and very near his house.

Kamsia lu.

An Indian celebration in Kota Damansara

By Eu Hooi Khaw

The Bangalore Fish Curry... my favourite at RK Restaurant. — Picture by Eu Hooi Khaw

PETALING JAYA, Nov 10 — The mango lassi came in a small earthernware jar and piqued my interest in what was to follow at RK Restaurant in Kota Damansara here. Our curiosity was further stirred by the appearance of a small charcoal brazier at the next table, skewers of meat placed across it, and the cloud of smoke that enveloped them.

That was what we were having for dinner too at this Indian restaurant. It turned out to be the RK BBQ Special. Threaded through the skewers were chunks of smoky boneless chicken, tender, moist and exploding with flavours of spices, herbs and garlic. It was so delicious.

RK Restaurant is just nine months old; it serves a range of Indian food from Bangalore and Goa to southern India. I’m always delighted to find a restaurant that has its own unique take on classic Indian dishes, and adding on some unusual ones as well.

RK BBQ Specila... skewers of marinated chicken finished over a charcoal brazier.

One of these is the Tandoori Aloo. A thin slice of potato is rolled up with a filling of chopped cashews, potato, chilli, carrot, onion and ginger. It yields nutty, fragrantly spiced bites, with the potato “skin” remaining crunchy. A mint raita dip is served with this, but it is already so tasty eaten on its own.

Another was the Vegetable Shami Kebab, made with potato, carrot, onion and cauliflower, with a cottage cheese ball in the centre. Eaten hot, you encounter melted cheese and a mushy centre after the crispy outer layer. It tasted good dipped in the mint raita.

The Romali Roti — a thin, handkerchief-like naan — came, and we ate this hot, with the Mutton Rogan Josh. It was superb, with every bit of the tender mutton imbued with the aromatic spice mix, with just the right heat from chilli. I had a second helping of this.

Mehti Chaman... one of the more unusual dishes at RK.

Methi Chaman is another unusual dish at this restaurant. Methi is fenugreek leaves which are cooked with tomato, onions and cashewnuts. Cottage cheese strands strewn across the dish. It’s creamy, and it’s a fine balance of sweet and sour.

The Special Chicken Bryani had been covered with a piece of dough and baked in the tandoor, as in a dum bryani. This thin dough was lifted up to reveal some of the longest grains of basmati rice I have ever seen!

 

The Special Chicken Bryani is a must-try.

Exquisitely spiced and tinged with saffron, they were almost two centimetres long. I loved the rice, that had buried within it chunks of well marinated, spicy chicken. The bryani was served with a yoghurt sauce and a tart curry which tempted us to eat even more rice.

Dhal Makhni has five different varieties of dhal in it, and I could pick out the black dhal and creamy red kidney beans in a texturally rich stew. It takes hours to cook this dish which originates from Punjab. It goes so well with the thin butter naan.

The RK Chicken Curry Special is a mild creamy curry, almost velvety in the mouth. It had hard-boiled eggs in it, together with chicken, and it is streaked with cream on top. Take a bite of the chicken and it delivers the oomph of all the spices in the curry.

The Bangalore Fish Curry stood out among all the curries we had, for its rich red colour derived from tomatoes and chilli. We ate this with white basmati rice, and I enjoyed the sour notes in the curry, and of course all the wonderful aromas of the spices in it.

The mango lassi comes in an earthenware jar.

The Pistachio Kulfi we had at the end was generously studded with the pistachios and cashews, and there were lovely perfumed hints of rose water in the milky ice cream.

These fine, well-cooked dishes are so reasonably priced. The RK BBQ Special is RM20.90, Vegetarian Sheesh Kebabs RM11.90, RK Special Chicken Curry RM18.90, Mutton Rogan Josh RM17.90, RK Special Bryani RM18.90, Mango Lassi RM6.90, and the breads are RM3.50 each type.

RK Restaurant is across the road from the brightly lit neighbourhood hawker centre in Kota Damansara. It is located at 16-1, Jalan PJU 5/7, Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya (Tel: 03-6142-1314).

It is open every day from 11am to 11pm, and from 6pm on Monday. You can also have RK’s food delivered to you by Kitchen on Wheels within the hour of calling 1700-81-7223.