Annalakshmi

So we were wanting to do delivery for lunch cos we got bored of the food in our area. And then there's the vegetarian Indian food we attempted to go for once but failed because it moved away from Chinatown Point. Then I found out that they had relocated to Clark Quay area, and that their delivery service was still available. At $6 per pack, it sounded like a good deal. Minimum 5 packs to deliver, so we took orders around the lab. Their menu changes daily, with North and South Indian options each day. The website wasn't updated, so we didn't get what we were expecting. But since then, they have started sending me the weekly menu so now I'm always kept in the loop.

Heads up, the portions are HUGE. And it didn't help that I ended up with rice, and a potato side dish, and a rice yoghurt. That's on top of other side dishes and an Indian sweet. Too much carbos in a meal. I couldn't finish them. But it was a delicious meal, I really liked the spiced potatoes. There's also option for less rice and two chapatis, which some of us got. They even printed the best consumed by time. Which was unfortunately a little on the weird side for us. Because we are so near them, we were the first delivery location. I received my lunch at 10.30am. We ate at 12 noon. The consumed by time was 1.30pm or thereabouts.

Delivery - South Indian

Delivery - North Indian, with 2 Chapatis and less rice option

Then we had a farewell for an Indian exchange student who's vegan (for lack of a simpler definition. She's actually a Jain.) So we thought we could go to Annalakshmi itself for lunch. Their system is very unique. It's a non-profit organisation totally run by volunteers, and proceeds, if I'm not wrong, goes into the maintenance of the school of Indian arts known as the Temple of Fine Arts next door. So you pay however much you want, for a vegetarian buffet lunch! The art pieces on walls, we were told by an Indian colleague, were also all available for sale, and the proceeds goes to the same cause. Good food (for us) for a good cause (for them), isn't that a fantastic combination?

Because there's so many of us, we needed a reservation. With a big group, they requested a minimum payment of $12 each. That's still a very good deal for a buffet! The principle behind Annalakshmi is food cooked and served with love. The volunteers prep the food the way they would at home for their loved ones, no short cut. And because the volunteers rotate, that's the reason why their menu changes. The food on the buffet menu is pretty much the same as the delivery menu. Both the North and South Indian options are there for the taking. On top of that, we are entitled to drinks and chapattis and puri. Oh my, those piping hot and crispy puri are to die for. Deep fried doughs of happiness. I only allowed myself half... As much as I wanted more, I really needed to watch my fat intake. The lassi were great too. I had a mango lassi which I thoroughly enjoyed. The was also vadai at the buffet, which were puffy little fried doughs. With the variety of dips and curries available, you will find no lack of accompaniment for them. And I happily found the same spiced potato that I had (potato masala) previously during the delivery. Yes it's a lot of carbo, but I was going back so many rounds of this.

Lassi, vadai, rice, veggies and curries

Overall I loved the spirit behind this place, and the food too. True, the word 'vegetarian' turns a lot of the carnivorous colleagues off. One of them even claimed that too much veggies gave him indigestion for that day, not bothering to note the fact that probably his 3 puri and mountain of vadai was more likely the cause of the said indigestion -_-|||. Some of us thought we will return, but somehow never got around to it. Maybe we should really go back one of these days. 

Annalakshmi

#01-04, Central Square
20, Havelock Road
Singapore 059765
Nearest MRT station: Clarke Quay (Exit B) or Chinatown (Exit E)
Tel : 6339 9993

For delivery: 8181 3407

For catering: 97813593

The Banana Leaf Apolo (Race Course Road)

We have heard of this eatery quite a while ago, when boss considered it for one of our colleague's farewell. It was passed for a cheaper alternative in the end, but S did mention that it's nice. So when she's leaving for her post-grad studies, we decided to have our own little farewell here. We decided on the branch at Race Course Road. It was during Ramadan that we went, so when we reached about 6 plus, it was still relatively empty. But midway through eating (or while waiting for our food actually), the crowd started swarming in for breaking fast.

We actually weren't sure what to order, and the server wasn't very helpful. So between our mixed understanding of the items on the menu and their sizes, we somehow managed to order what sounded like a decent amount of food for the 6 of us. The drinks came first. I think all of us ordered lassi. Mine was a mango lassi. Sweet, sour and refreshing. I liked it.

Mango lassi and sweet lassi

Gobi 65 was highly recommended by one of our ex-colleague, so we ordered that. It was basically cauliflower coated with some seasoned flour and deep fried. Who doesn't like deep fried food? And deep fried vegetable does seem somewhat healthier than deep fried meats, although it sounds a little sacrilegious. The seasoning was good, and the crunch perfect. Very nice start to the meal.

Gobi 65

When you don't know what to order, a mix platter is always a good starting point. So that was exactly what we ordered - a tandoori mix platter. It had chicken, fish, some otah-like thingy and prawns I think. Overall was pretty yummy, but the otah-like thingy was too spicy for a few of them, so I ate quite a lot of it. It's spicy with a touch of sour, and went well with my rice. Because this was awhile back, I actually don't remember much of the rest of this platter.

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 This was followed by a series of gravilicious food to go with the naans we ordered, as well as saffron rice. Garlic and butter naans hot out of the kitchen was oh so nice, especially with all the curries and gravies. The mutton masala were bite sized pieces of mutton, tender enough to chew without feeling like I was chewing gum. Its gravy was a mildly spicy curry, flavored with a good amount of Indian herbs and spices. The fish curry was really good. It was very spicy, but very flavorful. Even the ones who didn't like spicy had a good number of servings.

Garlic naan and butter naan

Mutton masala

Fish curry

There was another dish that I absolutely can't remember what it was, even after staring at the picture for a long time. So I really can't comment on it. Midway through we decided we wanted more greens, and ordered something that had '7 vegetables' in its description. It had a creamy gravy, and I didn't actually try to identify 7 types of vegetables in it. But we liked it's flavor, very aromatic, and also goes well with naan. XP and YJ even needed extra white rice to go with all those saucy dishes.

The dish I can't remember

The restaurant got really crowded as the night proceeded, and the servers started clearing our plates as soon as one empties - a signal to us that we should leave. Even after 5 out of 7 of us had left the table to go to washroom, pay at cashier etc, I stubbornly sat there with YJ accompanying me to finish up the remaining food and papadam. Oh yes, I loved their papadam.

I must say that while their food is yummy, it's actually quite similar to other Indian places. And quite pricey too. Ok, at least it's better than Khansama's. The girls say they prefer Anjappar, which I have yet to try. Maybe next outing we'll go there.

Ya-Mahyuddin Al-Jailani Restaurant

Phew, the restaurant name is quite a mouthful. This eatery situated at the end of the stretch of shophouses along Kampong Bahru Road is more a Indian-Muslim prata place, than a restaurant proper. I've long heard about their nice nasi bryani, but never went to try until pretty recently. Twice. First time we had bryani. Second time we had a huge variety and came back with extreme food coma.

First visit was with XP and CW. We all ordered mutton bryani, and a few prata to share. We packed a packet of mutton bryani back for E. We really liked the nasi bryani. It was fragrant, with a generous serving of mutton curry. Their prata were fluffy, and yummy. Although I do like my prata much more crispier on the outside. Maybe because we ordered prata with fillings, and the fillings made the dough a little wetter. I should try the plain ones next time. While the three of us had a comfortable portion lunch, E apparently got a huge huge packet. Considering he's the big eater of the lab, and he was stuffed to the brim by this lunch, I guess he really got a big bag of food.

Two weeks later we returned with a bigger group. We ended up ordering different things: maggi goreng, nasi goreng mutton, mutton murtabak, mutton bryani and chicken bryani. There was an option for either fried or curry chicken for the bryani... interesting... but HY stuck to the norm and ordered curry chicken bryani.

The maggi goreng was simple, but delicious. It came with a beautifully fried sunny side up. I thoroughly enjoyed my mutton nasi goreng, filled with minced mutton and with an ample amount of fat to make it extra yummy, not to mention extra unhealthy. But note it wasn't overly oily, and I wasn't sick in the stomach after finishing it. We liked how their mutton bryani was served with small pieces of mutton, as opposed to a single large piece with bones that many places tend to sell. The killer was the murtabak. We waited quite long for it, and when it arrived, we were stunned by the size of it. My picture doesn't do it justice, but if you can try to imagine the size of the fork and spoon relative to it... Poor XP and CW ordered one each. We had to help them out a little. That resulted in all of us being uber full after lunch. Thankfully they left out one order of prata, or it would have been worse.

Mutton nasi goreng

Mutton bryani

Maggi goreng

Giant mutton murtabak

I think we got so full from this meal that we are sort of reluctant to return for fear of a comatosed afternoon again. But I'm sure we will get over that, and return for more.

Bar Bar Black Sheep (Boat Quay)

It was V's bachelorette party and my colleagues and I were looking for a dinner place near Clarke Quay, where we had booked a hotel room to spend the night. Turns out Groupon had a deal for Bar Bar Black Sheep, and seeing that Boat Quay isn't so far from Clarke Quay, we bought 2 vouchers and tried out that place. Prior to going, however, another colleague mentioned that Bar Bar is like a 'high class kopitiam', not so much a restaurant. We were quite horrified actually, and did a quick google. Yup, saw the same description for the Robertson Quay branch on HungryGoWhere.com. Reviewers said that their style was ordering at the counter and food will be delivered later. I can handle that. I later found their facebook site and saw the photos, didn't look so bad lah!

There was an event at the indoor area the day we were going, so we had to reserve an outdoor table. To add to the already expected discomfort (Singapore is HOT!), it poured that afternoon. So it was a little wet, and very, very humid when we reached. I have over-active sweat and oil glands, so the dinner was not comfortable at all. But this is a food blog, so I'll talk about the food. Bar Bar serves up a fusion of Indian, Thai and Western cuisine. I think they are most renown for their Indian, but the Groupon specifically excludes Indian food. Since there was 11 of us, not a big issue cos we were sure to hit $40 worth of non-Indian food to utilize our vouchers.

We girls who reached first ordered their Tandoori Platter. Tandoori chicken, fish, prawn and choice of lamb or chicken kebab, and we chose lamb. I liked the fish - flaky and well-flavoured. The tandoori chicken was okay. Wasn't keen on the kebab. Did like the chutney that was served alongside, which complemented the dishes perfectly. We also ordered garlic and butter naans. I ate half a butter naan plain. Very aromatic even without gravy. By the time the rest arrived, we were semi full. So we carried on with ordering appetizers to share rather than to order main courses each, though the latecomers still went ahead with their mains.

The buffalo wings, though informed by the waitress that its one of their signature dishes, was very normal. It was gratifying to see that the calamari wasn't made from frozen supermarket varieties, although I think I've eaten better ones elsewhere. (Oops, I think its my mom's. She's spoiling the market.). We also ordered nacho chips with salsa, which my camera obviously missed. Crisp with gooey cheese and spicy salsa - I like. Fries, well, were fries. I was just telling Lynn the other day this, and suddenly we both remembered the remarkable fries at Les Bouchons. Lol...

I remembered clearly X ordering his steak medium. But he gave me a small piece to try, knowing that I love steak, and it's very very obviously well-done. But being Mr Nice Guy, he didn't complain and dutifully finished up the entire tough steak. It came smothered in mushroom sauce. Though the sauce was flavorful, it's there to cover the fact that the meat is less than high quality. Its quite lean too, and doesn't have the much-needed fats to give the meat more flavor. The phad thai was pretty good, though I only had a mouthful. The fish and chips was HUMONGOUS!! Even after distributing the fish to a good number of people, V and me were unable to finish the rest of it. Although it was one of the recommended dishes by reviewers on HungryGoWhere.com, I found it waaayyy too oily for my liking. Fish was a little bland too. Makes me miss those from Aussie... haha...

The other mains that my camera missed include Thai green curry, Butter Chicken, and Thai seafood fried rice. The feedbacks I got was that the green curry was good, but too spicy for V, but I guess it was great for J who love spicy and ordered that. The butter chicken smelled fantastic when it arrived, but it reached late because the kitchen missed that order. We were quite filled by then and couldn't finish it. I sampled a little of the gravy and found it it was rich, buttery, and would have been perfect with naan. Heard that the fried rice was good too.

Tandoori platter

Buffalo wings

Calamari

Steak

Beef phad thai

Fish and chips

Other than the discomfort, I quite enjoyed the food here. Although I will recommend to come here for the Indian and Thai food, and steer clear of the Western. Service was a little slow cos I think they were under-staffed for a Friday night. Curious though, you're in Boat Quay for goodness sake, you should know to increase staff numbers on a Friday night!