Malaka Spice: The Place To Dine
By Bilal Vohra
I have been to a few countries as well as countless cities in India but never in my life would I have come across a restaurant for which everyone raves and swears about when it comes to food. I’m mostly a person who would shy away from people’s suggestion and would go with my personal choice as I feel most of them would be unable to deconstruct the taste and underlying value but this one has so many recommendations that I could not dare ignore.
On entering the place it has strange resemblance with Prem’s from across the street in Pune, Maharashtra which was my favorite long time ago. There are 2 women waiting to welcome you at the gate and even take your contact details so that they can coordinate with you if there is any delay or waiting as such, I was lucky to find a place without any delay though.
The menu is a vast spread of Pan-Asian cuisine with strong bend on Malay & Thai traditional cuisines I started with Nokozume or the Stuffed mushroom parcel which were medium-sized mushrooms laced in spinach and flash fried served with a sweet and sour sauce next was the Gai Hor Bai Toey or the Chicken in Pandanu leaves which were big sized boneless cuts of chicken rolled and steamed in Pandanu leaves giving it a great taste.
Initially, I was reluctant in ordering the Pumpkin chips but believe me this is what outright wins the race against anything I would have had there it was Chef Cheeru’s original recipe of thick slices of Pumpkin deep-fried and served with curry leaves like a no fuss starter and the taste was beyond imagination even to my well waxed taste buds. A great drink cannot be ruled out in all this glorified food so I went with the teams suggestion of Melon freeze which complimented the starters well.
For the main course I had Malaka Penang curry which is like a litmus test for Malay food and it tasted heaven with the perfect mix of cinnamon, cloves, coconut milk and galangal. To keep the original taste intact I paired the dish with organic herbed brown rice and both tasted just about perfect and the quantity too is good enough to fill atleast till the Adam’s apple.
For the sweets I went with a simple Chocolate Mousse which was a bit disappointing with unusually thick mousse froth but maybe that’s only because it was served right out of the chiller to me and it was almost time to wind up the place.
The total PLF (pocket loosening factor) of the food mentioned above was 2100 INR. The place can be contacted on 9595288288 and its suggested to book a place before you walk in. Suggestive orders are Pumpkin chips, Malaka Penang curry and Herbed brown rice.
