Machan's Kitchen, Race Course Road

Machan's Kitchen (74 Race Course Road, tel : +65 6291 2526) has a much more vibrant vibe than the other Indian restaurants along the stretch. One could barely tell that they served Indian food from the decor compared to most if not all of the more "obvious" looking neighbours.

Papadams. You know what they are.

They served a much appreciated well chilled lassi which was a sweet sweet reprieve from the sweltering heat.

The menu's kinda confusing. We ordered this by pointing to a picture and the server explained it was their semi cooked egg which according to the menu has masala. This one was tender and creamy and had nothing much but salt and pepper - which according to the menu is just a plain omelette. I love this 3000.

Tried their gooseberry pepper soup. Spicy and pretty tart. The sourness felt less rounded than say tamarind. The texture of the gooseberries in the soup felt like slightly crunchy potatoes and didn't taste like gooseberry as I knew of them. Not sour at all.

Was intrigued by their betel leaf garlic rice. Which was a spiced basmati rice very much like a briyani with their melange of flavour and soft cloves of garlic. There were some leaves which I presumed to be the betel leaves but I couldn't definitively identify their specific flavour amid all the others.     

Their mango fish curry had good quality fish - I think mackerel. Portions of the fish were sadly dismal. Curry was pretty tangy and packed a lot more spice than I had seen coming. The initial heat ramped up from a low burn to something sweat inducing pretty quickly. Wasn't something that was immediately in your face but took some seconds before the potency hit you.

That's something they called banana thosai...an appetizer that arrived after any appetizing was needed. Tasted like a banana pancake and served piping hot. Nice. Bananas tasted like pisang raja.

Dessert was pearl millet halwa which was served hot. Texture was like a pudding or a very tender tapioca kueh. I liked this much. Reminded me of kesari bath minus the saffron. The ghee in it helped.

Creamy masala tea which had a more dominant cardamom flavour.

Some mukhwas to freshen the breath after the meal.