Vegetarian - that's an old Indian word meaning 'lousy hunter'

The title of this post which I found on the Internet was a quote made in a different context from the contents of this post, but I thought it was amusing. So here's us back at Komala Vilas for more delicious vegetarianism.  Those brightly coloured drinks above are badam (almond) milk and rose milk if anyone was wondering. The chilled milk was smooth, fairly rich and sweet in a non-cloying manner. Just what we needed from the sweltering humidity. But they don't seem to be so big on the actual flavours.

That's the vegetarian briyani, something which I remember mentioning previously as a Bombay thali. I'm pretty sure the old menu must have made that reference because I would not have made that up myself. These days, I'm much more acquainted with what are the items on the side. Anti-clockwise from the right - dhal, raita, vegetable kourma, some long beans stir fried with desiccated coconut and spices, a folded chapati and a payasam beside the rice for sweets. This could have easily fed two.

This was the chapati meal. Unleavened flat bread served with a mixture of vegetable sides and also a payasam. Never actually noticed of how people eat this but pretty much everything on the banana leaf can be shovelled with the chapati into the mouth and it would taste good. The flavours for the vegetarian items were as usual outstanding and these guys have been in business for a long time with a relentless crowd for a very good reason.

And of course, some hot masala chai to finish.

Islamic Restaurant, North Bridge Road

I took notice of this shop (745 North Bridge Road, tel : +65 6298 7563) a long while ago after I happened by and have been wanting to visit. That never happened until today. So here's a look at their briyani. Their mutton beryani as they called it to be precise. The spices in the rice were aromatic but lightweight and their mutton seemed to be served in two different portions. One boned in meat and the other shredded. The plate was served with crunchy cucumber achar on the side and no papadums.

Because I've just recently had the one at Yakader, I'll want to make comparisons. The rice here was was fully basmati and definitely wasn't as moist or flavoured as the one from Yakader. In fact, the mutton was a lot more moist and tender at Yakader as well. As much as things sounded in favour for Yakader, I personally found this one at Islamic Restaurant enjoyable in a different manner. One can see that their styles/recipes are different. I wanted to say that this tasted more Middle Eastern, but I do not know if that was true.

And to wash down all that spice, rice and mutton - some iced ginger milk. There was even a little heat from the ginger that they used.

I read that Islamic Restaurant have been around for quite a while. Like for almost a century kind of 'while'. Another one of those eateries which I hadn't taken note of until recent years. 

Soup pasta with clams and mushroom from Saizeriya

It's been quite a while since I've last had spaghetti in soup. I actually liked this one from Saizeriya (#02-22, Liang Court, 177 River Valley Road, tel : +65 6337 9001) better than I thought I would. Sure those clams aren't the best ones to be had, but for $5.90, it was generous portions and decent tasting plate of soup noodles for a restaurant in town. And this was almost as comforting as chicken soup. 

Yakader, Tekka Food Centre

This plate of local dum briyani from Yakader (665 Buffalo Road, Tekka Market #01-259) was as messy looking as it was tasty for lunch today. Their rice seemed to be a mixture of the regular short grained variety and basmati. Moist and steeped with all the goodness of meat juices and spices that were infused that they were good enough to eat on its own, punctuated by the occasional fragrance of deep fried shallots or a sweet raisin. None of that dalcha was even necessary so I just drank it up after the rice. Need I mention that the mutton was fall off the bone tender as well? I guess I haven't explored this food centre as much as I would have liked.

Kailash Parbat, Syed Alwi Road

This (93 Syed Alwi Road, tel : + 65 6291 5545) vegetarian restaurant located just across the road from Mustafa was another chain from India that has established a number of outpost. This one was a short walk from Murugan Idli Shop. From what I could gather, they've been around for quite a while and are present in New York and London as well. They also seemed to be famous for their chaats.

I like dahi puri. That's puri shells filled mostly with sweetened yoghurt amongst other things. Other things like taramind chutney, some spicy green chutney, a generous sprinkle of crushed sev and coriander. This one didn't have coriander of course. A party in the mouth snack with sweet, sour and spiciness paired with crispy and creamy textures.

Those balls are masala cheese marvel. From what the menu described, they're made of spiced cheese and paneer which are deep fried. Strangely, they reminded me of the fish cutlets from Shami which were made of potato and fish.

Another tasty starter we tried was their kaju mutter tikki. These were deep fried patties made of potato, green peas and cashew.

There was an awesome serving of basmati rice cooked with palak (spinach). As green as it looked, it tasted rather buttery as well so I guess there must have been quite a lot of ghee involved. I'd eat this again in a heartbeat.

More carbs in the form of their bhatura. These ones had cheese in them and the texture of the flour was a little thicker than those I've had previously. The flavour reminded me of Chinese dough fritters and rocked with the sliced onions on the side and....

...were accompanied curried chick peas. These delicious spicy chick peas were tender and not hard like some.

This was their paneer butter masala. Which was for the most part, an equivalent of the cottage cheese version of butter chicken.

And black lentil dhal with kidney beans. This was really rich and heart clogging buttery. 

With all the rich gravies, we needed naan to mop them all up.

Even though we were almost bursting the seams after the chai and lassi, we somehow didn't pass on the malai rabri. A dessert of thickened milk with sugar, cardamom and bits of pistachio. Cool, sweet and creamy dessert.

One must understand (and accept) that while these may be vegetarian, the richness is not going to be doing your heart any favours. But we walked away from this meal adorn with smiles so that's a good thing. And I'm definitely coming back.

La Strada, Scotts Road

Out of the ashes of the old La Strada rose the current (1 Scotts Rd, #01-13 Shaw Centre, tel : +65 6735 6656). A once upon a time classy, starched white table clothed and napkin ristorante into the rustic trattoria with a warm glow today. Still there are residual of Les Amis which didn’t quite fall squarely into the traditional trattoria look. The curved drinking glasses, stylish table lamps and some of the tableware looked distinctively Japanese rather than Italian - but I thought it was a good effort. The prices seemed to remain at similar ranges as before.  

This was their fritto misto, fried seafood and vegetables. The portions were supposed to be for two, but I thought it was quite lightweight for two. There were shrimps, whitebait, some little fish that tasted like sardines, a mussel, a couple of scallops, soft shell crab and one small squid. Not much vegetables beyond a few thin slices of zucchini. We liked the variety of seafood, possibly the fritto misto with the most variety in this country. I kid you not. But I would have liked better if there were more of some of the seafood. Like the mussels or the scallops. Even the sardines.

La Strada's porcini risotto had Romanzini snails. The risotto itself was lightweight, earthy and savoury. This one went real easy with the cheese so the flavours of the stock and mushrooms shone. And there were plenty of what tasted like fresh porcini mushrooms in it. It was a little pricey though.

I remembered liking the their rendition of carbonara previously. The noodles seemed to have changed. What's the difference you might wonder. It's the texture. While it had all the other elements, it didn't taste so impressive these days. I could say that we didn't get a very molten yolk from the confit egg tonight, but that wasn't the reason why it wasn't good for me anymore. Maybe my preferences have evolved out of this particular pasta. 

This was a soufflé from their board. Matcha and coffee. Very nice. And very competently done with a light fluffy texture and a mild egginess. It took quite a while in the kitchen and the restaurant tided us over with a chocolate tart and vanilla bean ice cream on the house through the wait. Now that's the Les Amis service I remember.