The Quest For Briyani Part 6: Saffrons Cafeteria

Here we at at stop number 6 in our Quest for Briyani series and this time we are visiting a place that we normally visit for something else (not the Briyani) but quite a few readers have been egging us to try the Briyani here. WE HEARD YOU!!! :)

Mutton Briyani Dum ($6.00)

When someone says Saffrons to me, the first things that comes to my mind are Mee Goreng and Prata because that's basically what I almost always have when I go there. I've always seen lots of people ordering the Briyani there but never really thought much about it. Well it seems that a lot of people knew something I dind't and I'm here to find out what it is.

The first thing that hit us as soon as they brought the Briyani to the table was the aroma. Now here was a plate of Briyani which had the strong aroma you'd expect from a power serving of Briyani! We've had Briyani where there was surprisingly no smell at all but this was definitely something else!

Maybe it had something to do with the banana leaf? Well I'm not sure about if it made a difference but it definitely made a good impression.

At first I thought the rice looked kinda dry but boy was I wrong.
The rice was nice and fluffy and full of flavour. The rice was so tasty that I could have gone on eating it without any meat or anything else.

But thankfully, I remembered the meat!

The mutton was absolutely the bomb! The masala gives you a nice strong kick but it doesn't overwhelm you so when you have it with the rice, you can still taste the rice and the masala compliments it. The mutton was tender and easily torn apart with just my fork. Add all that into one satisfying mouthful.

I'm quite confident in saying that this is one place that calls it 'Briyani Dum' and really means it!

The acar and the dalcha only add to a dish that is already delicious on its own.

The acar has a nice tang and spice to it. Don't be afraid of those chillies you see, it's not that spicy.
And the dalcha was simply sublime. I guess one of the reasons it was so good was that they add in some of the lamb fat (tetelan) when they cook it (similar to some of the other places we reviewed) and it seems to make a world of difference. You don't have to eat the fats though! It's already done its job :)

As you can see, I really enjoyed my meal!!!

And of course, finish off with a nice cup of Teh Tarik!

Adam's Verdict:
Mutton Briyani Dum 4.5/5

I know I still have hundreds more places to have Briyani. Half of which have been recommended by you - our beloved readers. Don't worry, I'll try my best to cover as many as I can. But for now, Saffron's is one of the best Briyani's I've had so far.

Just an extra note, we normally eat at the Tampines Saffrons because it's so close but they also have a new outlet at Swan Lake in Opera Estate. And so far, the high standards are upheld at both venues!

Saffrons Cafeteria

23 Swan Lake Avenue

Tel: 9185 0954
www.facebook.com/SaffronsCafeteria

Operating Hours:
8.00am til 10.00pm Daily

The Quest For Briyani Part 5: Afghanistan

So it took us awhile but we're back on the trail and The Quest For Briyani continues!
(You can read the rest of the series by clicking HERE if you're just joining us)

For the longest time, even before I started this blog by the way, people have been telling me about how great the Nasi Briyani at Afghanistan in Tampines was. In fact, I've been hearing about its 'legendary' status since I was in my teens.

It's actually quite surprising that this would actually be the first time I was going to try it especially since it was so accessible to me in the first place.

Mutton Briyani ($5.00)

Let me start of by saying that they're quite generous with the serving.
Definitely enough to fill you up if you're hungry or just right to share between 2 people.

The one thing that I noticed when I sat down with the Briyani was that something was missing.
You know how you get the aroma you get when you just sit down with a nice hot place of Nasi Briyani still steaming from the freshly served rice? Well, that was missing.

The rice was fluffy and no doubt the traditional Basmati but that's about all I have to report.
There was no fragrant aroma and the rice was severely lacking taste. Very surprising for a plate of Briyani which I've been hearing about for years.

I will not claim to be an expert on Briyani and I know there are plenty more Nasi Briyani places for me to visit but I think I know what I'd expect from a decent plate of Briyani and something is quite wrong if that distinct aroma is missing.

The meat wasn't exactly super tender but I guess it was okay. You could still tear it apart without much effort.
Unfortunately the masala was quite bland as well. Again, another shocker.

The acar gave some life to the dish I guess. Nothing spectacular but at least there was some flavour to it.

Actually, I realized something about halfway through my dish.
The individual parts of the dish on their own were severely lacking. The rice was tasteless on its own. The meat was not that enjoyable on its own. And there's no point just eating the acar on its own. The only way I could get though it was to eat every single spoonful with a bit of everything. There was simply no chance of enjoying my meal by eating the rice or the meat on its own.

Adam's Verdict:
Mutton Briyani 1.5/5

Who knows. Maybe I'm just being fussy? Maybe the Chicken Briyani is better?
Well, whatever the case may be, I was actually really disappointed. Has the standard of Afghanistan really dropped?

Perhaps I'll try it again some time and hopefully then I might be able to relive the high standards that everyone seems to remember so fondly.

Afghanistan Family Restaurant

201E Tampines Street 23
Briyani / Murtabak Stall

Tel: 6783 7746

Operating Hours:
7.30am til 11.30pm Daily
(Opens at 3.00pm on Friday afternoons)

Guru's Banana Leaf Cuisine

Here's another quickshot for you kiddies.
Something that simple but I'm sure a lot of you really enjoy...

So my darling wife and I were in Changi Village to run an errand and decided we'd have some breakfast.
Nasi Lemak? Lontong? Mee Siam? Hmmmm.... so many choices....
But we eventually decided to settle on a place that my Dad, my brother and myself had chanced upon when we had gone fishing a few months back...

Roti Prata Kosong ($0.80) and Roti Prata Telur ($1.50)

Now doesn't that just look like the type of breakfast you'd really enjoy?
Simple and comfortable!! It's universal!

Now I know there are many many many many places where you can get prata and I'm pretty sure most of you have your own opinion on where has the best prata am I right? Well, I'm pretty particular too but I am willing to admit that there are quite a large number of places where you can get decent prata.

In Changi Village, this is our venue of choice (until something better comes along?)
The prata is crisp and fresh looks damn inviting. And I have to say that even though there are plenty of prata stalls around Singapore, it's getting increasingly difficult to find one that still sells at the relatively low prices offered at Guru's Banana Leaf.

Even better still - the prata comes with friends!
A nice big serving of dalcha and sambal to go along with your roti prata is always a winner.
The dalcha has all the trimmings and the sambal was actually pretty nice and that always goes well with prata am I right?

If you're looking for more than just plain or egg prata, they pretty much have the works in case you were wondering... Cheese, Tissue, Masala, Egg Cheese, Mushroom, Hotdog, Masala, Bom. The list goes on!

Masala Paper Thosai ($3.00)

The last time I stopped by with my Dad and brother, I had the Masala Paper Thosai and I could safely say that it was "Boleh tahan" standard so I decided to have it again.

As usual, it was huge and made for a filling meal. Comes with coconut chutney (mint and spicy) and some dalcha too. But for some reason, today there was a slight issue...

Now, I don't mean to be a complain king or anything but to me that's like really really bad.
It's like really a little bit of masala only! It definitely wasn't like this the last time...

And further to this, the masala was unfortunately salty AND it was dry too.
Thankfully I enjoyed the crispy flour.

Oh well. Maybe better luck next time?

Or maybe next time I might go back to this place for my thosai...

Adam's Verdict:
Paper Masala Thosai 1.5/5

Maryah's Verdict:
Roti Prata 4/5

Maybe I should start a hunt for the best prata?
But I think that hunt might never end actually... So in the mean time let's stick to the ones we know are good.

Guru's Banana Leaf Cuisine

Blk 1 Changi Village
#01-2020

Operating Hours:
6.00am til 11.00pm Daily

The Quest For Briyani Part 4: Blue Diamond Restaurant

 

So I mentioned my quest for Briyani to my Mum and she says "Wah you have to try Blue Diamond Briyani!".
Normally when my Mum makes a claim that something is nice means she really really likes it.
So I made it a point to pay Blue Diamond a visit.

Tucked along the row of shophouses along Buffalo Road, I almost missed it.
The restaurant looks so well-blended in that I actually had to look for a sign before I knew exactly where it was. And since this restaurant was actually pretty famous, I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing.

My Dad and Brother were along for the adventure but my Mum couldn't make it out for lunch...
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.............................

Well my Dad and I had different types of Dum Briyani and my Brother had the Naan which I actually reviewed earlier. (See that review HERE)

Now it's interesting to note that they are listing this as "Dum Briyani" which means they cooked it in the 'Dum' style of cooking the meat and rice together. There are a lot of places that claim to serve 'Dum Briyani' but actually don't. How would Blue Diamond fare?

So the guy brings out our Briyani in these small little pots.
He lays the banana leaf out for you and then proceeds to flip the rice and meat out on to your plate.

But does this small pot mean that it's not authentic 'Dum'?
Not at all. I can confirm that Blue Diamond serves authentic Dum Briyani because we saw the guy scoop the rice and the meat out from a much larger pot where the Briyani was cooked.

Apparently they pack it into these pots to keep the dish warm and this means they can serve it to you steaming and piping hot.

Dum Mutton Biryani ($7.00)

Dum Chicken Biryani ($6.50)

As you can see, the servings are very very generous!!

The mutton version comes with 2 pretty big pieces of mutton and a whole quarter of chicken for the chicken version. Plus a hard-boiled egg atop a nice big fluffy bed of rice.

The Basmati rice used was very fluffy and very delicious. I have to say it was actually very tasty even if you were to eat the rice on its own without any curry.

But let me explain that this is because this Biryani is heavy on the spices.
That's a fierce colour for a Biryani to have and it's because of the masala spices they use and boy do they use it generously here. It's not over-powering but I can foresee some people may not fancy it too much.

Some people like their Briyani to be relaxed and not too strong while some like it spicy and packing a punch.
If you are the 2nd type, then you'll probably enjoy this because this is definitely a dish that emphasizes the powerful flavour of biryani spices.

The mutton itself was very tender and tore apart relatively easily. This is what you at least expect as a minimum for Dum Biyani am I right? Unfortunately with my luck, I got a nice big joint bone which means less meat for me. Yeah sure I love the bones but I prefer meat with my biryani.

The chicken version however didn't fare so well.
The meat was definitely tender but when you have to cook chicken meat that long to get it to that state, you sacrifice a lot of the moisture in the meat so it turned out to be very very dry. The chicken version also appeared to have less masala spices compared to the mutton version.

Cucumber Raita

Curry

You also get the usual extras with your plate of biryani.
Cucumber Raita was a welcome change as it definitely cooled of the spice of the biryani.
I thought that the curry was actually Rasem or something because it looked so watery but don't let looks deceive you - that's one tasty and spicy curry! But with the biryani already being heavy on the masala spice, I didn't really need the extra curry.

In fact, to be honest, I actually liked it best when I had the biryani rice with the Butter Chicken which came with my brother's Naan!

Adam's Verdict:
Dum Mutton Biryani 3.5/5

Azlan's Verdict:
Dum Mutton & Chicken Biryani 3.5/5

Zain's Verdict:
Dum Chicken Biryani 3/5

A close friend and fellow foodie says that Blue Diamond was indeed a top name when it came to Briyani back in the day but he also mentioned that the old and original chef passed away a few years ago.
No doubt the recipe may be the same but we all know what they say about the people cooking the dish being just as, if not more, important than the recipe itself. Well, this is still a pretty tasty biryani nontheless.

The Quest For Briyani continues!!

Blue Diamond Restaurant

24 Buffalo Road
(Across from Tekka Market)

Operating Hours: 9.30am til 10.00pm Daily

Sri Kamala Vilas Restaurant Part II

So you guys remember the first visit to Sri Kamala Vilas?

Well we found out that the thosai was absolutely the bomb there but people kept insisting that we tyr the supposedly delicious Chicken Masala. Sure or not??? Well obviously gotta go back and try right?
And this time I brought the family.

So my darling wife and I brought Mum, Dad and my brother to try it out.
(Don't worry Yana we will go back again okay!)

Well anyways I'm not gonna be posting much about the thosai because we already went that route in the first review of Sri Kamala Vilas.

I had the Ghee Masala Paper Thosai again of course. Mum had a Paper Masala Thosai and she says it was "nice" and she agreed with the original review that the Masala in the thosai is really good cos its creamy. Dad had a normal Thosai and says that "all Thosai tastes the same lah" (but I saw him take second helping of the sambar!) and my brother had a Ghee Masala Thosai. He actually seems the most enthusiastic and said that "it rocks". Safe to say - they all enjoyed the Thosai too.

But, the actual reason we came back was not for the Thosai...
After my last post, I received a few messages telling me to try the Chicken Masala there. I'll be honest and say that Chicken Masala is never even on my mind when I go and eat at this kind of place. Come to think I won't even mention Chicken Masala because... well... it's nothing special to me...
So my darling wife took the plunge.

 Chicken Masala Briyani ($6.70)

So that's a pretty big serving of briyani I can tell you. It's just nice for one if you're hungry but I reckon 2 could probably share it. And at first glance I guess you would probably assume it's your normal run-of-the-mill briyani. I mean, this place is known for its thosai and not its briyani right?

And I guess it wasn't so bad. Rice wasn't as tasty as some places I've been. The usual raita and pappadum.
The dalcha was okay as well but nothing special I'd say. I do however wish they'd use a different achar pickle. This one didn't really have any kick.

But I say again... we did not come back for the thosai. Nor the briyani...

Chicken Masala

Now THIS is what I'm talking about. This is what we came to try.
So many people recommended this exact dish here. So it must be damn good right...

Like I said, I'm not really the type to go crazy for Chicken Masala when we go out to eat.
I mean how good can it be right? Well.........

THIS WAS THE BOMB!!

Okay lah don't say the chicken or whatever lah (because everyone has their own preference on how they like their chicken) but I'm talking about the masala!! OMG!! It's damn nice lah. In fact it was so nice that even after we were done eating I was still dipping my fingers into the masala and eating it on its own. No more rice no more thosai no more chicken. I was just eating the Masala on its own!

It's got a very good taste. Super tasty.
And I think the best part is probably the fact that it's spicy but it doesn't burn your mouth or put you off the dish. It's the right amount of spice to make you keep going back for more and more and more.

Whoever recommended for me to go back and try this - THANK YOU!

Adam's Verdict:
Chicken Masala 5/5

Maryah's Verdict:
Chicken Masala Briyani 4/5

Azlan's Verdict:
Ghee Masala Thosai 5/5

Dad's Verdict:
Thosai 2/5

Mum's Verdict:
Paper Masala Thosai 3/5

So there you have it.
So many more things to have at Sri Kamala Vilas but I actually have a strong feeling that when we go back we will probably have the Thosai and Chicken Masala again!


Sri Kamala Vilas Restaurant

Blk 662 Buffalo Road
#01-16 (Opposite Tekka Market)

Operating Hours: 8.30am til 9.00pm daily






================================================
Updated 7 May 2013

Well it's looks like Sri Kamala Vilas has undergone a slight makeover!

They have renamed themselves to a simpler 'Kamala Restaurant'.
Not to worry, it's still at the same location. They've just done some minor renovations to clean up the place and make it a little more roomy.

And in case you were wondering, it's still Halal and the prices are still the same :)
In fact, I had another Ghee Masala Paper Thosai today and it seemed a little bigger! An absolute monster!

So head down soon and don't be shocked to see the new decor!