Khansama - Jack of all trades...or is there more that meets the eye?
The Oakham Curry Club (OCC) is a well-respected Institution with multiple international franchises. This review of Khansama being the first for the newly created Singapore branch.
The OCC takes pride in searching out the finest Indian restaurants and providing impartial reviews of Curry Houses all over the world.
Members vote anonymously without being influenced by other members (we call this “no swaying”) on 5 categories, and an average score out of a maximum 10 is given to each restaurant we review. On Thursday 18th October 2018 – The OCC visited Khansama Tandoori Restaurant, Little India. Khansama, situated on the junction between Serangoon Road and Norris Road, spans over 2 storeys. The ground floor offering casual, outdoor dining synonymous with Little India where the hustle & bustle of the car and foot traffic adds to the authentic dining experience. The upstairs is a quieter, slightly more formal dining room with the benefit of Aircon!
For full transparency see below scores. The voting is based on the votes from OCC members who have been through a rigorous selection process to gain entry into the Club. In short, we all know our curries.
Quality: 7.5 Customer care: 8 Value: 7.75 (the bill was about S$75 per head however did include an irresponsible amount of beer and a round of house speciality cocktails) Service: 8.25 Atmosphere: 7.75 Overall: 7.85 Khansama IS AWARDED the much-coveted OCC sticker of recommendation As this was the inaugural meeting of the Singapore branch of the OCC there was a fair bit of admin to attend to prior to ordering. The attentive waiting staffs were happy to provide poppadom’s and ice cold Tiger beers before allowing us the time and space needed to attend to our clerical duties. The Indian chopped salad adorning the poppadom’s was a nice touch and went some way to negate the fact that only a green chutney was offered as an accompanying sauce. Throughout the evening the wait staff adeptly struck the balance between attentive service and not overcrowding or hurrying us. This was especially appreciated by one group member who having consumed his fourth raw chilli fine of the evening urgently requested “YOGURT, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD YOGURT!” The waitress flying into action and coming back with a bowl of raita which was quickly slurped up before any lasting intestinal damage was done. Turning our attention to the task at hand, ordering starters, we were a little intimidated by the vastness of the menu. In my experience an overly busy menu can sometimes be the downfall of a restaurant but in this instance I am pleased to note that the old adage ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’ did not apply. The starters of Paneer, Tandoori Gobi and Chicken tikka arrived promptly. Portion size was good as was the quality, with the Paneer being noteworthy in its’ texture and tastiness. With the restaurant now quite full, the waitress wearing out the floor between our table and the bar took the initiative to offer us an ice bucket of beers, and quickly set up a side table with the additional beers and chilled beer mugs. This was very much appreciated. Back to the mega menu to order mains and after much page turning we ordered Yellow Daal, along with a chicken, a mutton and a vegetable curry with ample sides of breads and rice. These again arrived promptly and were well presented and were very tasty. Half way through our mains our waitress suggested we try the signature highball cocktail. Challenge accepted. Refreshing and quite punchy, these were a well-received round off to a very enjoyable meal. We were greeted by the manager as we were leaving and he was keen to know if we had enjoyed our evening and encouraged us to come back again. All in all a very enjoyable experience and a strong start to the OCC in Singapore.