Briyani, bring it on

Chicken briyani (foreground) at Spice Indian Cuisine comes with an egg as well as dhal and raita. — P. NATHAN/The Star

TO perfect the art of briyani-making, a restaurant owner travelled to various parts of India in search of the most delicious briyani.

The Spice Indian Cuisine's owner Ibrahim Gani later concluded that South Indian briyani from Chennai, Tamil Nadu would go well with Malaysian taste buds.

This is due to the fact that most Malaysians from all races enjoy spices and spicy food.

"North Indian briyani tastes a lot like our nasi minyak. It also doesn’t come with much gravy. However, the Chennai briyani is more flavourful, accompanied by gravy and is spicy," said Ibrahim.

During his food hunt in India, he had a chance to taste briyani from Hydrabad, Kochin, Delhi, Calcuta and Rajasthan.

Located in Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur, the restaurant was opened eight months ago and has been receiving good response from locals, he said.

The most popular is the one prepared by the Indian Muslim restaurant owners there known as the "Bhai briyani".

"The Bhai briyani is a hit during the Hari Raya and Raya Haji celebration. It is cooked on a big scale and served to guests.

Chicken tandoori 

"This is based on the dum briyani style whereby the meat is simmer-cooked together with the rice. People there really look forward to this," he explained.

At Spice Indian Cuisine, the briyani is served in a silver container, and comes with chicken or mutton over the rice and a hard boiled egg. There is also dhall and raita, made of yogurt and finely chopped vegetables such as carrots and cucumber.

A hearty eater would not be disappointed with the portions served here.

Ibrahim said briyani is regarded as food fit for a king and often associated with grand celebrations.

To cater to demand, some briyani outlets may resort to preparing these dishes at their central kitchen, freezing the food and reheating it upon customer orders.

"We do not serve defrosted and reheated food because we believe in serving fresh and quality food," he said.

The restaurant has no intentions to open more outlets as this may compromise the taste and freshness of the food.

Guests can choose to quench their thirst with mango lassi, made from Alphonso mango imported from India.

"The lassi, priced at RM6, has no artificial colouring or flavouring," he said.

Those who enjoy coffee can try filter coffee, a type of Indian coffee served here.

"The Italians have their coffee and so do the Indians. Filter coffee is famous in South India, and we serve it at our restaurant. It is rare to find this coffee in most Indian eateries here.

"The machine to make this coffee requires high maintenance, but we want guests to have a good dining experience so we have incorporated this drink into our menu," said Ibrahim.

Besides briyani, the restaurant also serves banana leaf rice and tandoori chicken.

The chicken briyani is priced at Rm12.80 while the mutton briyani is RM13.50.

SPICE INDIAN CUISINE, A3-G1-)7, Solaris Dutamas, No.1, Jalan Dutamas 1, Kuala Lumpur. (Tel: [phone]). Business hours 7.30am to 10.30pm daily.

This is the writer’s personal observation and not an endorsement by StarMetro.