The Royal Kitchen is an upscale Indian restaurant located inside The Bellagio Boutique Mall at Mega Kuningan area. Well speaking about Indian cuisine, there aren't so many Indian restaurants in Jakarta comparing to our neighbour countries like Singapore and Malaysia. And maybe some of you might think that Indian cuisine is all about curries, since curry is one of the most popular food in India. But sorry you are wrong, Indian has a lot of foods ranging from region to region such as Masala Dosa, Tandoori Chicken, Pani Puri, Biryani, and any others. Interested? Now let's dig in into this restaurant.
Upon entering the restaurant, I could already smell the scent of incense burnt in front of the restaurant which transferred me directly into Indian world. The restaurant itself is quite spacious, dominated with stone and wood accents across the room with some Indian decorations to give more Indian feel. The table setting itself is neat, with tableware such as plates, cutleries, and rolled napkin placed on which give a more luxurious feel to it. Also the Indian music playing on the background really built up the atmosphere.
For the menu, you can opt for 2 ways, the first one is buffet and the second one is ala carte. If you choose the buffet, there are food counters prepared and you can just pick the foods you would like to try from appetizers, main courses, to desserts. But instead of buffet, I opted for ala carte one since I have my own food list to try. Here's what I tried and let's review it one by one :
Half Tandoori Murgh (IDR 99.5k++)
Here it is, Tandoori Chicken!! One of the most Indian dish you have to try. It is chicken marinated with hung yogurt, ginger, garlic, and spices, then roasted in a special clay oven called Tandoor. The chicken was full of flavors, it was so well marinated and the combination of all the spices & other ingredients were so so good. It also had spicy aftertaste but not overpowering, just mild spicy so don't worry. I highly suggest you to try this chicken dish. If you love roasted chicken, you will love this.
Gosht Dum Biryani (IDR 129.5k++)
Another Indian speciality, it is Basmati rice (a type of long grain rice) cooked inside a claypot bowl together with baby lamb and also aromatic herb&spices. The waiter brought the whole pot to the table, so when I opened the seal I could clearly see the rice together with it's topping of lamb inside the claypot. Then how to eat it? Grab your spoon, and mix it all together so the rice, lamb, and the seasoning are all mixed well. The seasoning was on point, not too strong and also not too light. The baby lamb was perfectly cooked and it was tender. Eat all the ingredients together in one spoon, and you will feel how good it is.
Complimentary Condiments (Free)
So usually when Indians have their food, there are condiments that cannot be missed. Here the waiter brought 4 condiments to accompany my dishes. There were Mint Chutney (green one), Tamarind Chutney (the brown one), Raita (the white one), and also shallots. For me each of them had their own unique flavors and they complimented with the other dishes pretty well. You have to try every single one of them and find which one suits you the best, because what? Because it is hard to describe their flavors XD.
Sweet Lassi (IDR 42.5k++)
Speaking about Indian beverage, the one that might come to your mind probably is Chai Masala Tea, but how if you don't like spiced tea? Do you know that there is a refreshing creamy drink in India called Lassi? If you're a fan of yogurt then this will be your best choice. Lassi is an Indian drink made with blended yogurt, water, spices and sometimes fruit. Here I ordered the sweet one (you can choose either the plain, sweet, or salty one), and it tasted so good and refreshing. This yogurt drink will be the palate cleaner after eating a lot of heavily spiced foods. I loved the sweet one since it really balanced out the sourness of yogurt itself. You really have to order this drink!!!
Matka Kulfi (IDR 59.5k++)
Kulfi is an Indian ice cream made with saffron, pistachio, and dried fruits. You know when I first thought it was an ice cream, I expected it to be smooth and creamy like the ice cream I usually have. But I was wrong. This ice cream had a unique texture that I'm sure that you've never tried it before. The texture was rough and quite sandy. It was creamy though, but the taste was unfamiliar for me. It was pretty hard to describe since it was my first time trying this ice cream. If you love unique dessert like you've never had before, go for this one.
Overall I have a good time enjoying my Indian lunch at The Royal Kitchen. The food was good and tasted really authentic. Their staff was also warm and their manager who is an Indian also greeted me and helped me explain about their food. For the price, it is on the expensive scale since it is an upscale restaurant, but the experience was worth for me. If you ask me whether I will come back to here or not, I will say "why not?" since I have a lot of Indian foods I've never tried before and I'm still curious what Gulab Jamun tastes like. Stay tuned for my next review and enjoy!!!
