Al-Hambra Tandoori Palace @ Bayan Baru

Al-Hambra Tandoori Palace is a restaurant serving cheap and tasty Northern Indian cuisine. The restaurant was firstly opened in Sungai Petani and has expanded into Penang. The main branch in Penang would be along Nagore Street, while the latest branch to open is located just minutes away from my working place in Taman Sri Tunas, Bayan Baru. It’s only 3-4 shops away from Victoria Station.

They have launched a new menu serving mainly set meals like Tandoori Chicken with Naan, Chicken Kebab and Chicken or Mutton Briyani. They also server daily lunch buffet which is around 8-12 dishes. Vegetarian buffet costs RM11.90 and Non-Vegetarian costs RM13.90. I think it’s a pretty good deal considering a usual Western set lunch would be about the same price.

The Tandoori Chicken set @ RM6.50 comes with a big piece of tandoori chicken with some onion rings, a plain Naan cut into half and a small serving of dhall. It’s just delicious when taken together, the combination is so great. But it has to be eaten fast while everything is still warm. I have always wondered where the tandoori chicken got the reddish-orange color. After some research then I found out the color actually comes from the use of red colored tandoori paste or masala as seasoning. And the chicken is traditionally marinated in yogurt first before being seasoned. I didn’t expect yogurt to be used in preparing the chicken, interesting..

Another food we tried was the Briyani Chicken set @ RM7.00. Wow, a sliced up hard boiled egg is used to decorate the dish. There’s nothing special with the rice actually but the chicken was really good and comes in huge pieces! We also tried the mutton briyani and loved the boneless mutton pieces. They come in chunks! But if you are not fond of the smell of mutton you should really opt for chicken.

And lastly, there’s also something special to order from the drinks. Al-Hambra uses fresh cow milk and sugar instead of condensed milk to make the tea and coffee drinks. I absolutely loved it for the thickness and the more flavorful taste of coffee. It’s priced at RM 2.80 a cup and is highly recommended to try. The boss was in the restaurant when we were having the meal and we were the only customer at that time, so we had a short talk. He said that in his many years of F&B business he has always used fresh milk to prepare the drinks and do not serve canned drinks. Al-Hambra is also proud to mention that they do not use any MSG or coconut milk in any of their dishes, that’s good right?

Technorati Tags: Indian cuisine, Penang, Tandoori Chicken, Naan, Briyani Chicken, Al-Hambra