Kabab Mahal
Published: 01 May 07
Category: Lovely Local
A friend who knows what's what in terms of tongue-tingling Indian cuisine told me about Kabab Mahal. "It's opposite the sex shop," she said. Indeed it is.
In the manner of ethnic eateries in general (and Indian in particular) the place is unprepossessing, brightly lit and with a scruffy patio overlooking the road and its passing parade of life's more interesting flotsam and jetsam. Service, we discovered, is dodgy, and the winelist will make you weep. But you're welcome to BYO, and there are plenty of beers on offer, which are good with hot stuff anyway.
On a more reassuring note, there is a goodly smattering of Indian guests amongst the regulars, and a hard-working bevy of Indian chefs toiling away over the tandoori ovens.
We went for a meal for two, which isn't nearly as much fun as going with the gang, so we arranged a return visit the following week. This way we got to taste so much more at one sitting, and there was no avoiding the errors that we were happy to overlook first time round. Especially when the gang includes an uncompromising, opinionated chef, a world traveller who has visited India (often), a couple of restaurant critics - not to mention spouses of all the above who aren't exactly restaurant virgins either.
At our first visit we were delighted with both the meal and the service. Seeing the panic in our eyes when we scanned the menu, our waiter deftly steered us towards the set menu offered on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. We went the whole hog - five courses that included a variety of kababs, savoury snacks, soup, curries, biryanies, breads and dessert, gulab jamun (hot cottage cheese dumplings in syrup) and kulfi (Indian ice cream). Items were trotted out at an easy-eating rate, all competently dished up to us by friendly, polite servers.
Sadly neither the service nor the food reached the same heights on take-the-gang night when we chose to sit outside. Though by no means busy, there was a paucity of trained staff, and we were constantly in need of something - more wine to be opened, more glasses, more rice, whatever. A host of new faces should have prompted someone to utter the words "Have you eaten with us before?" followed by an offer to explain the menu and its highlights and the sequencing of the meal.
In the absence of a guiding hand, we went the route of everyone choosing their favourite curries: butter chicken (spicy tandoori-roasted chicken with tomatoes an d butter), rogan josh (mutton chunks cooked in traditional Kashmiri style), lamb vindaloo (in a pungent chilly [sic] onion gravy), dal kabab mahal (lentils with ginger, garlic, tomato, butter and cream), and paneer methi malai (cottage cheese cooked with methi leaves and aromatic spices). Basmati rice and butter naan completed the feast.
All agreed that the offerings were filling and tasty, but opinions varied as to the kitchen skills. The vindaloo was short of the throat-grabbing heat vindaloo-lovers are addicted to; the rogan josh was overdosed with cinnamon; the lamb was tough.
Fortunately we had kicked off with a kabab - a high point of the meal, and for which we will all be back. We chose well: katsuri chicken dehlvi, a delicacy from old Delhi comprising chunks of chicken with yoghurt and spices, coated with egg and fenugreek. Succulently hot from the tandoor. Bliss!
All told - including 10% gratuity and corkage (R20 for three bottles; one was corked so they didn't charge for it) - we forked out just R113 a head, great value for a happy evening of tasty, filling food in good - if argumentative - company. The five-course set menu is about R150 per person. While Kabab Mahal didn't live up to the menu's boast of "fine dine Indian restaurant for palates accustomed to fine taste" we will certainly be back for more.
Average cost of a three-course meal without wine: R100
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A friend who knows what's what in terms of tongue-tingling Indian cuisine told me about Kabab Mahal. "It's opposite the sex shop," she said. Indeed it is.
In the manner of ethnic eateries in general (and Indian in particular) the place is unprepossessing, brightly lit and with a scruffy patio overlooking the road and its passing parade of life's more interesting flotsam and jetsam. Service, we discovered, is dodgy, and the winelist will make you weep. But you're welcome to BYO, and there are plenty of beers on offer, which are good with hot stuff anyway.
On a more reassuring note, there is a goodly smattering of Indian guests amongst the regulars, and a hard-working bevy of Indian chefs toiling away over the tandoori ovens.
We went for a meal for two, which isn't nearly as much fun as going with the gang, so we arranged a return visit the following week. This way we got to taste so much more at one sitting, and there was no avoiding the errors that we were happy to overlook first time round. Especially when the gang includes an uncompromising, opinionated chef, a world traveller who has visited India (often), a couple of restaurant critics - not to mention spouses of all the above who aren't exactly restaurant virgins either.
At our first visit we were delighted with both the meal and the service. Seeing the panic in our eyes when we scanned the menu, our waiter deftly steered us towards the set menu offered on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. We went the whole hog - five courses that included a variety of kababs, savoury snacks, soup, curries, biryanies, breads and dessert, gulab jamun (hot cottage cheese dumplings in syrup) and kulfi (Indian ice cream). Items were trotted out at an easy-eating rate, all competently dished up to us by friendly, polite servers.
Sadly neither the service nor the food reached the same heights on take-the-gang night when we chose to sit outside. Though by no means busy, there was a paucity of trained staff, and we were constantly in need of something - more wine to be opened, more glasses, more rice, whatever. A host of new faces should have prompted someone to utter the words "Have you eaten with us before?" followed by an offer to explain the menu and its highlights and the sequencing of the meal.
In the absence of a guiding hand, we went the route of everyone choosing their favourite curries: butter chicken (spicy tandoori-roasted chicken with tomatoes an d butter), rogan josh (mutton chunks cooked in traditional Kashmiri style), lamb vindaloo (in a pungent chilly [sic] onion gravy), dal kabab mahal (lentils with ginger, garlic, tomato, butter and cream), and paneer methi malai (cottage cheese cooked with methi leaves and aromatic spices). Basmati rice and butter naan completed the feast.
All agreed that the offerings were filling and tasty, but opinions varied as to the kitchen skills. The vindaloo was short of the throat-grabbing heat vindaloo-lovers are addicted to; the rogan josh was overdosed with cinnamon; the lamb was tough.
Fortunately we had kicked off with a kabab - a high point of the meal, and for which we will all be back. We chose well: katsuri chicken dehlvi, a delicacy from old Delhi comprising chunks of chicken with yoghurt and spices, coated with egg and fenugreek. Succulently hot from the tandoor. Bliss!
All told - including 10% gratuity and corkage (R20 for three bottles; one was corked so they didn't charge for it) - we forked out just R113 a head, great value for a happy evening of tasty, filling food in good - if argumentative - company. The five-course set menu is about R150 per person. While Kabab Mahal didn't live up to the menu's boast of "fine dine Indian restaurant for palates accustomed to fine taste" we will certainly be back for more.
Average cost of a three-course meal without wine: R100
By Lannice Snyman
Address:
Kabab Mahal, 315 Main Road, Sea Point. Tel: 021 434 0008. Open for lunch & dinner daily. BYO R20. www.kababmahal@yahoo.com
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