the indian invasion

there was a time when bangsar baru was a happening place of plonk, pizza, party, packs of nasi lemak and pretty late nights.
all that came to an end when the 24-hour mamak restaurants came in and sirap limau became the drink du jour, replacing sangria.
while a few places soldier on with music and mayhem, the others have closed down and in their place are a clutch of restaurants offering a wide variety - and to a certain extent a range in quality - of indian cuisine.
this indian invasion is not to be confused with the mamaks and the local chains of lotus or devi's corners (the original devi's corner in lucky garden was probably the best ever).
it started with the chettinad - which closed down years ago, with madras woodlands a few doors away and then along came d'sagar (which moved on to become sagar in one bangsar) and saravana bhavan with its all-vegetarian menu. raz-oi, which means kitchen in punjabi, was briefly the toast of the area until it was replaced by restaurant mirchi recently.
still on the scene is the anjappar, a non-veg restaurant, which is a very indian way of saying it offers meat dishes too.
d'sagar's old spot - one of my favourites - is now kashmir, all the way from penang, while its neighbour is chennai ponnusamy.
the newcomers are chutney mary's in jalan telawi 2 and just nearly opposite it is ludhiana station, which serves punjabi cuisine. chutney mary's - related to the chutneys in petaling jaya - is not to be confused with the quite famous chutney mary in london.
it was my third time in chutney mary's since they opened late 2005 and service had improved. the food was served faster now and the quality is consistent though the decor, which i can only describe as post-modern-retro-funk-gone-kablooey has its moments. its kitsch as only the subcontinent can and do make in its infinitesmal creativity.
let's just say the food is better.
we started with spiced papads - the dried lentil chips mingled with spices that exists to melt in your mouth once fried or lightly grilled over a flame. the pepper-corn papad - rolled into cones went well with the mint chutney.
the menu had the usual complement of meats and seafood, vegetables, briyanis and rotis with a good sprinkling of paneer or cottage cheese being among the main ingredients. a trip to india last year revealed the power of the paneer and since then, it has been a favourite in many a meal.
we settled on a couple of paneer kulchas or bread stuffed with cottage cheese and the pretty good hyderabadi lamb briyani, which can almost hold its own against even the garden-variety hyderabadi briyani found in any restaurant in northern india.
of course, the ones in india are just awesome and spicy with the lamb just coming off the bone after being cooked in exquisite basmati rice for hours on end. together with the yoghurt-based raita dip, this briyani is just mind-blowing or rather, gut-busting.
our table also hosted the laal maas - a lamb curry cooked in kashimiri style that was spicy as it was piquant, together with the noor-e-chaman or the saag paneer as it is commonly known in malaysia, the basic cottage cheese with spinach that has been mashed beyond recognition.
definitely better than it looked and it combined well with the raita, the cottage cheese's mild sharpness offset by the spinach and rounded off by the onion-chilli yoghurt raita.
a fish dish helped to round off the meal, namely the rasabari macchi or a rather fresh dory cooked with vegetables and pungent spices that added the zing to the briyani.
the servings are rather small for the price but well worth it for the taste.
now on to the rest of the indian invaders in bangsar baru.
and elsewhere.