Since it is Deepavali, we decided to have something Indian for dinner. What better place to dine other then Taste of India restaurant located at Aman Suria, in Petaling Jaya. Formerly known as Maroon Cafe, Taste of India is the same shop, run by the same people except maybe a different management.

When asked the waiter what’s with the name change, he says that the boss wants to be consistent throughout all the other branches. Looking at the menu I notice it says “Taste of India – London, Kuala Lumpur, Kumba Konam India, Paris”. Wow, this is not your ordinary mamak.

The open air environment (with roof) is good for just chilling out. There is a projector mounted and a wall screen. Great for hanging out with buddies and watch a football game or two. Just like in Mamaks but with fancier food and service.

They offer vegetarian, non-vegetarian, local and western food. The waiters here really know the menu and could recommend dishes. They are quite friendly and offered a good service.

Unlike your average mamak stalls that gives you cheep silverware with spoons that are easily bend, Taste of India gives you good solid heavy silverware.

In order not to stress our brain in choosing what to order, we decided to go with the sets. Each set comes with a drink and an ice-cream desert.

We ordered the Chicken Briyani, Mutton Briyani and the Tandoori Set for myself.

The Briyani is rich with herbs and spices. The taste of all the herbs and spices is somewhat overwhelming. Served with curry and a small bowl of Raita, a yogurt like substance made up of fresh cucumber and onions, a lot of onions.

Both the briyani had chicken or mutton buried underneath the rice. Nicely decorated. The Mutton Briyani set cost RM11.90 while the Chicken Briyani set cost RM 10.90.

I ordered for myself the Tandoori set. You get one plain Naan bread and a piece of Tandoori chicken.

A Naan is a round flatbread made of white flour, it bears a resemblance to pita. A Tandoori chicken is a chicken marinated and seasoned with tandoori masala and few other herbs and spices.

Both the Naan and Tandoori chicken are usually cooked in a high temperature clay oven also known as ‘Tandoor’.

Overall the Tandoori Naan set is just average, nothing special. However I do like its green mint sauce. The Tandoori set cast RM12.90.

We also order some extra side dish, recommended by the waiter, a Mutton ‘whatchamacallit’. Ok so I forgot its name, but it was really good. It’s not curry, it’s mutton with some thick gravy of sorts. Next time, I’ll just order a plain Briyani with this Mutton ‘whatchamacallit’.

We had our desserts, each with one scoop of ice-cream.

Overall it’s a great dining experience, good food, great service and a good place to chill. The prices however could be a little bit pricy, but you got what you paid for.

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