Tandoori Corner - Dégustation over location
The Oakham Curry Club (OCC) is a well-respected Institution with multiple international franchises. This review of Tandoori Corner being the latest by our Singapore branch.
The OCC takes pride in searching out the finest Indian restaurants and providing impartial reviews of Curry Houses all over the world.
Members vote anonymously without being influenced by other members (we call this “no swaying”) on 5 categories, and an average score out of a maximum 10 is given to each restaurant we review.
On Wednesday 14th November 2018 – The OCC visited Tandoori Corner, Balestier Road.
Tandoori Corner is a slightly unconventional restaurant in the sense that it is an outside / corner unit of Balestier Plaza (shopping mall). Tables are situated outside the 1st storey building along the walkway of the mall whilst the kitchen and bar is situated inside and accessible through the open store front. The table service means you can’t / don’t need to enter the restaurant.
For full transparency, see below scores (out of 10). The voting is based on the votes from OCC members. Restaurants must score an average of 7/10 or above to receive the OCC sticker of recommendation. All OCC members have been through a rigorous selection process to gain entry into the Club. In short, we all know our curries.
Quality: 7.1
Customer care: 8.1 Value: 6.65
Service: 7.8 Atmosphere: 6.01
Overall: 7.13
Tandoori Corner IS awarded the much-coveted OCC sticker of recommendation
With only 50% of OCC members arriving on time, there was an opportunity for those in attendance to have a very pleasant chat with Satish, the manager who was genuinely interested to hear all about the OCC and it’s impeccable heritage. Satish offered us some lovely mixed poppadoms and sauce while we waited for the remainder of the group and perused the beer menu. We were excited to see large size bottles of Kingfisher on offer and quickly ordered them from Satish. These were served nice and cold and upon tasting we realised they were in fact extra strong Kingfisher at 8.5% abv. Slightly punchy for a Wednesday night session beer! Perhaps by some grand design we were informed that there was none left after our 2nd or 3rd large bottle. So back to good old Tiger!
With the rest of the group now present we ordered a round of the masala poppadom to soak up the Kingfisher jet fuel whilst we perused the menu for starters. We were slightly disappointed with the extended wait for the mango chutney we requested but this was a minor point against what was otherwise very strong customer care & service.
Tandoori Corner has a well-balanced menu with a good selection, without being over bearing (see previous review of Khansama, Little India). We ordered Chicken Samosa, Onion bhaji, some kind of spicy soup and the paneer pakora bites. The chicken samosa was noteworthy, full of tasty chicken and very robust. The soup, whilst pleasant was a little confusing to OCC members and all exclaimed we had never had soup at a curry house. ‘Fortune favors the brave’ was perhaps the Vice Chairs thought when ordering it but overall consensus…meh. The bhaji was served as small bitesize pieces (in a basket) rather than as whole bhaji’s. These were great for sharing and very tasty. The paneer pakora was perhaps the biggest disappointment, having been told the paneer was flown in directly from India, the pakora were soggy and quite tasteless. Perhaps as a result of the frying process? Most of these were left untouched at the end of the course but everything else had been gobbled up.
Having finished the starters, attention turned to our surroundings and the atmosphere of the restaurant. As previously mentioned, the non-standard layout of Tandoori Corner means that all tables are situated on the walkway overlooking the road. The restaurant wasn’t very busy on this evening and other than the noise coming from the OCC table there was a sense of little else going on. Probably not a ‘1st date’ or ‘anniversary’ type restaurant in terms of ambience. On the flip side, the quietness of the restaurant meant that staff were checking on us frequently and topping up the Tigers.
For mains we ordered the mutton kebab, chicken curry, chicken murgh vindaloo, aloo gobi and yellow daal with sides of peshwari naan and rice. The yellow daal was very good; thick with a smokey taste. The chicken curry was also very enjoyable with a lot of flavour and just the right amount of spice. My personal favorite was the vindaloo. Primarily because this is the 1st vindaloo I have ever had where I have been able to feel my face afterwards. However, Doc (another member) may not share my pedestrian view as he likes his curries doused in dragon spit. All main dishes were very good with healthy portion sizes and the naan was very fresh.
Having consumed a number of raw chillies (for various indiscretions throughout the evening) we finished the meal with a round of mango lassi’s. These were really lovely and Satish brought them out and introduced us to the chefs whilst we were slurping them down. He was also very happy to pose for a team photo and joined in our rendition of the OCC chant. Great bantz! We were also treated to a portion of the home made Indian ice cream. Very creamy and lots of cleansing flavours. Thanks Satish!
With an overall score of 7.13 out of 10 Tandoori corner is awarded the OCC sticker of recommendation. The quality of the food is good and the customer care and service was a highlight. The atmosphere is a little restrictive, depending on what you are looking for and at S$75ph it is arguably a little on the expensive side. That said, I would come back here for a curry with friends
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