Life has been good the last couple of weeks while vacationing in the Far East & India, and I've enjoyed some amazing meals in this time. I've spent the last few weeks in the Far East & India and have enjoyed some amazing meals during that time. Some of the best have been at the Crystal Jade Palace restaurant in Singapore, where I've dropped in for lunch a few occasions - sometimes with friends, other times with family - but each occasion mainly for the dim sum, and each visit it's been incredible (and probably the best dim sum I have eaten outside Hong Kong).
Highlights were the Shanghai-style dumpling with pork, chives and chili, the preserved olive dumpling (with such an incredibly thin and transparent skin it was amazing that it held together with a pair of chopsticks pressing on it!) and my old favourite/addiction, xiao long bao (steamed pork soup dumplings that are beyond reasonable description). I'm always amazed by the presentation of each item there - a mushroom and chicken dish served in a yam nest at lunch today was really remarkable, and while I'm not a seafood eater the har gau (shrimp and bamboo shoot dumplings) my brother usually orders is one of the most beautifully crafted dishes I've seen.
And a new discovery on this trip in Singapore/series of visits to Crystal Jade was the steamed sweet corn and egg custard dumpling - we ordered one basket as 'dessert' to end a dim sum lunch before New Year's, and I found myself getting hooked within minutes.
Mumbai meant even more indulgence crammed into a much shorter visit in the first week of January. Khyber in Fort is one of the oldest and best known dining institutions in the city (to the point the name is barely visible outside the restaurant) and has been a long-time favourite of mine. I've come across very few places that serve Mughlai cuisine at this level and this visit was no exception - fantastic black daal (lentil gravy), naan/tandoori roti, a tasty mixed vegetable jalfrezi and several platters of Mughlai kebabs from the tandoors - all chicken and lamb marinated in various ways. The real standouts were the murgh malai tikka (an incredibly soft, creamy-textured chicken that seemed to be marinated with a lot of green cardamom, coriander seed, cumin and white pepper) and the lamb seekh kebab (minced lamb combined with onion, peppers and various spices and then bound around a skewer).
Two nights after going to Khyber I was at Peshawari on the north side of the city, which does authentic Northwest Frontier cuisine - something I very rarely get to indulge in. I was fully prepared for this - had a very light breakfast and lunch earlier in the day, and came in with incredibly high expectations given the almost unanimous praise & hype this restaurant's received all over Mumbai. The menu is mostly meat-oriented with a range of tandoori-cooked lamb, goat and chicken that I unfortunately couldn't explore anywhere near as much as I'd have liked to in a single visit - but pretty much every dish we ordered (platters of the chicken boti kebabs, minced lamb and goat seekh kebabs and the chicken reshmi kebabs, along with a very aromatic daal with cardamom, roast paneer and various naans) was truly outstanding. Was good fun to also eat in the authentic Peshawari manner using our fingers which is standard at the restaurant (where they normally don't offer cutlery unless requested - that said I found it a little ironic though that a place with such traditional Frontier/Afghan decor and cuisine also had a rather extensive wine list - though we didn't order anything, preferring to focus on the food).
The dining highlight of the trip to India though (and one of the most fantastic meals I have had in a long time) was a traditional Awadhi (North Indian, from the city of Lucknow - both Afghan and Mughal influenced) dinner prepared by some old friends in their home. We started out with minced lamb kebabs (three times in four days and I was still loving them!) with a very aromatic Awadhi biryani - a rice dish combining basmati rice, saffron, cardamom, a number of other assorted spices, dried fruits and chicken. Then we moved onto the main course which was a slow cooked (about 12 hours in a heavy copper pot) korma with leg of mutton; incredibly tender and flavourful and eaten (by hand as per tradition) with thin rotis. Amazing meal - even though after the mutton korma, nobody was able to move from the dining table for about half an hour. Whew!