Culinary Bonanza: Queen's Tandoor

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February 18, 2012 | by Ellyna Tjohnardi

(Photo courtesy of Culinary Bonanza)

Queen’s Tandoor: continuously preserving Indian family tradition over the decades. A culinary treasure worth searching for...

Have you ever wondered what genuine Indian food is actually like? While Indian and Chinese settlers actually came to Indonesia around the same era, Indians’ culture is still less understood. But thanks to a few industrious Indian families, we now can enjoy excellent authentic Indian cuisines without having to travel all the way to the land of Taj Mahal. Among the popular and authentic Indian restaurants in Jakarta, Queen’s Tandoor is one name that you certainly should know, and try.

Queen’s Tandoor quotes itself as “Indonesia’s biggest and most well-established chain of Indian family restaurants.” An overstatement? Hardly! The numbers can easily prove it: Today Queen’s has two outlets in Jakarta, three in Bali, one in Singapore and another two in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Alright, enough babbling, let’s get to the tummy business, hey?

We went to the Thamrin outlet the other day, which is quietly tucked in to the basement of an office building at Plaza Permata. The decor is nothing fancy, a mixture of Indian and a conventional (I’d say old) restaurant setting. Unfortunately, the rest room is located outside the restaurant, but it’s not too far.

The menu itself is very extensive, so much so that we were at a loss of what to order! There was Indian cuisine (vegetarian and non) on the first few pages, then a menu focussing on Chinese (talk about bakmie and such). Lucky the wait staff was knowledgeable and patient enough to explain everything to us, especially the Indian terms.

While waiting for our orders to come, we were served complimentary papadums (such courtesy is similar to bread baskets served in Italian restaurants). The papadums came with three types of condiments: Sour pickles, fresh pickles and mint chutney. The mint chutney which tasted salty, fresh and green, was the best of the three (although when I eat papadums, I still prefer the mango chutney served in another Indian restaurant, Kinara in Kemang, South Jakarta).

Since we ventured to an Indian restaurant, we chose the Masala Mix from the beverages menu. What’s awesome was that these drinks could be made non-alcoholic (as in mocktails). I’d strongly recommend the Masala Daiquiri, an interesting mix of fresh lime juice and other spices that you normally use for cooking (coriander, chilli, and chaat masala), spiked with white rum and orange curaçao. As opposed to the Ginger Trail that’s rather salty (due to the rock salt used as one of the mixers). Otherwise, the Ginger Trail would have tasted perfect.

For starters, we had the Paneer Spring Roll, which is deep fried Indian bread stuffed with cottage cheese, cashew nuts and rare spices, and served with sweet and sour sauce. We thought the serving would be small, but turns out each piece is a mouthful, so it’s worth the price.

The main course was, borrowing the term from a fast-food chained restaurant, finger-lickin good! I love the Boti Kebab which is simply tender, and boneless lamb cubes marinated in rare and hot spices. The Butter Chicken Curry was a treat to the tongue too! The gravy was perfect as a dip for our Garlic Naan (bread) and to accompany the Basmati Rice.

Queen’s Tandoor Indian & Chinese Cuisine
Plaza Permata, Basement Level
JL. MH Thamrin Kav. 57, Central Jakarta
Tel. 021 3903287-8

Ellyna Tjohnardi is a food blogger who finds much pleasure in capturing delicious moments in life and shares it with the world in Culinary Bonanza. For more delicious entries, check out http://culinarybonanza.blogspot.com/

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