Rava Rave

Visited Mustafa's again recently (it's still mango season...) and dropped by Anandha Bhavan for dinner - as I promised a while ago, I'm putting up a post about Rava Mysore Masala Thosai (or Dosa).

I thoroughly enjoyed this sinful meal - spicy, crispy on the outside, soft and delicious inside, a visual treat as well - lacy South Indian crepe smeared on the inside with a red chutney, served with 2 more chutneys - coconut, onion as well as a tangy rasam. The heat kinda creeps up on you. With the first bite one raves over the crispy edges of a dosa fried in ghee and what seems to be a mildly spicy potato and onion filling. With each succesive mouthful the heat builds up to a intense, constant burn. Phew! A bit different than the sharp spike of heat that one usually associates with chilli padi (bird's eye chilli) which may much hotter but dissipates more readily.
What made this dosa so different? What is Rava anyway?

I went home and did a bit of research.

Normal dosa batters are made from rice and split urad dal, blended with water and left to ferment overnight. Rava dosas on the other hand are made from semolina flour, does not need fermentation and it is the characteristic of semolina that gives this version its distinct crispy texture.

Aha! now I know.

And now I know several other food items made from semolina that I really love to eat - pasta , couscous and suji cake. the common denominator is semolina. By the way, semolina has many aliases (is there such a word?) - in North India it goes by the name suji and in the South, rava. In North Africa, people know it as couscous and in Turkey, bulgar.

Semolina is the endosperm or heart of the durum wheat (a hard wheat) with very high gluten content and a high protein to carb ratio. Good quality dried commercial pasta is made from durum wheat as opposed to regular soft wheat flour that is good for making cakes and equally delicious fresh egg pasta)

Timbre

Went to Timbre@The Substation for dinner with a few friends last week. Parked outside Timbre as it is free after 5.00pm. There is only outdoor/al fresco seating in Timbre. Even though it was a weekday and we arrived about 6.30pm (Timbre opens at 6.00pm everyday), there were a number of tables occupied already.

Once we were comfortably seated at our table, we ordered drinks and food including Timbre chicken wings, lamb and mushroom kebabs, and a roasted duck pizza (picture). The lamb pieces were tender but what we liked most about the kebab was the mint sauce that came with it. As for the pizza, pieces of roasted duck meat are arranged on a thin crust pizza, topped with crispy bits. Finally, a dark brown sweet sauce is drizzled over.

Since we were still hungry, we ordered a margarita pizza and a plate of prawn and garlic pasta. The pasta was al dente but the poached egg was disappointingly overcooked as the yolk was solid.

It was a relaxing evening at Timbre but what disappointed us was Timbre's reluctance to serve us water. When we ordered our food and drinks, the waiter informed us that Timbre only serves one round of tap water. Among the five of us, we drank four pints of Erdinger, a glass of house red, a glass of lychee martini and one shirley temple. But we had to ask for our one round of tap water three times before we got it, water served in small glasses. Customers pay 7% GST, 10% service charge and at least 50% marked up alcoholic beverages. Therefore, why should we not get free flow of tap water?

Nabins at Bali Lane

Having been to the original Samar at Kandahar Street while it was still there, I searched the internet to find out where it had shifted. I heard the owner of the original Samar closed it and some of the staff had opened another Samar Cafe somewhere else.

After much research and search, Samar Cafe at 17 Bali Lane does not exist anymore. It has shifted to 27 Bali Lane and the name has changed to Nabins. Was told by a friend, who is a belly dancer, that Nabins is headed by ex-Samar head waiter, Nabin Naral. Although Nabins has a arabic/middle eastern theme, it serves arabic, greek and nepalese food.

There are chairs and tables downstairs but for those who want to lie on pillows in an "arabic" ambience, upstairs is where you'd want to be. Shoes need to be removed before entering the dining area.

Called up to make reservations for 5 people and specified non-smoking. When we arrived, the waiter invited us to go upstairs. There was a "No Smoking" sign outside the toilet but two groups of people were smoking shisha. The place is air-conditioned but it was not smoky at all. Smoke-less shisha? Since smoke didn't bother us, we decided to go ahead and order food.

For appetizer, we ordered the Samar platter (picture, right), the most interesting food item we had that evening. Mains included lamb rack that was tasty but had little meat, tasty grilled chicken thigh served with tasteless cous cous, and lamb kebabs that were tasty and tender. Portion size of mains were small for the kind of price we paid.

Since two of us were not full, we decided to eat at the Kampong Glam Cafe (17 Bussorah Street) while the rest went home. Had a really mean roti john (picture, below) smothered with mayo and chilli sauce accompanied with susu halia (milk with ginger).

Would I go back to Nabins? Probably not unless I have to. I would rather go back to Kampong Glam Cafe and try the rest of the food there. The guy next to our table was eating mee siam and it looked yummy...