If you've never tried Indian food (and you should, really), the New Bombay restaurant would be an excellent place to start. From its humble beginnings as a cafeteria-type eatery in an old Makati supermarket, to its current total of about 5 different branches all over Metro Manila, you can already tell that the business has become very successful. Why? Because it provides a very authentic Indian food taste with all the atmosphere of India right here in the Philippines. We've been here a few times before, and one Saturday night, we went on down to the Glorietta branch for dinner.
Most people would think that Indian cuisine would be all heat and spice. You should try a glass of Lassi then. It's a yogurt based drink that is sweet and has a bit of tartness to it. Chesca had the plain lassi (I think there were a few variations on the menu) and it was a nice way to start the meal. Served chilled, the lassi was rich and creamy and is actually a nice drink by itself. I wonder when the lassi stands will start popping out all over the place (I'm kind of having milk tea fatigue).
Mmm, naan bread. It looks sort of like a pita, but not as circular. It's chewy and a little sweet and surprisingly filling. We couldn't finish the 3 servings we got... almost. We chose to have this instead of the usual rice because it's fun to tear off pieces of the bread and dip it in the sauces of the food you order. Fun for you and for your taste buds (remembering this is starting to make my mouth water). New Bombay serves up a wide variety of naan, from plain naan, to buttered naan (also nice), all the way to naan with egg stuffed in it (I'm not sure how that works).
I usually have chicken tikka masala, but I followed the waitress' recommendation to try their chicken korma (I had my spice level dialed down to "mild"). I remembered the taste of the stuff as mostly sweet (from previous experiences in a different restaurant), but this version put a few more points into the spice department. Served with cashews, it had a mild and creamy (almost sweet) flavor, but the aforementioned heat made it all the more savory. Wrapping up the chicken chunks in naan provided a very hands-on experience with the food, and it made us feel the ambiance all the more.
Chesca had been craving for this all week long. Chicken makhanwala, a.k.a. buttered chicken, is a a chicken dish (duh) served in a creamy, tomato based sort of gravy with a buttery taste to it. New Bombay's version certainly didn't disappoint. It had loads of flavor, with the heavy yet smooth and distinctly Indian sauce rounding out and enhancing the flavor of the chicken breast chunks. It wasn't spicy at all, at least not for me (probably because we had this spiced up mildly too :)). In fact, this would probably be a good initiation dish for your friends to get into the Indian food. Just don't order it spicy I guess :).
We didn't take pictures of the dishes after we were done, but they came back to the kitchen dry as a bone. The flavors are so good that we save some pieces of naan bread to wipe off the last of the sauce. For 790Php, this is a great way to experience authentic Indian cuisine without actually flying off to India. Add to that the friendly customer service and you're in for a treat.
New Bombay
Ground Floor, Glorietta 3,
Glorietta Complex, Makati City
