A hidden gem tucked away in a row of shophouses opposite Bukit Timah Shopping Centre is a 24 Hour Indian Food place that goes by the Moniker of Al-Azhar.
A few weeks ago, my colleagues and I had just finished jogging at West Coast Park and were looking for a place to have dinner. One of my colleagues then suggested us to try Indian Food at this place he usually goes to.
I don't usually hang out at Bukit Timah so I wasn't even aware that there was this row of shophouses that housed lots of eating places. From the open carpark, we walked across a small lane and walked down another lane till we came to the said place. At first glance, it looked like most Indian Food / Prata Places except there is an extensive menu of drinks and western food along with usual Pratas, Curries and Naans.
On our colleague's recommendation, I plunked for the Chicken Dum Biryani and my other colleague went for the Mutton Dum Biryani. So much for our exercise :D For Dum Biryani, unlike the usual Briyanis we get in Singapore where the meat is cooked separately in curry and then added to the rice when ordered, the meat (chicken or mutton) is seasoned with spices and flavours and cooked together with the Basmati rice over coals. That way the flavors are locked in and the meat is supposed to be tender and moist.
Frankly I didn't have my hopes up on how it would turn out. Needless to say I wasn't disappointed:
As you can see, the serving is pretty large for one person. The Basmati rice and chicken were housed in this large metal bowl together with a Hard-boiled egg. It was accompanied by a yogurt salad and curry. Taste wise, you could tell that the Chicken was really cooked together with the rice. The full flavoured spicy chicken was tender and it went really well with the biryani rice. Excellent! My other colleague also loved the Mutton variation and said he could even share it with the wife. Let's take closer look at the Biryani again:
I washed down the Biryani with a Soursop drink which wasn't too bad.
Less calories than a Lassi (or so I hope).
Taste Verdict: I give the Chicken Dum Biryani a 4 out of 5 rating. More than decent portions, tender and well flavoured meat and fragrant rice. Definitely worth a try if you are in the area. The Soursop drink was not bad but nothing to really shout about. If I remember, the total meal costs about $11. Biryani costs about S$8 or S$9.
Where: 11 Cheong Chin Nam Road (Opposite Bukit Timah Shopping centre)
(Open 24 hours)
Afternote: No, I haven't dropped off the face off the earth, the last few months since I last blogged have been about change in more ways than one. 2 major changes: I changed my job and my Windows Notebook was replaced with a Mac Mini. I have long been planning to write about other stuff too so I kicked off a new blog http://tech0nme.blogspot.com to give me a platform to write about gadgets and stuff. Do check it out ! I will definitely try to post more articles as I can. Thanks and Happy Lunar New Year to all!
