Sunday lunch at New Bombay

When finally church service ended, at about 1pm, my family and I were off to lunch. Of course comes the dilemma of where to eat. I normally choose the place to eat but this time, my dad got ahead of me and said that he wants to eat at this Indian place along P. Guevarra (near Wilson) called New Bombay. He's eaten there a couple of times but not with me. I would always rather eat elsewhere than try that Indian restaurant. This Sunday, I wasn't really up for any Indian food because I was so hungry and when I get really hungry, I just want common comfort food like Aristocrat BBQ chicken, Persian food or fast food. But anyway, we had Indian. I was too hungry and tired to object. We were the only customers there so I can't really say that people don't go there for lunch on a Sunday because it was already 2pm when we got there. The first thing I noticed was that they did not have a signage outside their restaurant. No 'New Bombay' sign could be visible upon entering the establishment. It would only be the tables and some decors which would tell you that you are in an Indian restaurant. The interiors of the restaurant did not really WOW me, unlike the Persian restaurant Arya. Everything was simple and very minimal. but the horror comes when you actually look up to the ceiling and and see their very modern lights and lamps. Totally out of place in a restaurant like that. In other words, they did not really give much emphasis or importance to their interiors. And peak time was definitely over because they had to turn the aircon back on when we came in.

The servers were girls, nice and friendly but could use more training in welcoming guests, taking orders, etc. The menu was awfully made. It was just a compiled laminated menu without any design. Very straight to the point and direct. After browsing the menu, I ended up ordering samosa (their best seller for appetizers), 4 pieces per serving and served with 3 different types of sauces, and chicken tikka biryani. I ordered the chicken tikka biryani because it was familiar and we cooked this once in ISCAHM. My parents ordered palakpaneer and dall soup while my sister got chicken curry. Pretty weird though coz on the menu, it says that their chicken curry has no coconut milk. It didn't take too long for the samosa to arrive (thank God! This was gonna be my first ingestion for the day!). Samosas at New Bombay are served by 4s and with 3 dipping sauces. The best for me would be the coriander sauce, green in color and quite hot while the tamarind sauce is sweet and sour and the last is the mango sauce which is sweet and looks more like tomatoes than mangoes. The samosas are triangular in shape, crunchy on the outside and hot and soft on the inside, consisting of potatoes and raisins and small coriander seeds. A hot and very appetizing starter for your meal.

Next came my chicken tikka biryani, bright orange in color. I did not expect the rice to be quite sticky. It was long grain rice, yes but not dry as it would normally be served. It was delicious anyhow, although hot and spicy. The palakpaneer, bright green in color was also delicious and went well, surprisingly with the chicken tikka biryani. The palakpaneer is made of spinach and cream cheese together with other ingredients. I was delighted by the different striking colors of the food served, bright orange, bright green, yellow, red... and at the same time the different scents coming from the food and the mix of flavors makes me want to try some more Indian food. And I realize that truly, Asian cuisines are more diverse, exotic, flavorful and colorful than any other cuisine.

Not a very expensive restaurant to eat at either. For the 4 of us, with everything we ordered, the soup, palakpaneer, chicken tikka biryani, samosa, chicken curry, extra rice and 3 cokes, our bill was only Php800. Imagine, 200 bucks per head for a yummy meal. Not many resraurants can match that.

I would say that this restaurant is something like Behrouz. The interiors are lousy but the food is great. Although I must say, Behrouz has worse interiors than New Bombay. It was too bad none of their desserts were available and so we had to eat dessert elsewhere. But anyway, now that I've tried it, next time my dad makes aya to eat there, I'm surely not gonna object anymore!