Feast like a king

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Lavish wall murals and a palatial ambience greet diners at the Maharaj.

PETALING JAYA, June 12 — The Maharaj Restaurant has moved twice since I had dinner there seven years ago. I recall salivating over the large, luscious pearls worn by a young maharaja, in a portrait hung in the restaurant which was then near the PJ State cinema. I also longed to sit in one of those beautiful wooden swings on the premises.

Now Maharaj has a lovely home in Jalan Gasing with huge grounds to park even your Bentley if you have one. You can take one of those wooden swings home as they are for sale, together with some ornate Indian bric-a-brac and brassware. Where in the old place there were sepia-toned pictures of the lavishly dressed and bejewelled princes and princesses of India, now the walls are painted with fabled romantic scenes, royal processions, and also one of the Taj Mahal, as seen from a palace window.

Mixed Kebabs, outstanding are the fish and chicken ones.

You can choose to sit here, or in a haveli (mansion) in Jaipur with painted bay windows. Soak in the ambience, then focus on the food which is about dishes from all over India, cooked by “accomplished chefs”, hence the name of the restaurant.

First the salads: we had a Cuchumber, julienned carrot, capsicum, onion and cucumber tossed up with lime juice and some chilli and spices. The Coriander Salad of onion, carrot, cucumber and tomato, smothered in yoghurt and mayonnaise, had a tart lift from lime juice but I wished the chef had been a little restrained with the mayonnaise.

These salads were a nice balance with the platter of mixed kebabs: Minced lamb or Sheesh Kebabs, Fish Hariyali, Chicken Kebabs, Chicken Tikka and Prawn Kebabs. The Sheesh Kebabs were a mouthful of spices and tangy, but they were also a little dry.

We all loved the Fish Kebabs, covered with a moist green chilli paste with a dash of lime. The Chicken Tikka had a superb mouthfeel, with the spices coming through with each bite. The prawns were creamy and subtly flavoured.

Before this we had tasted some Vegetable Kebabs that were so good: mashed potatoes, cauliflower and cottage cheese and of course spices made a scrumptious filling for these fried popiah-like kebabs with a crispy skin.

Tawa Prawns or prawns on a hot plate had a masala paste spread on top of each prawn like otak-otak and grilled. So your tongue hits this delicious paste first, before savouring the natural sweetness of the prawn. I especially liked the slightly burnt part of it.

The Vegetable Kebabs here are absolutely yummy.

Then it was about rice: the Royal Minced Mutton Bryani, and Garlic Rice. And naans like the garlic one, Ajwain naan (sprinkled with mixed spices and sesame), vegetable-filled naan (with potato and cheese) and an onion-stuffed one.

These would go with the Squid Vindaloo, Pomfret Masala, Chicken Hyderabadi, Rogan Gosht and even the Palak Paneer.

Here is the right place to eat perfectly cooked bryani -- I loved the Royal Minced Mutton with each grain separate and fluffy, stirred with lots of fried shallots, minced mutton and spices. And the steamed Garlic Rice was just lovely. I could have eaten it just like that.

I enjoyed the black pomfret in a hot, tart red orangey masala gravy. The Squid Vindaloo was sublime. The Chicken Hyderabadi was mild and rich with blended cashewnuts in the creamy curry. The Rogan Gosht of spicy mutton is done well here, and there is no better place to eat Palak Paneer than at Maharaj. It’s not overly rich, and the cottage cheese in it tastes so good.

The Navaratma Kurma that has nine types of vegetables and dried fruits in a cashewnut gravy was a little too much for me, being creamy and a bit sweet.

By now I had sworn off the desserts of kulfi (ice-cream made of milk, saffron, almond, pistachio and cashewnut), gulab jamun and halwa.

It’s not expensive dining at the Maharaj, averaging about RM25-RM30 per person. You can bring wine and no corkage is charged.