Invited Review | Karaikudi Restaurant @ Market St - Part 1

We had an opportunity recently to attend a food review that is out of what we have covered till now. Up to now, PenangTuaPui has limited posting on Indian food which we are beginning to cover for more. We are lucky to be in touch with Karaikudi Restaurant to do a food review about their Indian Cuisine as well as to understand more about indian culture and indian food.

There are two Karaikudi outlets in Penang with this one at Market Street, which is inside Penang’s Little India itself while the second outlet is at Tanjung Bungah. The chefs for these two restaurants are different although it is handled by the same management.

We have the upper floor for the food review purpose so that our presence will not disrupt the present business operations below. In fact, we were there during the dinner so the tables below were pretty much packed anyway.

Most of the decorations inside Karaikudi are imported from India to imitate the environment of the original Karaikudi city, the capital of Chettinad. The painting above is also an import from the homeland of Chettiyars.

Meet the fellow bloggers Nick, Criz, Steven, Buzzing Bee, Cariso, Lingzie and CK Lam. Where is PenangTuaPui? As usual, the 4 of us are at the lower right of the picture

We are lucky to have Hafiz (Marketing Manager) and Lakshmanan (Restaurant Manager) to be our hosts for the food review. Both of them provided lots of explanation and background about Karaikudi and the dishes we had to enable us understand more about Indian Cuisine.

For a start, we decided to do something different on the food review with the use of an evaluation form. This form actually helps us to jot down our taste and perception at the moment we taste it when things are still clear in the mind. It will also let the restaurant know of the so called customers’ feedback.

Mango Lassi (RM4.00) was the drink of the day which came in medium height glass. Any Indian restaurant you go to will tell you that their Mango Lassi is good and this one is no exception either. The mango lassi is thick and full of flavour but less creamy (less butter taste) compared to Passions of Kerala.

Chettinad Style Vegetable Soup (RM3.00) is a home made vegetable soup with spices and the yellowish colour on the soup is because of the use of dahl. The soup is watery type and not as thick as the western style while the taste is not that strong either. Perhaps, this is not just our style.

Bittergourd chips (RM6.00) is an addictive appetizer served with fried chilies and curry leaves. The bittergourd used is smaller type which is much bitter compared to its bigger brother. 

Taking the first bite of this bittergourd, one can feel the spiciness surrounding the bittergourd snacks but gradually the bitterness taste becomes more evident and the effect seems to linger for some time. The spices used have encapsulated well the bitter taste at the begining but tingling your taste buds with spiciness before letting the bitterness sets in. 

The crispy bittergourd can be quite addictive too despite the bitter taste. Each time after we finish one chip, there was a mix feeling for spiciness and bitterness that somehow tempting us to take the next bites. The Kashmir Chili used was quite crispy as well but not too hot in taste. Still the spiciness flows down the throat as we swallow it.

Chicken cutlet (RNM6.00) comes in a lovely shape that bring smiles among some of the bloggers. Want to take a guess why? Because it is made into the heart shape specially for us…hehe

The boneless pieces of chicken is marinated with eggs and bread crumbs before being fried. It contains chopped green chili and coriander as well.

The chicken cutlet is quite tender without sign of being overfried and taste a little bit, (yes, just a little bit) spicy because of the chili. Tam Ciak said it feels like eating the spicy KFC chicken nugget….

We thought this is supposed to be a dessert but Kashmiri Naan (RM6.00) can just be a sweet dish to have with main dish. 

The Naan is actually a favourite among the kids because of its colourful and sweet taste. It has cut dried cherry on top as well as sesame seeds. Once you open the inner part, it reveals the dessicated coconut in different colours red, green, yellow and original colour. 

We initially thought nutmeg was included as well but we got it wrong. The Naan can be eaten on its own or it goes well with the dishes we have too. Did we mention that Naan contains crushed cashew nuts too? No wonder the kids love it…

Chicken Briyani (RM9.50) comes in a typical Indian container that we normally see in the movie except this is much smaller. The briyani uses basmathi rice which is longer and more fragrant compared to normal rice. One piece of chicken drumstick is included in the briyani rice with an egg served on top of the rice. 

Sometimes we just cannot help ourselves laughing when we see the names although we know this is how each dish is called. Yes, our bad for being such mischievious… Chicken Kothu Paratha (RM9.00) is essentially Prata (bread) that has been chopped and served together with cooked chicken. This dish looks simple enough with nothing to be amazed yet perhaps it is the simplicity of this dish that makes it special at Karaikudi. 

Some of the dishes we have, clockwise from bottom left; Mutton Chukka Varuval, Chicken Briyani, Chettinad Potato Masala, Kadai Vegetable and Ladies Finger Pepper Fry. To know more about each of this dish, head on to Part 2 of the post.