Zaika - North Indian Cuisine

There is a new, or it is new when compared to the other restaurants on the same stretch of road, Indian restaurant along Race Course Road. Zaika - North Indian cuisine with a difference is how they call themselves. Zaika prides itself on using fresh ingredients, low flame cooking and rich spices, reminiscent of the Mughlai cuisine.

It opens just 8 months ago and I guess many people do not know of this little gem yet.

I was surprised to find myself the only guest when I stepped in around 12:20pm on a Friday. Usually the Indian restaurants I went to would be crowded and filled with people. Maybe it helps or didn't help that Zaika is right besides Jaggi's which has been around for ages and always crowded.

Currently there is a very good lunch buffet deal at Zaika. $9.90+ for about 10 items, including free flow of orange squash. Maybe that is their angle - free orange squash - cos everyone seemed fixated on the orange squash.

Service was good, drinks were served promptly and the bombay chat was brought out once I was seated waiting for my friends. Then again, if I was the only one there, I guessed there was no excuse to be inattentive?

The room is bright and airy with orange as the theme. It is the orange restaurant, with orange painted walls outside.

Bombay chat was good. Crispy and a bit spicy. The green sauce was a mixture of corianger, chilies and mint and other spices. The staff told me what was in there but I forgot the rest. The brown sauce was slightly sweeter. I thought there was plum in there but apparently not. Again, a mixture of spices with chilies. The bombay chat would soften after time so it was recommended to eat it as soon as possible.

Samosas and vegetables pakoras. The samosas were filled with mashed potatoes and green peas. I found them a bit dry, not that nice. The vegetable pakoras were awesome. Just simple vegetables fritters with spices. Some found them spicy but I was fine with them. This was the only dish that we re-ordered.

Tandoori chicken covered with lot of onions. I liked the tandoori chicken with its tenderness and slight tangy taste. I also ordered raita as I like yoghurt with the cucumber and tomatoes to cut through the greasiness of the curry. They did not charge me extra for that.

Warm, soft naans. Simply yummy when using it to mop up the gravy/curry. We didn't have rice at all. The naan kept us filled up.

Butter chicken. My favorite dish of northern Indian cuisine. The buttery taste of the curry detracted the mild spices of the dish.

Fish curry. This was average. We didn't rave about it unlike the butter chicken which was the clear favorite of everyone. The curry was a bit thin and slightly tangy which was good as it was not too rich. The pieces of fish were soft and flaky and did not have a fishy taste, attesting to the freshness of it. But somehow it just did not "wow" me.

Mixed vegetables curry. It was quite normal with peas, potatoes in there. It would be great over rice though.

I love this too. Yellow dal (lentils) in a huge container. It was so good with the naan. I kept thinking of nasi briyani when I had this.

The dessert we were served. Rice pudding with aromatic spices. Somehow I just do not like spices in my sweets so I didn't finish this. Not really my cup of tea.

I don't mind going back there again to order from the ala carte menu. The prices are reasonable, with most dishes under $10.

Location

Zaika Restaurant

38 Race Course Road

Tel: 6341 7621