What are you doing this Deepavali? Well, D’bell is offering us a smattering of delicious, modern North Indian cuisine
With Deepavali upon us, we face the dilemma of how to celebrate it. Yes, we have the lights, the henna and the confectioneries. But of all, we have food. We went to check out the Deepavali menu over at D’bell, a hyper-stylish establishment along North Canal Road that is getting a lot of attention for their food this month.
A good start
For starters, the Kachori Ki Chat was served. It is actually a crispy, round puff stuffed with masala cheese primarily. The flavour of the cheese was deliciously overpowering, it almost overshadowed the rest of the tastes. The elements in this little puff work well together and separately. It was easy to pop one after another.
Mains of the menu
The Shah Jahani Murg Korma is a dish of boneless chicken roasted in tundsor and immersed in flavoured yoghurt and cash nuts curry. It was accompanied with basmati rice and multi-layered butter naan. It is surprising for me that I preferred the curry dipped with rice over the curry dipped in naan. The rice was fragrant and soft, a perfect complement to the strong flavour of the savoury curry.
The chicken is succulent and soft. The yoghurt element is a nice twist and while the cashew nuts are detectable too, lending a new dash of taste into the curry. I did like the naan for its chewiness but it stood out better when dipped in the curry.
One of the miss
I was looking forward to the dessert, my favourite part of any meal. However, the Mango Kheer did not tickle my taste-buds. I found it ordinary and while I like the mango bits, the dish is generally too sweet for my taste. The royal nuts saved the dish slightly, providing a nice crunch for the rice and mango pudding.
Definitely a must-have
The dinner starter platter consists of three parts. The first is the Masala Chana Ki Tikki, which is crispy spiced potato cake topped with masala chick peas. The second is the Papadi Chaat which is a round thin puff dressed with tamarind pineapple salsa. Finally, the third is the Tandoori Mutton Ki Seekh which is a tandoor mutton kebabs skewer roasted in charcoal flame.
For me, the Papadi Chaat is the must-have here. It reminded me of the Kanchori Ki Chat, a dish that I found to be the best in their lunch menu. While it differs slightly in taste from the former due to the different filling, both are still staunch favorites for me.
Dips on the dinner
There are four choices for the Hyderabadi Dum Biryani – chicken, mutton, seafood or vegetables. The dish consists of flavourful long grained basmati rice and your choice of ingredients cooked together in a sealed pot in traditional Hyderbadi style. My pick would definitely be the seafood. It goes fantastically with the fragrant rice.
Presentation is key
The D’Bell Curry Platter is, as the name implies, the star of D’Bell. The non-vegetarian choice consists of Butter Chicken, Kerala Fish Curry and Rogan Josh. It is accompanied by an assortment of side dishes.
While I did not manage to try the vegetarian version, the meat one was very satisfying for me. The Kerala Fish Curry particularly was cooked to crisp perfection, blending perfectly well with the strong curry.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DBellSingapore
Address: 43 North Canal Rd, 059299
By Nicole Lee
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