Al-Azhar Restaurant — Restaurant in Singapore

Aloo Gobi (SGD $6.50) @ Al-Azhar Restaurant. . They've achieved some measure of success against their competitors in recent years, largely thanks to the improved quality of food with consistent taste. . Their version of Aloo Gobi has a rich thick curry gravy, with mild vegetal earthy sweet spice flavour, filled with chunky tender cauliflower, potatoes, and red onions, garnished with fresh coriander. . Great with bread or rice. . . . Bhindi Masala (SGD $6.80) @ Al-Azhar Restaurant. . Generous with long slim lady's fingers, tender juicy crunchy texture with vegetal sweet savoury spice flavour. . The thick tomato-based curry gravy is mildly spiced, easy to pick up with bread. Warm and comforting, like a hug. . Portion size is slightly larger than elsewhere, making this good value. . . . Biryani (SGD $9.50) @ Al-Azhar Restaurant. . They serve a good North Indian dum style rendition, where the primary flavour comes from the spice-infused basmati rice. . Slow cooked in a sealed pot for hours, the complex layering of spices, including cardamom and turmeric, infuse the rice, resulting in fragrant sweet grainy spice savoury flavour. . The fish version has boneless chunks of basa fish buried within, flaky and tender with a sharp spicy salty sweet kick from the curry gravy. . The mutton version has bone-in chunks of mutton buried within, chewy and tender with robust meaty savoury salty spice flavour from the curry gravy. . Both served with a bouncy hard boiled egg with eggy sweet notes, and a creamy raita yoghurt with crunchy cucumber and carrots with milky vegetal sweet flavour. Large enough for 2 persons. . . . Butter Chicken (SGD $9.50) @ Al-Azhar Restaurant. . Marinated, roasted, then stewed to finish in the curry, the large pieces of boneless chicken chunks are so tender, with a satisfying light chew and smoky sweet savoury salty spice flavour. . The curry gravy is creamy and smooth, the blend of tomato puree, yoghurt, butter, and spices (including fenugreek seeds and powdered coriander) lending bold vegetal sweet savoury milky spice notes. . Tasty enough to make you reach for more. . . . Chapati (SGD $1.50) @ Al-Azhar Restaurant. . Pretty straightforward rendition, slightly fluffy with a chewy texture that tears nicely with some effort. . Has a grainy bready savoury sweet flavour, slight hint of wheat on the aroma. Nicely warm. . . . Fish Kadai (SGD $9) @ Al-Azhar Restaurant. . Their rendition has the most pronounced use of fresh and pureed tomato, including large sliced tomato and tender sliced red onions, resulting in a thick creamy chunky gravy with vegetal sweet savoury spice flavour. . The boneless cream dory fish fillets are moist and flaky, absorbing the tasty flavours of the gravy. Feels like there's more vegetables though. . You can request more or less spicy, as the default packs a mild heat. . . . Fish Tikka (SGD $8) @ Al-Azhar Restaurant. . Their rendition is functionally the baseline standard. . With medium sized, chunky boneless king fish, flaky and lean with mild smoky meaty spice savoury salty flavour. . Served with a crunchy juicy cucumber and red onion salad, with vegetal sweet spice notes. . . . Mutton Keema / Keema Matar (SGD $7.90) @ Al-Azhar Restaurant. . Established in December 2000, this 2-decade-old casual eatery is known for their vast range of North and South Indian dishes, as well as other international offerings. . Their rendition packs more fiery heat, with the use of red chili alongside turmeric, coriander, curry leaves, and cumin, in a tomato and red onion gravy that is fragrant, oily, and rich. . Together with tender minced mutton and bouncy peas, this has warm meaty savoury salty vegetal earthy...

I see big crowd whenever I pass-by. So I went. Ordered prata egg, prata banana, and teh tarik siew siew tai for dinner ( total $8).

At first I was told to order through QR code. However the data signal was too weak to load any page. So the order was made at counter.

The pratas were not served hot. It came really fast despite thick dinner crowd.

Pratas were slightly oily, I knew I did not order healthy food.

It's chewy. I knew chewy is about preference.

But "chewy and not hot" is a very big man-made mistake to me.

Teh tarik too sweet & not hot enough. Reminded me of Macdonald's hot Milo, where the hot water dispenser can't deliver coffee shop temperature. So if Mac's Hot Milo taste Fusion, this one taste like Teh Tarik phua-sio if you order at coffee shop.

The verdict is : prata and teh tarik were slightly below mediocre, 2.5 stars.

We all know good pratas are bad for heart, and bad pratas are also bad for heart. I just had bad pratas. I just had a double-blow in my life.

I finished it because someone told me if the food was wasted, next life I will be begger. I am easily held to ransom morally.

You may try Srisun Express Bukit Batok West, but thats not for without a single blow

Back to staff: Staffs were friendly, fast and proud when spoken to. Can sense proudness came from good business.

My point here is : Friendly, fast and proud are 3 different things that can coexist in perfect equilibrium.

So they can be friendly and proud, fast and proud, or just proud. In any combination, and still you will be correct. Because we are all human.

Priced as restaurant. Place not too stuffy.

If you stay far, may reconsider if the trip is worthwhile. I passed-by.

But this stretch of eating outlet is vibrant at night.

I give 5 stars...

Al-Azhar Restaurant really needs no introduction. It is a famous eatery that is well patronised by people from all walks of life. Indeed, customers seem to be streaming in throughout the day and well into the night, to the wee hours of the next day.

There are so many food options - there's literally something for everyone here. You might be overwhelmed with the vast array of choices that you have. After you have, after careful consideration, decided what to eat, the same overwhelming choices presents itself again when you decide what to drink.

We ordered the Sizzling Rib Eye Steak ($22.90), Mutton Satay, Mutton Malasa Prata Set, and Seafood Sambal Kway Teow.

Some people like to be given options - the more the merrier. A stall offering 100 dishes is better than a stall offering only 10 dishes, in their opinion. Nothing wrong with that.

But as a foodie, I'd prefer to patronise a stall that specialises in one or two dishes. That stall will sink or swim just on those dishes alone. The stall has every incentive to ensure its own survival by mastering and serving the best possible dish, and not be a jack of all trades but master of none.

Al-Azhar serves some good stuff (prata for example), and some of its food could be quite good, provided you do not compare it to the competition. For example, their Mutton Satay is quite nice, but there were a couple of sticks of Satay that were difficult to chew because they used Mutton meat containing tendon. Compare this with a satay specialist stall, Al-Azhar's Satay will be blown out of the water.

Bottom line: Al-Azhar's food is nice,...