Chaiwala — Restaurant in Hong Kong Island

Bollywood romance with modern Indian dishes. Society and the food industry scene is rapidly changing so is the way food is served. We are now in an era where we are seeing a rapid change in society with lots of old things being scrapped, new things built With lots of cuisines, they are either going backwards or going forwards to get the limelight so it is all about going retro or reinventing dishes. At Chaiwala, the location couldn't be more perfect as it is located where Zafran used to be. The restaurant is big and not a spot is under decorated. You get to Chaiwala by going through Hugger Mugger another successful English bar set in the 1970s with cocktails inspired by David Attenborough, Pink Floyd etc. I love the way everything is so different once you pass the doors, it is like entering another world yet it feels like home in London especially the living room corner with an old working TV set, dining table and photos on the walls. When you enter the main restaurant you are greeted with this long table with lots of pretty dangling fabrics and beads above it. As well as the decor, the menu is humorous yet detailed. Started with THE MAGIC LAMP which was the beginning of an exciting adventure concocted with rum and citrus. Being clueless on what to eat, we had the Dabbawala tasting Menu which includes a selection of signatures from Chaiwala. The guy who served us was extremely knowledgeable and will ask your likes and dislikes as well as your relationship with spices.

Started with the Pani Puri: These are a must try as they are crispy balls filled with potato and chickpeas. You eat them by pouring Jal jeera in it. I love Jal Jeera which is tangy and appetizing laced with cumin. The challenge was trying to stuff the whole thing in my mouth to get all the flavours!!

Aloo Tikka Chaat: This is another one of my favourite, spiced potato cake topped with delicious yoghurt and chutney followed by the bursting sweetness of the pomegranite seeds.

Moving on to the Modern dishes, the Mexi Thali which is a twist of Mexican cuisine. It was tender pieces of slow cooked beef served on Indian Tortillas. The following dishes will amaze you as being a fine Indian Restaurant, Chaiwala serves seafood which you will take your taste buds to the next level.

Malabar scallops (HK$190) are kerala-style Hokkaido scallops, with coconut and ginger sauce, fresh mango and curry leaf.

Lobster nerulli (HK$390), charred lobster with South Indian spices, tomato and pearl onions, lobster claw rice and vegetable poriyal. The lobster dish was simply lavish and different while the vegetable poriyal cooled the palate down with a crunch as it had lots of grated coconut.

As well as seafood, curries are a must for a complete Indian meal experience. For curries, there was Kerala Fish curry and Old Dehli Butter chicken served with truffle Naan and rice. The butter chicken was thick and rich complemented by the truffle naan which was topped with generous shavings of truffle just like they do with pasta at PICI!

The Tandoori range here is more than just chicken with lamb chops and fish. I loved the lamb chops which were soft and came off the bone easily. Finished with the Wagyu Seekh Kebab which was beefy yet not overpowered by the spices. Although I was stuffed, dessert was a blow as it was my favourite carrot cake with delicious buttercream frosting topped with crispy carrots and beetroot. The carrot cake was quite a substantial portion that will satisfy your sweet tooth as the first mouthful will send you craving for more. The final act was the Chai tea latte which is poured at a height with skill into the cup so that fine layers of bubbles are formed. It was mildly spiced and a great finish to the journey. The evening ended with a book and you will definitely be back for the next story! Chailwala is definitely the place to go for a memorable night out with great food and vibes. Although they have brunches and lunches, I recommend going there in the evening as the darker ambiance makes it...

I have a monthly dinner date thing with my cousin, in which we do a bit of food hunting to try out new (and hopefully good) restaurants, while catching up with each other, even though we text every day. This time, we decided to try out Chaiwala, after so many expat colleagues of mine have spoken so highly of it and introduced it to me. Also, my cousin has never tried any Indian cuisine before, so Chaiwala seems to be a good start for her.

We really love the vibrant ambiance of the restaurant and bar. We were led pass Hugger Mugger, which is the bar area, and then into Chaiwala, the restaurant. I was definitely amazed by the Indian style interior design and decoration! The sacred elephants, the lights, etc. I wish I could have more time to adore them but the restaurant was too busy…

We were seated in the inner most part of the restaurant, which is quite dark and noisy. I would definitely love to take a seat in the middle area, where you can see the chef cook.

I adore the menu sincerely! A crash course on Indian food with this Chaiwala Glossary. Definitely very useful for first timer, or someone like me who have tried Indian food before but don’t really know much about it except naan bread, samosas, dosa, curry and chicken tandoori.

We were treated with a complimentary pompadous, something we could nibble on while waiting for our order to be prepared. The peppery pompadous was so crispy, and the sauce was so so delicious! We couldn’t actually stop eating it!

Food was served when we were half way through the pompadous, and all 3 dishes were served at once, which was out of our expectation. We thought it would take quite some time. And, we struggled for a bit to shift our attention from the pompadous to this Cheese Chaska, which is a vegetarian friendly gluten-free dish. Listed as chef’s favourite snack on the menu, this Cheese Chaska are actually amul cheese spiced and deep fried in balls. We did know why the chef like it so much! We do too! The fried balls were so crunchy! And the content inside was so cheesy! Make sure you dip the balls to the ketchup and other sauce to eat.

Another small plate we ordered is this vegetarian friendly Suez Patlu Samosa. It was simply so yummy that we actually closed our eyes to savor it! Make sure you try the minty sauce and the pomegranate with the samosa! They are very refreshing! The sweet lotus stem crisps were very nice too! I wish there were more of those…

The Classic Chicken Tikka blew our mind with its delicious hung yogurt with cucumber raita. I fell in love with the cucumber raita immediately as it was so refreshing, and it made a perfect dip for the chicken tandoori. The chicken itself was fantastic! It was so tender and rightly flavoured with chilli, cinnamon and mint chutney. We were told that Chaiwala made their tandoori every day with two massive stoves. I wonder if the stove picture on the menu is a photo of the one they use?

We were already planning to visit again to try out their tasting menu, so that we could have a bit of everything! You can’t have too much...

Restaurant classification: Casual dining/ Indian Restaurant

Food Overview: Samosa Chole Chaat: Crispy wanton filled with crisp and citrusy veggies underneath a layer of curried chickpeas and chaat sauce. The curried chickpeas was rich in flavour and well complemented the freshness of the samosas. And the skin of the samosas stayed remarkably crispy under the dressing.

Mexi-Thali Beef Sukha: Light and airy tortillas with slow cooked beef chunks. Light enough to leave room in the stomach and left us craving for more.

Tandoori Lamb Chops: 3 pcs “Double” (each pc had 2 bones worth) Lamb Chops marinated and grilled served with mint dip. Was a little hesitant about this dish because it felt quite tough underneath my knife but it was quite tender once I bit into it. Flavourful and well seasoned, a tad bit spicy which was balanced by the mint sauce.

Old Delhi Butter Chicken: simple tomato based curry with chicken chunks. Not much to write home about.

Mutton Biryani: Basmati rice cooked with aromatic herbs and chunks of lamb. Was highly anticipating this one. Could do with a little more seasoning and the lamb pieces were a smidge dry and tough.

New Delhi Delight: Saffron Ice Cream, Dark Chocolate Syrup, And chocolate nougatine. Ice cream tasted like the plastic container it’s kept in, Dark Chocolate Syrup tasted like soured milk and the server had the galls to say that it was normal. Didn’t finish it as i didn’t want to argue or wait for another because of pressed time.

Service review: See overall ratings.

Ratings: Atmosphere: 5, Gorgeous interior and cozy ambiance. Food: 3.5, Only 3 out the 6 dishes did Indian Cuisine any justice. Concept was excellent but excecution so so. Price range: $$$, not totally worth it unless the food and service can be improved. Service: Interacted with 5 staff. 2 were really pleasant, 1 could’ve been better, the remaining 2 were rather curt in their manner. Overall experience: Enjoyed the meal for the most part. Definitely dismayed by the dessert and a little disappointed by the service. Would rather go to humbler Indian...