Passage Thru India — Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur

📍 Passage Thru India @ Jln Bukit Bintang, KL

𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭 ⭐️

Passage Thru India has been serving good Indian cuisine since 1993 - making it the most successful Indian cuisine restaurant brand in Malaysia. Like the name suggest, they have some of the best dishes from various regions of India to give patrons an authentic taste of India's gastronomic expertise. 😋 At Passage Thru' India, one will witness the merging of charm,art, culture, tradition and food 🇮🇳

The restaurant first threw open its doors in 1993 intending to recreate a ‘mini India.’ 🕌Each room takes you on a journey through different parts of the country, from the Bedouin feel of Rajasthan with its low benches to modest local village life of Chettinad. 🇮🇳Vibrant colours adorn the walls from floor to ceiling with trinkets that have been gathered from all over India. 😍 There’s so much to take in here, you can be sure you’ll spot something different every time you visit. ✨ ps they only use halal-certified meats ✅

Customers are always looking forward to its dynamic interiors along with its award winning menu of over 127 items spanning the Indian sub-continent. 🥘

Here’s what we tried:

𝐓𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐢 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐡 𝐓𝐢𝐤𝐤𝐚 𝐁𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐚 𝐌𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐠𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐉𝐨𝐬𝐡 𝐌𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐲𝐚𝐧𝐢 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐑𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐚𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐍𝐚𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐝 𝐊𝐨𝐳𝐡𝐢 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐚 𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐡𝐫𝐚 𝐅𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐚 𝐏.𝐓.𝐈. 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐚 𝐆𝐨𝐛𝐢 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐚 𝐓𝐞𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐨 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢

Omg I’m not sure where to start 😩 Everything was fabulous ❤️❤️ I totally understand why they were chosen by Michelin Guide!! Their food is so damn food that they deserve a Michelin Start tbh ⭐️ From the thick and flavourful curries to the authentic local & regional dishes, every bite was a taste of India’s rich culture and heritage! 🥹

Highlights: PTI Prawn Masala is a must try 🔥 The Tiger Prawns are HUGE and super fresh 🦐 But the masala was the highlight of our meal 😍🔥 I’ve never had something this good before 🤭 It was so flavourful and the gravy was very thick, little spicy and wholesome 😋 it matches the bread and rice so well. Hands down the best Indian dish 💯 Naan was so fluffy and soft! Goes so well with all the curry dishes 👍🏻 Mutton biryani was amazing!! The mutton pieces were so tender 🤤 you can tell that they use the highest quality ingredients because the meat wasn’t chewy nor fatty 👍🏻 The biryani itself was very flavourful with strong use of local spices. Great flavours and you can also add on the curry for extra oomph Mutton Rogan Josh was another favourite of mine. Tender Mutton Pieces Cooked In 16 Varieties Of Spices!! Not gamey because it was well cooked with spices 😍😍 The harmonious blend of flavors and textures makes it a dish that will linger in your memory long after the meal is over. Andhra Fish Curry - A Spicy Fish Curry Native to the Andra Region 🐟 Don’t worry, it isn’t too spicy 😉 it comes in a cute pot and there was a whole piece of tenggiri fish cut into cubes. The fish itself was very fish and the curry was chef kiss 💋 so authentic and it truly brings out the flavours of the fish!

All the other dishes were fantastic as well, and I could go on and on about how good the food was 😂 I’m still not over it actually and I’m definitely returning soon to satisfy my Indian food cravings 🤪 I have been visiting them since a new born baby hahaha we always have family functions here and it never disappoints. ❤️ The environment is great for functions & gatherings or even just a meal with your loved ones. Price range is super affordable as you can dishes for around RM20+. That’s really affordable given that it’s a fine dining & Michelin selected...

Overall, the restaurant was good and worth a second visit. We had to make a reservation as the restaurant tends to be full on weekends. Moreover, the restaurant reminded me of India not just because of the interior but also because of the warm, earthy scents from all the wooden furniture. Our interactions with the servers were excellent, and they appeared cheerful as they welcomed us. For dinner, we were among the first diners and by the time we were done, the restaurant was full, with even more people waiting in line.

Here are the reviews for the food in the pictures:

Punjabi Samosa (RM9) – 8/10 Best eaten fresh. With a hot and a crisp covering, it brought back memories; samosas can be found everywhere you go to in Maharashtra. The samosas here were smaller in size, we were given 3 pieces instead of 2 because of their size.

Garlic Naan (RM6.5) – 6/10 It wasn’t garlic-y enough. Overall, it was good and ‘almost’ exactly like how it’s supposed to be.

Butter Naan (RM6.5) – 7/10 Just about perfect. Could’ve used a bit more butter on the bread but considering Malaysian costs, this was about right.

Murgh Tikka Butter Masala/ Butter Chicken (RM26) – 7/10 I suppose it’s named differently due to not wanting to cause confusion between the Southeast Asian butter chicken and the Indian one, or it might just be called this outside of Maharashtra. I liked the taste; however, the gravy outweighed the amount of chicken in it. There was a good amount of chicken though. The butter chicken I am used to has shredded chicken instead of whole chunks of chicken. I would suggest offering some simple bread/rice along with this as at a price of RM26, this would be too expensive.

Palak Paneer (RM18) – 9/10 Adequately priced and tasted perfect, just as it’s supposed to. The paneer pieces were too small but considering how expensive paneer is in Malaysia, I would do the same. Small pieces but a lot of them, so it did not make a difference. I loved it.

Kashmirian Lollypops (RM12) – 8/10 Back home, we simply call it chicken lollipops. As the name suggests, it’s chicken that is in the shape of a lollipop. This is one of my favourite Indian Chinese foods out there. It goes well with just about anything, but especially with other Indian Chinese food. (Context: in India we have a sub-cuisine that we call Chinese, it’s not exactly Chinese, but rather a mixture of Indian and Chinese cuisines)

Mango Lassi (RM8)/ Sweet Lassi (RM6) – 5/10 The lassi was okay. Didn’t love it but it wasn’t too bad either, just not suitable to my taste.

Kulfi (RM9.9) – 6/10 The kulfi was overly sweet with a taste of saffron. Better than expected as my previous experience with Kulfi in Malaysia was rather disappointing. Even though it was extremely sweet, the consistency of the kulfi did not disappoint.

Rasmalai (RM9.9) – 3/10 The low rating is only due to me feeling deceived as what I got was not rasmalai but rather rasgullah in the liquid of rasmalai. Also, the liquid is supposed to have a light consistency, however, this felt like condensed milk instead of a more water-y milk consistency. I ended my meal on a bad note due...

This restaurant used to be a family favorite and we used to frequent this place for special occasions. It has been 2 years since the last time I visited, hence I made a reservation for a celebration. However, this visit was so disappointing due to the following reasons:

1. Food - The flavor of the dishes were underwhelming. We ordered mushroom mattar, tandoori chicken, sheekh kabab, mutton dum briyani, plain and garlic naans, lassis and watermelon juice. A lot of the food lacked seasoning, and the most disappointing was the briyani - there was absolutely no taste, and the mutton meat was flavorless. I also requested for the tandoori chicken to be cut into 3 pieces each, as I felt it was too large, and the waiter outrightly said they can not do that. The sheekh kababs were extremely dry.

2. Drinks - The lassis were average. It tasted more like the Lactel yogurt drink, but I am confident it was freshly made in the kitchen. The watermelon juice was completely a waste of money. At RM15, it was not freshly made, but rather came in a plastic bottle labelled "cold-pressed" that was stored in the fridge. I was surprised as I have NEVER received a bottled cold-pressed juice that was stated "fresh juice" on the menu. And it did not taste nice either. This was after the manager asked us if our meal was okay. While everyone at our table ordered drinks from the menu, we also asked for glasses of plain warm water for each of us. And was told that they do not provide warm water (we would of course pay for it), but we will have to purchase mineral water. I seriously do not remember this being the case the last time I was here.

3. Service - The waiters are borderline rude, and not accommodating. I don't think it is their fault though since it appears that they may be foreign workers (if I'm not mistaken), and have no training for PR and customer service skills. A gentleman who appears to be the manager came to our table mid-meal to ask if the food was okay, and we did say yes. Because overall, the food was very average but not horrible.

Overall, the quality has dropped so much, and it was a disappointing experience, in a place that we always enjoyed in the past. I don't know what happened, but it is sad that I will not consider...