Royal Taj @ Village Hotel — Restaurant in Singapore

This place leaves MUCH to be desired. Visited on Christmas Day, expecting a good experience given the google reviews.

Asked for the ala carte menu as we wanted to choose our own dishes. Was told that they were only serving the set menu (which is fine.. if were true.. more about that later).

Wanted to change the mutton starter to chicken as I do not eat mutton - was told I could not even though the starter already included chicken.. (Fine.. No biggie..)

Saw a table of 2 ordering from the ala carte menu (didn't look like regulars and they did not pre order). A guy at another table beside us then asked the manager if he could order from the ala carte menu and he said yes it is available but it could take awhile. We then asked the manager as to why we were told that the ala carte menu was not available. To that he replied "It is actually not available...". He walked away, came back to our table 15 secs later and retorted rudely and defensively "Ala carte is only for regulars and pre orders". We did not come here on Christmas Day to be treated with such disdain and contempt. There wasn't even a single greeting from this manager from when we first walked into your restaurant; and these were the only 2 lines delivered to us as we continued with our "Festive Set Menu" in a not-so-festive mood.

Then came the final bombshell. He then went over to the guy beside us, whispered something to him and took his "ala carte order". At this point, we were finishing our lunch so we did not bother questioning them further. (If you can serve from the ala carte menu, why do you prevent certain diners from ordering from it?)

Awful discriminatory service from the manager and inconsistent communication... Only saving grace is the food but I would recommend everyone to eat elsewhere unless you happen to be at Barracks Hotel and craving...

Posting on my husband's behalf :)

My wife and I had dinner here on two different nights during our staycation holiday in Sentosa, we hadn't planned on two nights but the food and hospitality were too good not to enjoy as often as humanly possible! Let's just get right to it - The Malai broccoli was the best I've ever eaten. I don't generally care for broccoli, my better half however loves it and ordered some, so I of course tried it and was astonished at how wonderful it was. Let me say it again - I don't even like broccoli - but I could eat this every day! Also from the grill the paneer tikka and Bharwan Aloo were just as wonderful, both these tandoori dishes were prepared expertly, there was just enough sear to add flavour but not so much as to effect the texture or distract from the marinades. Flawless. The chaat was just as excellent, we had both the aloo tikki chaat and the dahi papdi chat, they were so good the trip was worth it for the chaat alone. The portions were extraordinary, you might want to pace yourself because the main courses were even larger. In fact our waiter was ethical enough to warn us when I tried to order vegetable biryani and jeera rice, that the biryani alone was enough for two people. When it came, it was actually enough for three! We also tried the paneer masala, saffron rice and daal tadka. Even the less complex entrees such as the gulab jamun and raita were prepared expertly.

My wife says the masala tea is the best she's had in her life so far. It stands on equal ranking with the masala tea she was served at a former friend's house.

The service was exceptional, the staff remembered our names even though we had only mentioned them in passing when making a last minute reservation. We very much look forward to returning on our...

Thank you @royal_taj_sentosa for having us today for the 5 course dinner meal (gifted)!

We started off our meal with;

1. Starters - DAAH PAPDI CHAAT - fried flour crispies with yoghurt, sweet and hot sauce, pomegranate to pair with it. It is similar to Poppadoms. I love that the sauce was spicy which paired off really well with the crispies, making me craving for more

2. Appetiser - lamb seekh kabab which is made of grounded lamb with fresh mint, cilantro and green chilli paste which was surprisingly good, I loved the tenderness of the lamb kebab and the chilli paste that complemented it really well! Thankfully the lamb taste is actually not overpowering too!

3. Mains we had a spread of food; :hatched_chick: chicken tikka masala made with tendoor fried chicken tikkas, bell peppers, onions and tomato gravy. I’m exaggerating but it got to be the best chicken masala I have ever tasted, and it’s really rich and flavourful when I tried it together with the basmanti rice, the chicken was really tender and the sauce was flavourful with aromatic spices.

:fried_shrimp: fried prawns- which was really tender, fresh and crispy!

:rice: saffron pulao made of basmati rice with saffron and spices which was really yummy, but we were too full to finish it all up!

:bread:garlic butter naan - loved the crispiness of the naan and how it is really well seasoned together and you can pair it with the sour cream or the sauce

4. Dessert - we had kesar pista kulfi which was actually pretty interesting taste for both of us and this was our first time trying it! :shaved_ice: It is similar to western ice cream but since kulfi is not whipped it results in a solid, dense, but rich, luscious creamy indian dessert. It is made of saffron milk and pistachios as patiently explained by...