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2010-09-16
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Since S has never been to Chung King for Indian food, she suggested we go there for tonight's dinner. She let me do the restaurant-picking, and I chose Swagat since it was within the mall rather than the residential blocks, and I had been to the few others which were good, but not spectacular for me to go again. After bustling pass a few rather rude people trying to get us to their restaurants instead, we managed to find Swagat neatly tucked away amongst other food stores on the first floor. We
She let me do the restaurant-picking, and I chose Swagat since it was within the mall rather than the residential blocks, and I had been to the few others which were good, but not spectacular for me to go again.
After bustling pass a few rather rude people trying to get us to their restaurants instead, we managed to find Swagat neatly tucked away amongst other food stores on the first floor.
We were one of two tables at 8pm, but slowly groups of people came in and filled the rather small restaurant.
Swagat's interiors aren't bad, clean enough compared to the other restaurants in Chung King. The menu was an impressively neat notebook-type with proper categories of food!
S chose the palak paneer ($45) (aka saag paneer i think) with the paratha ($15) (whole-wheat layered bread), and though I had my eye on the 'seafood hot pot (curry)' and the chicken tikka, I chose the strongly recommended Fish tikka ($120) with roti ($10). I asked what fish was used, but got the answer "sea fish"!!
After a while the fish tikka arrived, followed by the other dishes.The fish tikka was five enormous chunks of mackerel on a sizzling platter with onions and cabbage. As I was hungry I quickly tackled this platter, though was quite disappointed. The mackerel chunks although not overcooked, were salty (yogurt marinade) and very fishy - more spices or something would've fixed this problem I think. The lemon did little to help with the fishiness too.
My roti was like a pita, only more toasted / crispy. Not bad, but not the best I've had.
S's palak paneer (paneer cooked in spinach gravy) was a lot better. A non-spicy this curry, this is a great vegetarian option too! The paneer here were soft medium-sized squares of cheese, that were definitely not rubbery or overly-pressed. Instead, they were light and delightful to eat. The spinach sauce was not oily and had hints of indian spices that were also very enjoyable. Seasoning was done very well for this curry!
The paratha looked very similar to my roti, being made of whole-wheat flour, but was a layered one - i.e. would have a lighter soft texture rather than the crisp flat bread which roti is.
We noticed that other tables were served raita + papadums when they were seated, but we were not. I must say every Indian restaurant I've been to in HK has the custom of serving them....so I missed those spicy cracker-type breads a little!
The bill came to $209 with service, again, a first for Chung King, as other restaurants often don't add service charge...but then again this was in the 'mansion' rather than the residential blocks...!
A restaurant that is not bad, but definitely have other options within this area for similar food!
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