CHAAT

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Item: CHAAT
Rating: 4
Author: eatwai

4.5

214 Reviews

Taste

Decor

Service

Hygiene

Value

26929

Tsim Sha Tsui

$401-800

Indian Hotel Restaurant

167

eatwai

Level4

188

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[ CHAAT | 尖沙咀 ]

I finally got to try the other Indian restaurant with a Michelin star after going to NPC for so long. Instead of specialising in a specific region of India, CHAAT delivers refined Indian flavours as a whole, with a few regional dishes. You can expect to find both authentic dishes and more contemporary ones.

I walked in at 5:30 pm and they miraculously had 2 seats available. I honestly think their whole booking process is rigged and they intentionally leave a few seats empty to give them a USP and become the topic of discussion among many people. I mean, every foodie or person in HK knows CHAAT to be the hardest restaurant to book. This generated a lot of free publicity for them for sure.

The service here is very attentive and helpful, as expected from a hotel restaurant. A few of the staff are very knowledgeable about the menu and ingredients used but a majority did not which was disappointing.

After we were seated they brought us the papadums, served with a mango chutney. The papadums are crisp and immensely flavorful with a slight heat to it. Lovely with the sweet and tart mango chutney.

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Baked Samosa $168

I think every guest of CHAAT comes here solely for this and I finally understand why. The presentation is a whimsical and modern approach to the traditional samosa, although still eaten with your hands to retain the culture of Indian cuisine.

Served warm, the cone is crisp and thin yet pliable enough that it doesn’t shatter when you bite into it. Made with gram and semolina flour which is a fine grain so the batter can easily be thin and crisp.

The filling is this fibrous yet brisket-like mixture that blew my mind away. It’s spicy and savoury and so delicious. It is shocking that this is made with jackfruit meat because the taste and texture is 100% identical to meat. It certainly has a decent amount of spice which I loved. But they also serve this with a raita sauce which is less tangy and milky than the one at NPC, this one is light and cold and mainly used to quench the heat. However, after adding the sauce, it’s a whole new flavour. It makes you want to eat it again and again.

The cone is stuffed to the brim with no crevices. Being a small cone, I easily finished two of them.

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Raj Kachori $128

This is my first time trying something like this and the flavours and textures of this Raj Kachori (king of Kachoris) blew my mind!

The Kachori is the outer shell and this is made with fine semolina flour which accounts for its crisp texture whilst still maintaining its structure. It also has a slightly sweet and addictive flavour.

The inside is filled with a variety of fried Indian snacks, lentils, chickpeas, potatoes, moong sprouts and more. Thus, many textures range from tender potatoes to crisp fried vermicelli to chewy sprouts. I also really liked the freshness and tartness that the pomegranate provides as garnish. These fillings are all spiced which balances very well with the sour tamarind and sweet sugar syrup that coats a few of the ingredients.

The crunchy Kachori and its filling are mixed with three different sauces for the ultimate flavour combination. A sweet tamarind chutney, herbaceous mint chutney and a loose and tangy yoghurt sauce. They all work together and make you feel like you are eating magic. My only complaint is that this whole dish is on the sweet side, which is what it is supposed to be, but I would appreciate a better balance.

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Malai Paneer Tikka $188

I had to order their paneer since they make it in-house and serve it fresh.

The texture is definitely unlike regular paneer as it is extremely tender and creamy whilst still firm enough to hold itself up. The taste however is quite mild and does not taste as rich as packaged paneer which is firm and bouncy. In a way, it tasted fresh. They paired this with an apricot jam which gives an amazing flavour and the sweetness works great with the dairy. (This is why people eat fruits with cheese). They say there is mint in this dish but I couldn’t really taste it but not a bad dish to try with some fresh paneer.

But I loved the most the tomato masala sauce on the side. It tasted like gourmet ketchup and I happily ate all the paneer with this sauce.

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Malabar Fish Curry $298

For my choice of curry, I opted for their Malabar fish curry (Malabar curry is from the Kerala region which boasts their coasts and ample seafood) which is the second spiciest one. However, it is really not that spicy as they mainly used turmeric, curry leaves and coriander as spices and the use of coconut milk also diluted the spice level.

The fish is a Chilean sea bass or toothfish. It is a pretty forgiving fish as it is quite fatty but firm. They cooked it to perfection here, extremely flaky but does not fall apart and still melts in your mouth. However, it feels like the fish was defrosted from the freezer as the texture is rather too flaky and easily disintegrates not much structural integrity.

There are 3 big pieces of fish but only a few spoonfuls of curry which I found to be disappointing as there was not enough curry for all the naan and fish. A large portion of the curry is curry leaves and whole spices which are inedible.

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Black Truffle and Chilli Cheese Naan $118

For my naan, I chose their most interesting flavour combination. Normally, I tend to avoid fusion dishes as they show signs that the chef just mixes ingredients together which goes against the tradition of it. However, I wanted to test the chef and see if this would be good and I have to say, it is absolutely delicious.

The naan is crispy and chewy, unlike the fluffy and airy ones at New Punjab Club. The inside is smothered with a black truffle and cheese paste. This results in the most savoury and rich naan ever. Although I wished they spread it more evenly as the outermost part was not stuffed. The chilli is also non-existent in this; I completely forgot it even had it. I reflected this back to the kitchen they said it can’t be too spicy as it will ruin the balance, but there is literally no spice. So they offered to make me another one with extra chilli but I was too full to eat another piece. This I deeply regret.

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Chocolate praline naan $108

I had to end this meal with their very famous dessert and dare I say it is better than their regular naan and curry combo. The origin of this dish is from Chef Manav Tuli’s childhood of combining two of his favourite things and stuffing chocolate into a naan; something no Indian has ever done or sold before.

I was sceptical about this dish as it just seemed like chocolate on bread. But after trying it, I can see how a simple combination can be elevated into a multi-sensory dish.

The naan is the same as their savoury ones, thin and chewy. Here, it is filled with chocolate sauce with a slight hazelnut flavour (similar to Nutella but less thick and sweet) but not to the grill so the edges remain unsullied and you can taste the crisp/char of the naan. It is topped with a generous amount of crispy, nutty praline; a scoop of fluffy and sticky marshmallow fluff; and a scoop of coconut ice cream.

Let me just say that it is an explosion of flavours and textures. If you like chocolate or have a sweet tooth, you will definitely love this. The portion I is also smaller than I thought so two people can easily finish this.

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推介 🙆🏻‍♀️

💬 Overall, the food at CHAAT is really good but I won’t say it is the best. It’s funny how the tastiest dishes here were the most innovative ones, not the curry. The price is also not too steep considering it is a hotel restaurant. I can definitely see myself returning but will probably stick to walk-in.

🗓 Revisit? ✅ ⭕️/ ❎