Food Review: Ahara At Teck Lim Road | Contemporary Indian Restaurant In Keong Saik [Closed]

Posted on March 7, 2024 by theRantingPanda in Food

The Place Located in the buzzing Keong Saik enclave, Ahara is a refined 32-seater Contemporary Indian restaurant located on the ground floor of a pre-war shophouse opened since November 2022. The interior of Ahara spots a contemporary dark theme mood where diners get a view of the action in the semi-open kitchen, and is helmed by Chef-owner Vikramjit Roy where this is also his first restaurant in Singapore.

Chef Roy has over two-decade of culinary experience in Indian with various luxury hotel groups including The Oberoi Group, Taj Hotels and ITC Hotels, as well as overseas stints like Hong Kong’s three-Michelin-starred Bo Innovation.

The Food It is a contemporary menu at Ahara where the restaurant just launched a new ala carte menu in replacement of tasting menus when it first opened. This is the fourth edition of the menu at Ahara where Journey IV showcases a mix of small and large sharing plates. You can expect the new dishes on the menu to offer a fresh take on familiar street food dishes, classics and also an introduction to lesser-known dishes of the Indian subcontinent.

My meal started with the Ahāra Pani Puri (S$28), a familiar street food snack. The version here is filled with tandoori spiced roasted celeriac as well as aerated chutney, where you can expect a strong burst of flavours for a start.

Next up I had the Mango Pickle Paneer Tikka (S$30) where you can expect a rich and creamy fresh house made paneer. There is also a tinge of spicy note as the mango pickle emulsion and yoghurt are mix in a spice blend that includes fenugreek, coriander seeds, carom seeds, cumin, and mustard seeds.

Go for the Murgh Amaranth Tikka (S$34) if you love butter chicken where this version spots a tender texture along with Tandoori Pineapple Chutney and Blistered Coriander sauce.

Moving on to large plates, I chose the Boston Lobster Kairi Curry (S$88) which is inspired by a mango curry made in Maharashtrian households when mangoes are in season. I enjoyed the tender and juicy lobster tail which is soaked in the tangy mango curry sprinkled with garam masala (mixed spices) and pickled julienned raw mango.

I also paired this curry dish with the Black Garlic Naan (S$12)!

For a crab dish, I went for one of the signature dishes at Ahara, their White Stripe Lamb Shank Biryani (S$58). You get a tender and braised lamb shank here which is not too gamy, along with the Haryana King rice with saffron.

The best part of this dish for me is the rice, which is very flavourful and fragrant without much greasiness. It is also quite a big portion of rice which is good to share amongst 3-4 diners.

Last but not least, my dessert choice is the Milk Cake ‘Tart’ ($28) with a layer of Whey Caramel along with Artichoke Crisp.

Rants The dining space at Ahara is not huge, and the dark tone does make the dining ambience a little serious as well.

Will I Return Again? I think the pivot from tasting menu to an ala carte menu is a good change for Ahara and it now makes it more convenient and suitable to head here with a small group of friends to share the dishes.

This was an invited tasting, though all opinions expressed are our own.

Make your reservations instantly at Ahara here.

TheRantingPanda says:
Taste bud: 4/5
Hole in the pocket: 4/5
Ambience: 3.5/5
Overall Experience: 4/5