Indian cuisine is one of my favourite types of food to eat – it’s like comfort food and I always have to eat it after a trip abroad. Jien and I have kept Chola Kitchen on our to-try list for quite some time and we finally paid them a visit a few weeks back when we had errands to run in Klang.
Chola Kitchen claims to specialise in briyani and South Indian specialties and the restaurant is apparently named after the Chola Palace in India. I was quite disappointed to learn that their specialties such as varuval mutton briyani, Chola mutton briyani and Chola chicken briyani weren’t available.
Chola Mix Briyani
Dum Chicken Briyani
We settled for the Dum Chicken Briyani (RM13.90) and Chola Mix Briyani (RM17.90), and an order of Chola Special Chicken Devil (RM12) to share. Dum chicken briyani is a classic dish and a popular pick in Indian cuisine as it features rice and chicken, sealed in a metal pot and cooked for hours in a slow dum process. This traps the steam inside, allowing the flavours to bind together.
I find Chola Kitchen’s version average as the rice seems to lack flavour, aroma and fluffiness. Even the chicken pieces weren’t as well seasoned as I hoped. It does taste better with a bit of chicken curry gravy on top but all in all, I wasn’t impressed.
A mix of mutton and chicken in rice
Chola Mix Briyani is a better choice I reckon. This one has more gravy to go with the rice and the mutton gives the rice a richer flavour overall. That being said, I still feel the rice lacks aroma and flavour – just like the dum chicken briyani.
Chola Special Chicken Devil
Don’t be fooled by the colour of Chola’s Special Chicken Devil. This dish is fiery hot with plenty of chilli seeds to send heat down one’s throat. I feel it tastes more like stir-fried chicken with a lot of chillies and spices rather than a curry; perhaps that was their intention but I was hoping for something saucy.
Masala tea and bru coffee
The one thing I’ll commend about Chola Kitchen is their Masala Tea (RM3.60) and Bru Coffee (RM3.60), made using fresh cow’s milk. The waiter will froth this in front of you, releasing the aroma from the spices. Definitely one of the better versions of masala tea and bru coffee I’ve tried.
Our bill came up to slightly over RM50 for the above. Pretty reasonable for the portion but I feel food was just average.
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Ambiance: 6/10
Price: 6/10
Food: 5/10 (pork-free)
Verdict: Average briyani but both the masala tea and bru coffee are pretty good.
Chola Kitchen
No. 33, Jalan Mahogani 5,
Bandar Botanik,
41200 Klang,
Selangor.
Tel: 03-3324 5433
Business hours: 9.30am till 10.30pm (Wed-Mon), 11am till 10.30pm (Tues)