MRS BALBIR’S

Whilst walking along Sukhumvit Soi 11 a couple of weeks ago I noticed a “Bangkok Institution”. It was none other than the omnipresent Mrs Balbir’s restaurant. This surprised me just a little as I can recall that this “institution” was located in another Soi not too distant from this one.

I mentioned this to my friend Walter, who is a Swiss chef and is now an executive chef at a nearby five star hotel.
“Oh yeah, she move there about six month back”.

I had always thought that Mrs Balbir was a franchise. I had seen this Malaysian Indian on TV, heard her on the radio, read her column in The Nation, seen her face adorning Thai magazines and even on occasions her omnipotence extended to airline magazines. There was just no getting away from the Balbir franchise.

Of course, Mrs Balbir is not a franchise, it is just that she never sleeps, or so it would seem. I inveigled my friend Walter to join me in a dinner at Mrs Balbir’s and so it was that the two of us entered the portal of this well known eatery dripping with rain.

“Is good that we eat Indian on miserable night”, remarked Walter.

We ordered two Tiger beers while we perused the extensive menu. Looking around the restaurant on this particularly wet night revealed that 14 diners apart from the two of us were partaking in the cuisinic delights of Mrs Balbir’s chefs. I had a good look around the restaurant on the way to men’s toilet to see if I could detect the presence of the famous lady, but no, she wasn’t in situ - probably on some TV show I privately concluded.

For starters Walter ordered Gobi Pakora (120 baht) and I couldn’t go past the Onion Bhajis (120 baht). We also ordered a serve of garlic naan. For the mains the talented man from Geneva selected Chicken Sagawailia (250 baht), whilst I opted for the tandoor, specifically Tandoori Lamb Takka (390 baht) and to accompany these mains items we decided that rice Peas Pilau would be most suitable.

Whilst the waiter was taking down our orders we asked for another two Tiger ales and I also inquired why Mrs Balbir had decided to move. “Oh, the cooking school (with the waiter gesturing upstairs), got too big for the other place, so Mrs B moved here. She was there (previous address) for over 35 years, did you know that”? said the waiter with a theatrical wave of his hand.

One thing that I have noticed over the years is that Indian restaurants don’t keep their punters hanging around in anticipated suspense. So it was that barely seven minutes after taking our orders our appetizers arrived on two medium sized oval plates.

Walter’s Gobi Pakora looked particularly nice. It consisted of small florets of cauliflower that had been dipped in a chickpea batter and deep fried to a golden crisp. I “stole” one of the florets and it tasted as good as it looked.

Meanwhile my Onion Bhajis were as good as my favourite Indian restaurant in Melbourne. It consisted of onion rings that had been marinated in a medley of spices with turmeric being particularly evident then dipped in chickpea batter, deep fried and served on the oval plate with a good splash of tamarind chutney.

Walter “stole” some of my Onion Bhajis as an act of reprisal for my earlier indiscretion. “Ah, spices are fresh, yes! So important in Indian cookery”, exclaimed Walter.

While devouring our entrees we were also getting stuck into the two serves of garlic naan. So soft, so buttery, so garlicky, the aroma . . . yes we concluded this Punjabi restaurant was everything that a top Indian eatery should be.

To quell the spiciness of the entrees we ordered two more Tiger ales and a few minutes later our mains arrived, this time on oval plates once again, but much larger ones.

“That is a lot of food”, surmised my friend. Indeed the helpings were generous as we surveyed Walter’s Chicken Sagawailia and my offerings of Tandoori Lamb Tikkia with another oval plate heaped with the rice Peas Pilau.

Walter’s chicken Sagawailia was brilliant. Succulent, juicy, the aroma alone induced the mouth to water. The generous serving vanished in no time at all as the two of us went hammer and tong. It was accompanied with a buttery pureed spinach which complemented the Sagawailia beautifully and we gave the dish full marks 10 out 10. “Have been too generous yes”, asked Walter with raised eyebrows. “How could it get any better”, I retorted. Walter thought about that for a few moments “You right you” he agreed.

Unfortunately my Tandoori Lamb Tikka was not of the same superb standard. Both of us agreed that the skewer had been left in the clay-lined oven for about a minute too long and with the intense heat generated in the Indian oven it was enough to toughen the lamb to the extent that it verged on the inedible. I also concluded that the lamb was not a good cut of meat and that it was probably two tooth hogget. In fact, the dish was so dry that we only ate one third of it and the two of us then made a sizeable dent in the pile of the delectable rice Peas Pilau to compensate for abhorrent lamb dish. “As good as Melbourne’s Deepak”, I remarked to Walter. “Then is good”, agreed the talented one.

We ordered another two Tigers while we discussed all the local gossip relating to Walter’s workplace and the restaurant scene in Bangkok in general.

Peering outside into the Soi I noticed that the rainstorm had subsided, so I motioned to the waiter for the bill, which arrived even more swiftly than had the earlier dishes.

So it was that the chef from Oz and the talented one from Geneva bade farewell to each other outside in Soi 11 as we each made our journey home with very contented tummies and with treasured memories of the brilliant Chicken Sagawailia.

VERDICT: Mrs Balbir’s is a Bangkok institution. No restaurant can survive anywhere for over 35 years unless it is exceptional and Mrs B’s is certainly that. It specialises in Punjabi Indian cuisine which has a high reliance on fresh spices and is less oily than dishes from other geographic parts of the Indian sub continent.

COST: Gobi Pakora 120 baht; Onions Bhajis, 120 baht. Garlic naan 90 baht; Chicken Sagawailia 250 baht; Tandoori Lamb Tikka 390 baht. Rice Peas Pilau 120 baht. Six bottles of Tiger beer @ 120 baht each, 720 baht. No service charge, 10% tax 181 baht. TOTAL: 1991 baht ($AUD67.49 at the time).

SUMMARY: Mrs Balbir’s is as good as everyone who has been there previously has exclaimed it is. The dinner was let down by the bad Tandoori Lamb Tikka and this is reflected in the score below.

SCORE: Ambience 6/10; service, 9/10; food (one brilliant dish, one to forget about), 6/10; value for money 6/10. TOTAL: 27/40.

CONCLUSION: If you feel like Indian food during your sojourn in Bangkok, then you won’t go far wrong with a visit to the famous Mrs Balbir’s. Just be wary about any Tandoori selections as Walter later told me that some of his kitchen brigade had also had some very dry dishes from Mrs Balbir’s tandoor oven on earlier visits following Walter’s report to them on his night out with me. Apart from that it is very good Indian food.

LOCATION: 155/1-2 Sukhumvit Soi 11/1. Open from 11.30 am to 11 pm six days a week (closed on Mondays). Bookings not really needed.

Note: Sukhumvit Soi 11/1 is a sub soi that runs off the main Sukhumvit Soi 11.

Thanks for that review Emdee. I had walked past the old restaurant a couple of times before and although I had plans to visit I never quite made it, as Indian food has never been high on my list mainly because there seem to be more bad places than better ones.

I was aware Mrs B's had received some reasonable reviews in a variety of places so after reading your review will certainly make a point of trying it out in the next few months- I will be mindful of your comments about the lamb. Perhaps I might mention that I would like it a little less cooked, as a succulent lamb dish would be appealing to me.

I hope you had the chance to visit a couple of more good eating places during the recent trip?

Yes Roving Rabbit, I did manage to get to a few more places which I will post on sometime over the next fortnight or so. The rest of the time I chose to eat at the Brit/Irish/Aussie/Kiwi pubs as I don't like dining by myself in restaurants, whereas dining by one's self in a pub is not unusual.

Like you, I'm wary of Indian restaurants both here in Oz and anywhere else as they have garnered an unfortunate reputation of being "off" or just generally bad.

However, Mrs B's is top rate, which is not surprising after surviving 35 years in a market that is cut throat. More power to her.

If you do decide to go Roving Rabbit to Mrs B's I don't think you will be disappointed. Just be careful about your selections from the Tandoor as they seem to have a propensity to be "dry", otherwise everything is top rate.

Since you liked this chicken preparation you may also try it at home. Here is a simplified recipe for Saagwalla Murgh.

You need:
1 large bunch of spinach chopped roughly (chopped finely if you don’t have a food processor)
1 large yellow onion – chopped
6 cloves garlic – peeled and diced
One inch piece of ginger – peeled and diced
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 Tbsp. cream (optional and adjust as you like)
2 tsp. coriander
1 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. red chilli powder
1 tsp. garam masala (this aromatic powder is made with cinnamon,green cardamom, cloves, peepers etc. avilable at all Indian grocery shops)
2 tsp. salt
oil or ghee(clarified butter)
1/2 – 3/4 cup water
In a large pan over medium heat, add the oil or ghee and your onion and sauté the onion until it’s translucent.
Next add in the garlic and ginger and continue to cook for another few minutes until it’s sauted out a bit too. Next add the spices: salt, turmeric, chilli powder and coriander. Stir the mix together and continue to cook over medium-low heat.
I like to cube my chicken for this dish before hand, and cook it in a separate pan, then add it to the saag to finish cooking. Simply cube the chicken into 1-2 inch cubes and season them all over with salt and pepper. In another pan, cook them over medium heat, browning them, but not cooking them totally through. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Add in the spinach and a bit of the water and cook until most of the water has cooked off and the spinach is nicely wilted. At this point, if you have a food processor, transfer the mixture to the machine and give it a few spins. You don’t want this to be totally pureed!
When you’re happy with the puree, transfer the saag back to the pot and set it over low heat. Add the chicken back to the pot with the spinach mixture and add the yogurt. Mix to combine and let the mixture cook together for at least 10 minutes. When the chicken is totally cooked through, add in the cream and garam masala & serve over some rice, that’s it!

Thanks for the recipe JY.
Now Emdee look at what happens to you when you don't take the shopper with you. Tiger beer after tiger beer LOL.
Beers and a ruby murry with the lads.
Thanks for the report.

__________________
Kiss
God laughs at people who make plans.

Much thanks JY for the recipe. I will use it next weekend when we will have several people here for a Saturday BBQ/dinner.
JaxW: Ah yes, I did indulge in the suds quite a bit more than normal, to the extent that I put on 2 kilos in a little over two weeks.

As for the Shopper Girl, she asked me to get THREE things in Bangkok, but I only got two - I forgot about the other one!

She was kinda upset, but then I whistled the old Meat Loaf hit from the 1980s: "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad". I don't think she got the connection!

Good luck emdee and do let me know how it turned out.

So funny. I am trying to cut down on the wine but it is not going so well. I am so weak.

__________________
Kiss
God laughs at people who make plans.

I am unhappy to read about your experience of Tandoori meat. If you come to Delhi we can go to a 150 years old restaurant belonging to the Mughal days. The key to good tandoori is marination. Can you get green Papaya & paste it the best marination? We have pork Vindaloo tonight with palm vinegar
and my wife bought a Kg of fresh plump Sqids for 3 US$ I will post a recipe for your Kababs.

If you read dear jax17, PG Wodehouse, lord Gallahad said that more people died drinking tea than wine. We are drinking Bull's blood red wine which we picked up from our recent trip to Hungary. And I thought that the tatooded guy was jax17, jollygood guy to share a few beers but it turned out that you are a lady. My regards.