Someone senior was giving the 3 Little Chubs a treat today, and Punjab Grill was suggested by someone who had been there and loved it.
It is a nice looking restaurant with a classy looking exterior, befitting of an establishment in the posh Marina Bay Sands mall.
When you approach the restaurant, you will be greeted by enthusiastic service staff who will lead you to your seat. On a weekday afternoon, about 3-4 tables were already filled by the time we reached there at about 12.15 pm. It was busy enough for a weekday afternoon, but not so much that you need to make an advance reservation.
The staff will offer you a variety of menus ranging from the a-la-carte menu to the special set menu to the drinks menu. Frankly, I was a little confused by the selection of menus. In the end, we all opted for the 4-Course Power Lunch set at $40++ as it offered a variety of foods to try. With the set menu, you only choose from either the vegetarian or non-vegetarian set.
Each set meal comes with a drink – you can choose from Ice Tea, Home Made Ginger Ale or Lime Juice. We opted for the ginger ale, which was served with a little peppermint leaf and was refreshingly sweet.
A little appetiser followed shortly to help mitigate the agony of waiting. It was a warm potato patty served on a bent spoon.
Also to help make the wait more pleasant, some papadum-like crackers were served with 3 delicious sauces. The crackers were crispy and spiced and made a good starter.
For the set menu, you can choose from a variety of Indian breads to be served with the main dishes. We chose naan and rice.
The bread was very tasty and was little burnt which gave it that extra crispy flavour. The breads and the rice come in unlimited servings, so you certainly do not have to worry about leaving the place still hungry.
These are the vegetarian starters:
a) Kalamata Achaari Olives Paneer Tikka (Cottage cheese marinated in Kalamata olives pickle)
b) Lahori Seekh Kebab (seasonal vegetables minced and mixed with hand pound spices grilled in a tandor)
c) Sago Pearls Aur Aloo Ki Tikka (pan fried sabudana and potato peanut patty)
The guest chubs who tried it confirmed they were excellent.
The starters were all served prettily on a long rectangular plate with a side of carrot and beetroot twirls.
These were the non-vegetarian starters:
a) Kalamata Achaari Olives murgh Tikka (chicken marinated in Kalamata olives pickle)
b) Ajwaini amritsari fish tikka
c) Lamb kofta kebab
A special mention goes to the lamb ball – it was very well marinated and did not emit the usual smell of lamb meat for lamb meat haters. Little Chub was very pleased as she is generally very sensitive meat smells and meat quality in general.
In fact, the same could be said of the other items on the plate – the flavours of the marinades permeated the meats and it was a very tasty dish.
In fact, because the grilled starters were so amazing, we added a Salmon Tikka from their a-la-carte menu. This was also recommended by one of our Guest Chubs who is a frequent visitor to this restaurant. Indeed, the dish did live up to the descriptions that we had been hearing about the past week.
Despite the looks, the salmon was soft and tender with a mild smokey aroma. There was no fishiness to it and the meat literally melted in your mouth. Our Guest Chub who recommended this dish said he had been trying to recreate the same texture at home for months, but never succeeded.
At the end of the starters, we were each served a small scoop of mango sorbet to cleanse our palette for the main dish.
We had people in our party who opted for both the vegetarian and non-vegetarian courses and the descriptions are below.
Vegetarian
- a) Paneer Makhani Tikka (tandoor grilled cottage cheese simmered in satin smooth tomato gravy)
- b) Diwani Handi (mixed vegetables, included potatoes, bell peppers, peas, carrots, mushrooms and French beans)
- c) Panjratni dal tadka (Combination of 5 lentils)
Non Vegetarian
- d) Butter Chicken
- e) Kafir lime fish curry
- f) Panjratni dal tadka (same as the vegetarian menu)
In general, the sauces were smooth, rich and creamy, comparable to the sauces you get in French cuisine. These curries were not the usual Indian curries that usually have more ‘body’ and texture. They were also mildly spicy and definitely not a problem for someone with a low tolerance of spicy food.
Little Chub was a big fan of the fish curry and had multiple servings of it.
We had plenty of bread and rice with which to enjoy the delicious sauces.
We also helped ourselves to generous servings of the vegetable dish, Diwani Handi. It was an interesting mix of vegetables, stir fried with plenty of spices and onions. It was very tasty indeed.
Desserts were up next, and were served in the same triplet style as the starters.
a) Figs and dates kheer with roasted almonds
b) Rose petals cheese cake
c) Gulab jamun
It was a combination of traditional Indian and western desserts. Of the 3, Little chub liked the Figs and dates kheer with roasted almonds best. It had the winning combination of soft porridge-like kheer and the crunchiness of the almonds. The gulab jamun was a little too sweet if you are not used to the taste and the cheese cake was good and had a very distinct rose taste. If you had grown up eating these desserts, though, it appeared that you would find these very tasty. One of our guest chubs had 2 of the gulab jamuns at a go and declared them worth every calorie.
At the end of the meal, a very refreshing Paan syrup is served to once again cleanse your palate so that you can go back to work satisfied and not having to worry about lingering curry tastes in your mouth.
To end the experience in a fancy manner, expanding hot towels are served for you to clean your mouth and fingers.
In summary, it was a good experience (4/5) and the stars of the show were really the grilled items served as starters. The mains were also good by themselves, but paled slightly in comparison to the amazing starters, especially the salmon tikka.
For your convenience, we have taken a photograph of the name card. This restaurant is most accessible by the Downtown line, although you have to walk a little distance above ground to reach the entrance of Marina Bay Sands mall. The restaurant is tucked neatly under an escalator near the entrance.
Address: B1-01A, the shoppers at marina bay sands
2 Bayfront Avenue
Singapore 018972
Phone: 66887395
Nearest MRT: Bayfront (Downtown line)
Chubs Go To Lunch 