royal indian curry house

how i lived in makati for a long time and only came across this place just recently is beyond me but i'm  thankful i finally got to visit. i've heard that royal indian curry house or r.i.c.h is the place to go for the best indianfoodhere in manila and being the naturally curious foodie that i am i had to see and try it for myself. first impressions the ambiance is impressive me. clean, well-kept, and air-conditioned. the purple suede chairs alone just screams boujee. but of course i'm more interested in what theirfoodtastes like. my bf ordered the palak paneer (cottage cheese cooked with spinach) with plain naan and mutton rogan josh as recommended by our waiter and it was amazing. i cannot begin to describe how fresh and rich the taste was. they truly live up to their acronym. although this place can be a bit pricey, it's definitely worth it. if you find yourselves at poblacion and craving quality indian food, this place is a must try.

indianfoodhas a special place in my heart. each dish is a melting plot of flavors and colors. i recall reading years ago about how indians are known for incorporating six different flavors in their meals in accordance with ancient guidelines.

using that as a starting point, let us focus on thefoodserved in the royal indian curry house (r.i.c.h.). i was given the opportunity to try somefoodin the makati branch near a-venue, and i am grateful that thefoodgave me the chance to satisfy my indianfoodcraving.

we started off with a masala papad, which is apparently a common appetizer for indian guests to r.i.c.h. it is like an indian tortilla, thin and crunchy. minced onions and tomatoes are placed on top along with herbs and spices like coriander and possibly paprika. by itself it is tangy and has a tiny spicy kick.

i recommend breaking some pieces and spooning one of the three accompanying sauces on top. they are an orange spicy sauce, a green, minty coriander sauce, and a dark brown tamarind sauce. indian guests apparently prefer the coriander sauce, and filipino guests are more partial to the tamarind sauce, i heard. but i suggest one to feel free to explore each one.

with the masala papad done, we move on to the samosa. these are pyramid shaped pieces of golden brown fried dough stuffed with vegetables and/or meat. the one we had was stuffed with mashed potatoes and green peas. it is a good starter while waiting for the main dish as it is a little sweet and savory.

for the main event, we had a paneer curry, chicken malai tikka, and murg makhani (butter chicken). paneer is a white indian cheese that is mildly salty and usually cubed for cooking. it meshes well with the savory brown curry sauce and it still retains that salty flavor.

the chicken malai tikka is a dry (without sauce) dish of spiced chicken pieces served with shredded cabbage on a sizzling steak plate. the meat is tender, juicy, and white all around. it is tangy and mild, so serves as a good contrast with the other flavorful curry dishes with their rich sauces.

speaking of rich sauces, their butter chicken is my favorite among the dishes they served. cylinders of chicken are placed into an orange tomato sauce mixed with butter and cream on top. i can taste the rich, sweet butter with every bite of chicken, and its warmth floods me with delight.

with all these sauces and meats around, some starch is needed to cleanse the palate. enter the butter naan and the hyderabadi biryani. naan is an indian flatbread that is soft, fluffy, and chewy, with streaks of melted butter brushed onto it giving it a golden shine. these are best eaten by tearing off some pieces and ladling the curry sauce and meat into it before pinching the sides together into a kind of dumpling and eating it whole. any leftover naan can be used to mop up any leftover sauce for a more delightful take on the old chips and dip.

the hyderabadi biryani (a specialty of the hyderabad region in india) is composed of long-grained basmati rice marinated along with pieces of lamb meat and spices. the rice is colored yellow possibly due to saffron or turmeric, lending it a slight spicy kick. the whole thing is served in a clay pot covered with a piece of naan that puffs out when cooking. think a savory souffle or a french onion soup with a pastry crust on top, but it's not french or soup.

with all that eating, one must feel thirsty. enter the mango lassi, which is a creamy shake made of ripe yellow mango and yoghurt. each sip is sweet and also a tiny bit sour. but the cooling effect cannot be denied. for people who are weak against spicyfood(though diners can ask for an adjustment in spiciness when ordering), i suggest a sip once in a while to put out the fires within.

and to cap off with another sweet ending, we were provided gulab jamun for dessert. it is a couple of orange balls in a clear sauce. the balls are made of curdled milk and flour fried and served warm. the sauce is a thick mixture that is very sweet but also a bit earthy, possibly due to the spices used to flavor it. the whole thing is topped with sliced almonds to give it a satisfying crunch.

all in all, i think that the royal indian curry house is a great way for first-time indianfooddiners to be introduced to a cuisine that is so colorful and flavorful that just one visit is not enough to cover all that the subcontinent has to offer. i will certainly return in the future. i'll raise my glass of mango lassi to that.

china ian cordero reich torio enricorner

i missed indianfoodso i was happy i found this on zomato with great reviews. we loved everything we ordered! the afghani chicken was very well cooked, my mom loved it. the prawn pakora was very crispy and delicious too! the butter chicken was a bit tomatoey/sour. i've tasted better, but it was great nonetheless. we also had butter naan, onion kulcha and gulaab jamun which we also loved!

the ambiance was okay. they have billiards near the table, they have a view of the city which was very cool.

excellent and authentic indianfoodwith friendly service. try the samosa and that dumping with the fiery red chutney and best of all that hydrbadi biryani with a pastry dome will definitely come back!

terrible food, you just cant eat it. ordered palak paneer and chicken tikka masala and cheese naan. 1500 went to waste. was only able to eat the naan. i used to eat at the restaurant andfoodis good, however when delivery i guess they just don't care. i contacted the restaurant to complain and promised to send me another delivery but until now they dont reply to me anymore. they made me waste 1500 for afoodi threw in garbage.
thanks rich i will make sure not to order again and congrats oj ur stuff very professional for ignoring my texts.

greatfood- very poor service.
we arrived and the waiter didn’t attend to us, we actually had to ask to be seated somewhere.
he then rudely made faces at us as he couldn’t understand our order.
the restaurant was noisy as staff kept the kitchen door open, so you could hear shouts, cutlery being dropped and plates being banged about. the kitchen door has a sign saying ‘keep door closed at all times’
i commented on the poor service to a waiter and his reply was ‘we’re busy sir’! to my horror, i noticed another member of staff wrapping cutlery and bagging upfoodoutside the toilet! very unhygienic. i commented this to the manager that they should go elsewhere. not only is it highly unhygienic but was also very noisy. the atmosphere felt stressful because of the constant noise from the kitchen, the cutlery being wrapped outside andfoodbeing bagged outside.

fortunately, thefoodwas very good. decent value and generous portion sizes. the mutton and chicken dishes we ordered were fantastic. so were the samosas. thefoodclearly isn’t the issue. it’s awesome.

i wouldn’t hurry back though because of the chaotic atmosphere (not a relaxing dining experience), rude staff and poor hygiene. if you want great indianfoodbut don’t mind rude staff, noise and general chaos - go here. if you want a relaxing dining experience with polite staff and a normal restaurant ambience - avoid like the plague.

it's been a while since my last #newrestaurantsfor2017 post! josh and i have been quite busy with work and family, and we can't seem to find a common time. it's been a month before we finally got the chance to go out on a date again!

i volunteered to visit him in makati, since he had work last sunday. oblivious to the schedule of restaurants during the weekend, i came up with several options... but when we got there at around 6pm, most of the restaurants were closed already! this is the disadvantage of not being a makati person. 😢 it was my fault, too, for not being able to check the store hours first.

after minutes of searching for alternatives online, josh decided that we try royal indian curry house (rich), since it is near century city mall (we wanted to have dessert there). to be honest, i'm not really a big fan of indian food, but i'm willing to give it another go.

when we got there, we saw that many of the customers were indians, so thefoodseemed legit 👌 we went ahead and ordersed our food, based on the recommendations made by our server:

✔ samosa (php 159) - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
we were torn between having all-veg or non-veg ones, good thing the server informed us that we may have two pieces of each! i liked the non-veg ones more, since they were more flavorful and the filling is a bit firmer compared to the mushy filling for the veg samosas. they provided us with three sauces: tamarind, mint, and chili. i especially liked the tamarind sauce with a few drops of chili sauce. 😍 the crisp wrapper tasted great, too! to me, samosas are like indian empanadas.

✔ murg makhani - butter chicken (php 439) - ⭐⭐⭐
this dish was recommended to us by the server -- according to him, this is a bestseller in rich. when thefoodarrived, we instantly loved the rich aroma it came with. upon tasting it, we were a bit underwhelmed with the taste. personally, i would've wanted it to have a taste more inclined to its tomato component, but instead, it was too buttery -- a bit too much for my liking. josh initially said the taste was one-dimensional. though, we appreciate that the chicken chunks were super tender, and not the least bit dry. after eating the dish for quite a while, josh said that the taste seemed to be growing on him, and he's starting to like it more and more.

✔ tandoori prawn (php 499) - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
this was josh's pick. he loves prawns so much!!! 😅 for me, it was good -- but too pricey (there were just 7 pieces of prawn). the prawns were fresh and newly grilled, and had a smokey flavor. it can be eaten on its own as it is already really flavorful, or you may also drizzle on some of the tamarind / mint / chili sauces depending on your preference. it is slightly spicy, but nothing that is too much to handle.

we paired all of the above menu items with an order of plain basmati rice (php 179), which is already good for 2-3 people. since i am on a reduced rice "diet", i ate around 1/4 of the rice, and josh finished the remaining rice. the rice was so good with the butter chicken! 😍 i also love how al dente and not sticky the rice is.

the service was good and fast, and the ambiance was great, too! you'll feel like you have suddenly been transported to india because of their interiors. 🙊 i'm glad that this sparked my interest in trying out more different cuisines -- even if i'm uncertain whether i'll like them or not.

as for rich, it was worth a try -- but a bit too pricey for me. 💸

#newrestaurantsfor2017
#eatdrinksplurge

the dining experience was so good! it’s our first time trying indianfoodand our waitress was so kind in helping us choose our orders! the serving size is worth it! and the taste? so so worth it! will definitely come back 💕

coming here, i wanted to change my views after first visiting their moa branch. why the 3-star? don’t get me wrong, theirfoodwas great! the only downside was the terrible service and restaurant hygiene.

starting off with the food... i’d say that thefoodhere was better than their moa branch. though admittedly, we ordered everything in medium spice this time. i think that that’s the perfect spice level if you wanna taste the rich indian spices, and not get satiated over the creaminess of the curry. my only problem was that the naan was waaaay too oily! i forgot if it was the same in their moa branch but i even had to dab the oil off the naan cause that’s how oily it was.

moving on to the service.. well it was already a bad start when none of the staff assisted us to our seats or even initiated to get our order until we tried to get their attention. one staff was particularly rude cause of the way he reacted when he couldn’t understand our request. we also requested to get transferred cause the kitchen noise was unbearable if you’re seated close to that area. and the worst part for me was the hygiene - they wrapfoodjust outside the restrooms!! the guy who was even assisting with the wrapping opened the bathroom door for me (yeah it was a nice gesture, but no...)

i’d like to come back here for thefoodbut i wouldn’t be very excited cause of the service. hopefully though, if they could improve on that - i’d like to give them a 5-star by then.

really good food, great service from restaurant staff and servers but not really a good phone experience for a delivery request. i had to repeat my name, address and orders a few times then the lady read out a different address and the wrong order back. she put me on hold but not really - she was speaking to the cashier with her mouth very near the mouthpiece, as if talking directly to me. could use a little courtesy and could wait for me to say thanks before cutting the call off. i would have rated you guys a 5 forfoodbut sorry customer service is really bad. hope you could do something about it. thanks.

again visited awesome indianfoodreally liked that place, best place to have indianfoodin manila specially in makati area they have lot of indianfooddishes

out of all the asian cuisines, indianfoodhas always been the most unfamiliar to me. i think i've been intimidated because my knowledge about it is zero and i've always thought that their dishes would be too spicy for my liking. so this foodie meet-up is literally like the beginner's guide to indian cuisine for me. let me share with you this delightful culinary adventure where this n00bie (~moi~) eat indianfoodfor the first time at a legit indian restaurant. 

the interiors looked very lavish, regal and impressive. purple velvet chairs, intricate ornaments, the pillars, the ceiling, the lights, the doors -- everything looked elegant. i wasn't able to take photos because it was a busy lunch time when we went there, a flurry of expats would come every now and then, and the entire resto is actually 5 floors, so i just settled on getting snapshots of the food.

i was blown away by the flavors of these dishes! i can't pick a specific one i enjoyed more above the rest because i was just continuously munching on everything all throughout. haha. we started with the masala papad, which was crunchy, light and bursting with flavors. my favorite dip to go with it would be the coriander. for drinks, i had a mango lassi, which is sort of like a mango smoothie but 5 times better. another one i fell head over heels with was the butter naan. there's just something about that soft, sheen chewy bread with that distinct butter taste and smell that's so addictive.

i honestly just did a whole mish mash of the dishes (a heap of hyderabadi biryani topped with murg mukhani plus chicken malai tikka and some paneer lababdar on the side) and it completely worked for me. the paneer lababdar was such a revelation because i didn't know that it was cheese until i took the first bite. there was this balance of the soft cheese with the creamy sauce. you could tell it was cooked well because the cheese didn't disintegrate or got lost in the whole mixture. i love how everything we had was flavorful (sweet, creamy, spicy, savory, smoky, nutty) and the perfect blend of spices added this extra bite and bounce to all the dishes. there were the other components too that i don't usually encounter: yogurt, coconut milk, coriander and chickpeas!

we finished our indian feast with gulab jamun, which my ignorant self thought at first were tomatoes. haha. i was surprised by these warm donut-like sweet treats (which are, fyi, milk-based!) that are laced with syrup and garnished with almond shavings. every bite of it oozes with the sugary syrup. i can't get enough! it was amazing.

there's no other perfect way for me to ease into appreciating indian cuisine than experiencing it firsthand at royal indian curry house. all the dishes were colorful, hearty and absolutely delicious and satisfying. i am missing out on so much all this time! for someone who has never tried authentic indian cuisine before, rich certainly, hands down, won me over. jsyk, their menu has 17 pages in it, so yes, i'll certainly be back to try more.

this place has really great food..it's perfectly indian..the gajar ka halwa is a treat to everyone.. it'll change your mind on desserts in case you don't like them..all the otherfoodis great too..loved the kathi roll, garlic naan and cheese naan..had some amazing curries with it..but this place is a bit pricey..but definitely worth it

the vibe at rich is very different compared to other indian restaurants around. they have goodfoodand good service, price is a bit on the upper side tho but it makes it up with premium quality food

i am a regular with rich and i orderedfoodfor delivery for dinner - butter chicken(average), mushroom chilly (v good), paneer lababdar( v good), and samosa chaat (fell ill). my wife fell ill the next day after eating the samosa chaat. called them to give feedback and was told the manager will get back- nothing yet. blacklisted from now.