Sangam

Sangam was a hugely popular Hindi movie made in the 1960s. It was a love story, produced, directed and starred by Raj Kapoor. I remember everybody was gaga when the movie hit the Malaysian screens. I was a young boy then. I went for the movie with some friends. I did not understand a thing. I just remember sweating for more than 3 hours during the ridiculously long epic of a movie. Theatres were not air-conditioned those days.

Sangam is also the name adopted by this pleasant Indian restaurant we visited in Kelana Jaya not too long ago. It is located in Plaza Kelana Jaya, along Jalan SS7/13 off the LDP in Petaling Jaya. The last time we were in this place was when we dined at the Sanook. Plaza Kelana Jaya has not improved since we were last there. If anything, I think the situation has worsen. The place is practically dead, in spite of the beautiful surrounding and infra structures. There were no commercial activities - just a few struggling restaurants and pubs.

Sangam is restaurant cum pub. It has a charming contemporary Indian decor - with an exclusive dining area.

And a relaxing lounge for some drinks...

... and some nice live Hindi music and songs.

The place was very quiet when we arrived. We were the only patrons. A few more trickled in as we progressed with our dinner. A nice gentleman attended to us and took our orders. Being the only patrons, we had the attention of all the staffs in the restaurants.

Dinner started with an appetizer - the Punjabi Channa Chat Patta. It was chick peas mixed with yogurt, onion, green chili, tomato and tamarind paste. It was very tasty and flavorful. The chick peas seemed to blend very well in yogurt and tamarind.

The main meal started with the Mutton Kashmiri. Their mutton was the reason we came to this restaurant. And our basis was absolutely justified, for this mutton dish was so very good. The meat was tender. It cooked in a mild almond paste gravy, with cashew nuts and cherry tomatoes. I enjoyed it totally.

This was the Chicken Tikka Punjabi Masala. It was de-boned barbequed chicken cooked in hand-pounded spices. It wasn't bad at. In fact, the flavor was strong and aromatic. But somehow, it was over-shadowed by the mutton.

The dish of the humble okra (ladies' fingers) was also very good. This was the Bhindi Masala. The okra was not over-done - unlike in most Indian establishments. We could savor the freshness of the okra.

Next was the Aloo Palak. It was potato cooked in spinach and fresh cream. The spinach was rather crushed up - almost a liquid. But it was good. No complaints.

The Mixed Raita was a combination of beans, chick peas and others that I could not identify. Like all other dishes we had so far, this was credible. The spices they use were definitely adequate and blended with the food superbly. 

We had all these with 3 kinds of naans (plain, garlic and cheese) and some chapatis. 

And some super fluffily, fantastic plain briyani nice.

It was an awesome meal. The use of spices in this Indian restaurant was exquisite. Our compliments to the chef indeed!

For dessert, I have a cup of masala tea. It was a highly spiced tea, sweet and aromatic. I think I detected star spice, cinnamon and clove. For me, it was a perfect after dinner drink. But my wife did not like the spices.

We also shared a cup of Kulfi, an Indian ice cream. It was hard, and very rich and milky. We had tiny scoops and let them melt in the mouth. Tasted a lot like those milk cookie balls (I don't what they are called) we find in Indian restaurants. There was a tinge of spices. The taste was very good. 

The Sangam is a delightful Indian makan place. It is a shame that because of its location, not many PJ folks know about it. I highly recommend the place to those who love Indian food. The nice gentleman who took our order told us that they serve buffet lunches at reasonable prices. I think I would want to try this out. In any case, we most probably will be back. Crystal was not with us during this visit. We will bring her there when she comes back from Melbourne.