Since my last visit to The Grand Gem Indian Restaurant @ Grand Bluewave Hotel in Johor Bahru, I really missed a good Indian buffet with robust-tasting dishes and lots of gravies and spices. One of my foodie friends recommended Riverwalk Tandoor which I had passed by countless times but never did I go in once to have a meal because the restaurant always seemed empty.
We decided to head over to their outlet at Upper Circular Road after purchasing their buffet lunch at S$15.90/pax on Qoo10. Dinner option is also available but at an additional top up of S$2/pax.
We made a reservation for 11.30am and were the first customers to arrive. We were quickly ushered to our table and were told to wait for another 5 minutes as they were still bringing food out to the buffet line.
The service staff who served us was polite and had a lot of initiative. He would pour us iced water without us requesting for it, come round our table to let us know when the buffet was ready to be open and he even opened the lids of all the chaffing dishes when he saw me taking pictures with my camera so I really thanked him for the helpfulness.
The buffet spread was stretched out on one side of the glass window in the restaurant. It wasn’t superbly huge but it was exactly what I was looking for.
There was some homely clear cabbage soup to warm up our tummies.
There were also appetisers like garden salad, aloo chaat, sprout moong chaat, pickles with mint sauce and mixed vegetable raita. And of course, a stack of papadums too to help ourselves to.
These were all the hot dishes available at the buffet:
Tandoori Chicken
Channa Paneer (curd cheese)
Yellow Dal
Fish Dahiwala
Mutton Lajawab
Choye Choye Masala (mixed vegetables)
Aloo Masala (potato)
For rice options, there were briyani rice and plain white rice.
And for desserts, they had:
Gulab Jamun
Phirni
Assorted Fruits
Breads were served separately as they had to be prepared upon order. We picked garlic naan which was so satisfying – fresh, hot, crispy on the outside and a little chewy on the inside with a good amount of butter and garlic. That was just delicious and definitely one of the best naans I had.
One good thing about having a smaller selection of food was that I could try a bit of everything and there was not a single dish that I didn’t like. Even the briyani rice (basmati) was cooked perfectly so it had a lovely texture with an al dente bite to it.
I couldn’t resist going for seconds of the tandoori chicken (smoky and flavoursome), channa paneer (delicious!), mutton lajawab (tender and not gamey at all) and the crunchy papadums. But because everything was quite rich and heavy, the food really filled us up quickly.
I was a little hesitant at first to try the gulab jamun because I expected the syrup to be way too sweet for my liking. It was indeed very sweet but somehow it just paired really well with the deep-fried donuts. Sheer decadence!
The phirni was a lovely creamy pudding of rice and milk that we equally enjoyed. There was a hint of rose flavour that somehow made it really fragrant.
And lastly, we were each served a cup of masala tea. It was such a fragrant brew of milk tea flavoured with aromatic Indian spices. So good on its own, I didn’t have to add any sugar in it.
If you love Indian cuisine and spicy food with thick, creamy gravies and sauces, then this is definitely one buffet you shouldn’t miss out on. Reasonable pricing, delicious food and impeccable service. I can’t wait to come back again.
Riverwalk Tandoor
20 Upper Circular Road
#B1-38, The Riverwalk
Singapore 058416
Tel: +65 6536 0875
Website: http://www.riverwalktandoor.com.sg/
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Opening hours: 11.00am to 11.00pm daily