NORTHERN Indian cuisine appears to be Ajna Kitchen’s forte but its menu has a sprinkling of southern Indian favourites too.

The restaurant, in Section 11, Petaling Jaya, was just the place to visit during Chinese New Year. It was a welcome change for us, after all the Chinese food we had been having.

On our first visit, it was butter chicken, Hyderabadi chicken briyani, ladies’ finger masala and Goan fish curry for us, together with Lachcha paratha and Roomali roti.

I’ve always been interested in curries with mango in it, hence my choice of the Goan fish curry (RM22.90), which has fresh mango in it.

It was a delicious curry with pieces of fried tenggiri (mackerel) in it. There were cubes of ripe, sweet mango in the sourish curry, which was also hot and fragrant with ginger.

Butter chicken (RM20.90) in other places has always been too rich and sometimes even bland for me, but it was not like that in Ajna Kitchen.

It had chicken tikka pieces cooked in a tomato gravy with butter, flavoured with kasoori methi (dry fenugreek leaves) and other spices. Butter chicken is also known as murgh makhani.

I liked the butter chicken here as it was not rich at all. The tangy tomato gravy dominated and not the butter sauce in it.

For both curries we ordered two breads – the lachcha paratha and roomali roti. Lachcha paratha (RM6.90) is a paratha layered with butter and panfried.

It’s a yummy bread, crispy and light. Roomali roti (RM7.90) is a thin, flat handkerchief bread which is cut, rolled up and served in a basket here.

Both these breads pair well with the curries, and the ladies’ finger masala (RM19.90) which we added to our lunch. The young, sliced ladies’ finger were packed with flavour, from the mango powder and freshly roasted spices fried with them.

We could feel the heat of chilli in the Hyderabadi chicken briyani (RM21.90), with every grain of rice well coated with the spices in it. We enjoyed the aromatic rice with chunks of marinated chicken in it.

On another visit, we had similar dishes, but instead of butter chicken, we went for spicy Chettinad chicken curry (RM20.90).

It’s cooked in a melange of roasted spices reflective of Chettinad in Tamil Nadu, India, together with yoghurt, ground peanuts and coconut. It was excellent, the choice fragrant spices bursting on the palate.

We couldn’t resist the Hyderabadi lamb briyani (RM24.90) and were happy with the spiced, tender lamb pieces in the flavourful rice.

There’s a wide choice of briyani rice here, from the speciality egg pot briyani (RM14), to chicken and lamb dum briyani to prawn briyani (RM25,90) and fish briyani (RM22.90).

I would like to try on another visit, Ajna’s special lamb varuval (RM23.90), Bengali fish curry (RM22.90) and the various paneer or cottage cheese dishes such as the classic palak paneer and mutter paneer (cooked in rich masala and cashews). The restaurant has a varied vegetarian menu too.

Ajna Kitchen is at 21, Jalan 11/4, Seksyen 11, Petaling Jaya. Call 03-7932 2120 for enquiries. It’s open from 11am daily. – February 26, 2022.

* Eu Hooi-Khaw has been writing about food for the longest time, covering all aspects, from restaurant reviews to cooking and recipes, as well as the healthy side of it. She has written for major newspapers and magazines, published the cookbook Fresh Ingredients, and also writes for her website hooikhawandsu.com.