Despite the vast numbers of foreign nationals living in Discovery Bay, there hasn't been any real attempt to soothe the palates of those who crave for Indian food until recently. The opening of Mirch Masala came as a refreshing addition to the multivariate cuisine on offer in DB, or is it?
Drizzling and cold, nothing would beat a hearty Indian meal. We were promptly seated and the service couldn't be more attentive. The menu has been designed to cater for those who are not familiar with Indian food; it is a plastiky one with photos and even Chinese translations. To make it worse, it also contains a number of non-Indian dishes.
As appetizers, we had Vegetable Pakora and Aloo Chat - both of them were great disappointments. The Pakora was nothing more than a pathetic assortment of veggies deep fried in a spiced coating. The Aloo Chat was worse, the potato cubes were chunky, the sauce tasted like something straight out of a few different bottles. It wasn't even properly tossed - at one side of the dish the sauce was sweet, at another slightly spicy and sour.
Then came the main dishes, we had Lamb Madras and Chicken Tikka Masala (as we were advised not to order the Chicken Korma for some unknown reason). The sauces were bland and not spicy enough (? catering for the local population), and both the lamb and chicken were chunky, chewy and tasted like something straight out of a 6-month freeze.
Oh, yes, the rice (at $20 per portion) that we ordered was plain rice cooked in a rice cooker, akin to those in a third grade Chinese restaurant and not the long grain variety cooked with a pan.
Oh well, I guess beggars can't be choosers. As the only Indian restaurant in DB, may be I should not have expected anything more.