DWF: New Bombay @ The Columns, Makati City

Dining With Friends (DWF) is always fun especially when you're trying new things together.

This article is co-written with H. ♥☺♥

To celebrate our dear friends' birthdays, we treated Rache & John to a different culinary experience.  Though it wasn't the first time H & I tried Indian food, New Bombay at The Columns is definitely much more patok! (Tagalog for "a hit" or "success").

Each of the New Bombay restaurants is different on menu and execution depending on the expertise of the chef in-charge.  For a more balanced taste that suits our Filipino pallets, we recommend this branch.

 Appetizers

To give a hint of the Indian cuisine, we ordered Chicken Samosa for our appetizers.  These are deep fried pastry shells stuffed w/ spiced potatoes & peas.

CHICKEN SAMOSA  (Php115)

Served with (sweet) tamarind chutney & mint - coriander (cilantro)

Main Dish

Indian food can't be complete without its breads.  For our meal, we had Chapatti - a tiny unleavened soft wheat flour bread cooked in tawa (a flat or slightly concave iron griddle) w/ chewy texture, and Plain Naan - soft white flour bread baked in tandoor.  Naan can be served with butter/ garlic/ cheese, or filled with Peshwari (coriander leaves, coconut powder & cheese)/ Cheese Capsicum (bell pepper & cheese)/ Pudina (fresh mint leaves)/ Moglai (egg stuffings).  Note that one piece of Chapatti can be very filling even for a rice eater, while one order of Naan can be shared between 2 persons.  New Bombay also offers rice so you don't need to worry if you're not used to eating breads (like H!).

CHAPATTI (left)  Php 25/ pc   /   NAAN (right) Php  65/ pc cut into 4 slices

H's favorite Indian dish is Chicken Tikka Masala (medium spicy) -  boneless grilled chicken cooked in tomato sauce with masala & thick gravy. Patok! This was the highlight of the night & the very reason we went there.

CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA (Php 195)

For our wild card, we chose Mutton Do Payaza (mild) - lamb cooked in pounded masala finished on Indian pan.  We downgraded the spice a bit for this dish, not to overwhelm our palette too much.  When ordering, you get to choose the heat/ spice level either mild, medium, or strong. ;-)

MUTTON DO PAYAZA (Php 225)

To balance the two masala based dishes, we ordered Chicken Adraki Kebab - boneless chicken, marinated in yogurt w/ grated cheddar cheese, cashew nut paste, fresh chopped ginger & spices.  The yogurt made the dish quite refreshing!

CHICKEN ADRAKI KEBAB (P225)



Our two celebrants seriously enjoying their treat :-)

To enjoy the meal - Indian style: Just do a wrap!

Mutton do Payaza wrapped in Naan

Chicken Tikka Masala wrapped in Chapatti

And for our desert, we opted to transfer to Starbucks for our favorite chocolate cake and had a Kopirotti Iced Milk Tea to go. :-)

Our DWF was a success and H & I are excited to do another round soon.  We hope to meet & dine with new friends too next time!☺