[Penang] South Indian lunch and dinner options at Viva Victoria, Penang Street

[klyeoh (Peter)]

Lunch today - 𝘬𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘶 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘢 from 𝗩𝗶𝘃𝗮 𝗩𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮. Hand-shredded 𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘪 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘪 is griddle-cooked with onions, garlic, ginger and mutton curry into a spicy, tasty mélange of contrasting flavours and textures that came together in delicious harmony. Also had the 𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘮 and 𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘪, both very good.

1. 𝘒𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘶-𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘢.
   
   

Sauteing the aromatics at the onset

Hand-shredding the paratha flatbread

Adding the mutton curry

Cooking the shredded paratha and mutton curry till they are incorporated

Also had a couple of other items on the lunch menu:
Uttapam - spongey-soft South Indian crumpets studded with onions, green chilis and fresh cilantro, served with a tasty coconut chutney and spicy dhal curry.

Paper thosai - crisp South Indian crepes, also served with coconut chutney and dhal curry.

Definitely one of the best places in Little India for lunch.

Address
Viva Victoria
20F, Penang Street (Lebuh Penang), 10200 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +6016-427 7664
Opening hours: 12 noon to 12 midnight, Tue to Sun. Closed on Mondays.

[Harters (John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)]

Good looking food, Peter.

[klyeoh (Peter)]

Wished I had the tummy space to try more stuff, John, but I could only graze even with these three items. Couldn’t do justice to them.

[medgirl]

Do they have Chicken 65 on the menu? That’s always a must-try for me at a South Indian restaurant.

[Harters (John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)]

There used to be a place nearby that did a great Chicken 65. Sadly it closed.

[klyeoh (Peter)]

@medgirl

Do they have Chicken 65 on the menu? That’s always a must-try for me at a South Indian restaurant.

Oh yes, they certainly do.

[Saregama]

@klyeoh

Uttapam - spongey-soft South Indian crumpets

I have never heard uttapam described as crumpets before — interesting.

[Harters (John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)]

@Saregama

uttapam described as crumpets

I see where Peter’s coming from. It’s the sponginess. Actually, they are more akin to a British pikelet than crumpet in terms of thickness/sponginess

[Saregama]

I’ve always described them as a pancake, but it’s six of one and a half dozen of the other.

Just a comparison I had not seen made before, because the crumpets I have encountered are a lot thicker, but then I haven’t encountered that many.

[Harters (John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)]

@Saregama

crumpets I have encountered are a lot thicker,

Yes, they are. Generally about 1cm thick. Pikelets are thinner - about the same as an American pancake

As ever with British food naming, regional variations may apply at your peril.

[klyeoh (Peter)]

Back to Viva Victoria last night for dinner. The best dish was the Gobi Manchurian - a vegetarian version of the popular Chicken Manchurian, India’s best-known Desi-Chinese (Indian-style Chinese cuisine, unique to India) dish.

Chicken Manchurian was invented back in 1975 by Calcutta-born Nelson Wang who created the dish on a whim: he’d first sauteed minced ginger, onions and garlic - a common base for most Indian dishes. But, instead of adding masala spice mix next, he chose to use soy sauce, ketchup and vinegar - to obtain a red-hued sweet-sour sauce to which he tossed in cubes of fried chicken covered in cornstarch.

Nelson Wang has an amazing rags-to-riches life story - he’d gone to Bombay from Calcutta virtually penniless. He started off in a restaurant on Colaba, but got his big break when his cooking impressed a customer enough to be offered a job in the kitchens of the prestigious Cricket Club of India.

Nelson Wang then decided to open his own restaurant, China Garden, in 1983, and never looked back since. China Garden is now a nationwide chain - Delhi, Gurgaon, Pune, even Kathmandu, Nepal.

My first time tasting Chicken Manchurian was way back in 1992 - I was working for Singapore Airlines then, and was visiting its office in Delhi, India. One evening, I was introduced to the dish - got me confused as we’d never heard of Chicken Manchurian before and, during pre-Internet days, with our very limited knowledge universe, I was left wondering if the dish was some local invention, or an obscure Chinese dish which made its way to India, bypassing us in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Chicken Manchurian, and its vegetarian counterpart, the Gobi Manchurian, became so popular in India, even McDonalds India has them on its menu at one time. Now, one can get these everywhere - from streetside vendors to luxury hotel restaurants.

The Gobi Manchurian here at Viva Victoria was executed perfectly, as good as any I’d tried anywhere.

Other dishes we had:
Pakoras

Chettinad Chicken Curry

Mutton Curry

Chillied Aubergine

Pan-fried Fish Steaks

Prawn Curry

I always wanted to try each and every dish, so my dinner plate always ends up a mish-mash of everything.

[Saregama]

The original Manchurian is brown, no ketchup — onions, garlic, ginger, spring onions, capsicum, green chillies, with soy sauce, vinegar, and a pinch of sugar to finish the sauce.

It’s possible that ketchup got added when it spread beyond Bombay (like bhel has all kinds of weird things in it when made outside Bombay ).

I had never seen red (ketchup) Manchurian until I got to nyc.

[klyeoh (Peter)]

Yes, it has evolved over the years. I remembered a brown-sauced version all those years back in Delhi.

[Harters (John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)]

Gobi Manchurian is a regular menu item in the UK, particularly with restaurants that have an Indo-Chinese section of the menu (although not my favourite Mumbai food place). I can’t recall seeing a chicken version, although I suppose there must be places that do it.