Ivory - Fine Dining Indian Restaurant

Last night was at Clarke Quay, looking forward to some hubba hubba Turkish food at Marrakech, Moroccan lounge and bar. Unfortunately, there was a private event and we could not eat there.

So we just walked about because there are TONNES of places to eat at in Clarke Quay. In the end, W suggested we try Ivory - The Indian Kitchen (take the lift to the 2nd floor in the building of Gotham).

The concept of Ivory is to bring together different Indian cooking styles under one roof. It's a fine dining restaurant. The decor didn't look Indian at all - more Western than anything.

For the 1st time, I even ate my naan bread with fork and knife because I just felt it would not be in harmony with the whole ambience and spirit of the place to whack my good ole roti (bread) with hands. Was a bit stressful!! Thank God was with good, old friends and not some hot date or guy!

Service staff are very, very attentive. They pull out your chair, place your napkins on your lap, place the food on your plate. At intervals during the meal they regularly check on you and the food. Even when you are reaching out for second helpings, they step forward and offer to serve it to you on your plate. This was a bit embarrassing for me, crass lass that I am - too much attention and pampering! The manager even made a visit to our table to ensure all was in order.

At the end of your meal, you get hot towels (the sorts you get on flights). Well, I have absolutely NO complaints for service. And for that price, it had better be fantastic. Let me give you an idea :

We ordered 3 dishes - grilled fish with fenugreek and karampudi + chettinad chicken curry + mixed vegetable platter in mangalorean base - each of them above $15.

Chicken briyani cost $18 and naans $6 onwards. Cappucino $8. Glass of wine $12.

The food was deeeeeeeelicious. I realised 1 thing about Indian food yesterday.

A pet peeve of mine is complaining about the portions of food in North Indian restaurants and charging so much. Well, there's a reason. The food is too rich so you really can only handle so much of it. And one must take into consideration the strength of the spices and flavours.

One more point - there was an interesting dish I didn't get to eat yesterday. It was baked brinjals layered in lasagne sauce and stuffed with paneer (Indian cottage cheese). Please try for me if you can!

So, anyway, if you are looking for exceptional service, and great tasting food do consider this place. It's not the sort of cheap Indian place where you go, eat, come home and feel like drinking tonnes of water. Warning - spicy food (not hot) though! I like.

PS : pardon the lack of photos. 1stly, it looked like such an atas (high class) place that I didn't want to embarrass myself my snapping photos. Secondly, though I had my camera, I had not the batteries.