B'Sentral

Brickfields is known for its Indian food but the newly-opened B’Sentral is gaining a reputation for being a notch above the rest. Located in an old converted bungalow, B’Sentral stands opposite the post office, next to the Vivekananda School. Its owners, brothers S. Ramachandran and S. Bala, are full of enthusiasm about their RM2m investment.

A notable difference between this restaurant and the many other Indian restaurants in the vicinity is that B’Sentral don’t offer banana leaf rice and patrons can eat in the relative comfort of bigger premises.

For its mainstream meals, B’Sentral chefs are experts in three segments of South Indian cooking. From the very southern tip of India is Chettinad food; from the urban regions is Madras-style cooking; and from the coastal regions is Kerala cuisine. To cook the food, there is a rotisserie, a tandoor and a charcoal barbecue pit.

Biryani and fried rice are popular too as are the roti canai, apam, murtabak, idli, naan and thosai. An unusual offering is the Romali Roti which is a basic naan dough flattened and spun before being cooked on an upturned wok. It’s eaten with any gravy of choice but fish is recommended. There is chicken, ostrich, venison, lamb and a variety of seafood dishes cooked in a variety of styles.

There are some 20 types of chicken dishes alone including Manchurian chicken, Sichuan chicken, butter chicken, Afghan chicken, tandoori chicken, pepper fry chicken, chili chicken and roast chicken.

Besides Indian food, B’Sentral serves Western food and a few Thai dishes. The latter includes tom yam (prawns, sotong, chicken, seafood), latna, pad prik and fish with Thai sauce.

Its Western menu is ample. Chicken chop, for instance, comes with a choice of a tantalising black pepper or piquant oriental sauce. It’s also done tandoori style and Chicken Maryland. There are fish and chips, fish with lemon-butter sauce, spaghetti with chicken bolognaise, marinara and fettuccine with creamy chicken mushroom sauce.