Kohinoor North Indian Restaurant

Last year, Shan came across my blog and featured it in an article she wrote for a local daily. I think she found Louis on my blog and also did a feature on him. The three of us then got together for a meal and it was so natural and enjoyable, despite us never having met before.

Last night, we got together again (after one year) and this time, we were joined by Louis' pretty wife, Jasmine. Again, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It's amazing how comfortable it felt with the three of them. We were able to zip from one topic to another, talking about mutual friends to our travels to our latest antics. I was happy to learn that Louis is from U of Toronto (I'm from U of Manitoba) and we both miss Canada! We were priviledged to listen to Louis talk about his work. He was excited about a wedding he shot last Friday for a beautiful couple from Perth, who flew in 60 guests for their wedding at Tanjung Aru Beach Resort, alongwith many beautiful trinklets and wedding favors unavailable here. I am so waiting to see the photos which Louis promised will be up soon. If any of you are getting married this year, go to Louis's website and you'll be awed by his photos, plus the beauty of Sabah as your wedding venue. However, with Louis being a much-awarded and acclaimed photographer, you may have to defer your wedding to suit his schedule, which is nearly full!

I arrived a little early and joined Shan for a drink at The Loft in The Waterfront, a short stretch of restaurants along the sea in town. Shan is full of enthusiasm about the Borneo Marathon this October, dropping names of the celebrities who will be running, including a world-class runner who just confirmed his participation, but I've forgotten his name! Shan is the person to sidle up to if you want to get some autographs of the celebrities at the Marathon. That list includes Kenny Sia, and I think we Sabah bloggers should pin him down and get some tips from him on blogging.

When Louis and Jasmine arrived, we walked a couple of doors away to Kohinoor, a restaurant that serves north Indian food. I had wanted to eat there because I love their butter chicken, but besides that and naan, I was at a lost to order, and so were Louis and Jasmine so we left it to Shan to order for us.

Of course I was nervous taking photos when Louis was right in front of me. I avoid using the flash most of the time but when Louis said it was ok, who was I to defer. In front of sifu (master), I obey.

Kohinoor is a casual and comfortable restaurant that bustles everynight, proof of their popularity.


Tandoori chicken RM26.90/US$8.40. Never my favorite anywhere because they always come neon-orange and dry, so I was pleasantly surprised with these nicely-spiced, tender and just-moist chicken. I will definitely order this again next time I go. Btw, you can choose to have your dishes either mild, medium or hot. We played safe and chose medium.


Spinach paneer RM18.90/US$5.90. This is spinach with paneer, a young cheese that has the texture (and flavor I think, being very mild) of mozzarella. Shan has given me the how-to on making paneer and I am excited about it. I may have found a substitute for mozzarella!


Butter chicken RM23.90/US$7.50. Of all the butter chicken I've tried in KK's Indian restaurants, Kohinoor's rank the best for me and my family. However, I must say I found last night's butter chicken slightly more sugar-sweet than usual. And I wish they would give chunkier (the pic above is highly zoomed, the size of the chicken pieces were about the size of walnuts) and more chicken because what we had was more butter chicken sauce. For that price.


Dhall, a lentil dish, RM13.90/US$4.40. This was good but next time, I'd go for a spicier version. I told Shan that I've noticed that Indian food is not big on veggies but she told me it's the contrary. You could eat vegan all the time in India. Looking at these pictures, I think what I should've asked was, are all Indian veggie dishes pulverized into baby food??


Naan, that loveliest of Indian bread, about RM4/US$1.25 each. We had a basket of naan each, and I had garlic naan (yumz!) and a wholemeal puri.


At the right hand corner is a bowl of cuke raita, a perfect refreshing dish for in-between mouthfuls of curry.

Including our drinks, the 'damage' as Shan put it, was RM132.30/US$41.30 after a 15% discount. I thought it was pretty decent. When I got home, Hub had just driven in with Wey holding two doggiebags of grilled lambchops, and I wolfed down a whole piece before Wey could stop me (I am trying to loose a little weight, so am hungry all the time...). The chop was very good, thick and tender and well-marinaded (a little too sweet and salty actually), and it was from Archie De Corner which happens to be round my corner. That'll be my next food review for sure.

Shan, Jasmine and Louis, it was wonderful meeting up and like I said, when I get myself together, you guys will be invited home for dinner!