Mughle Azam

Every wall has a story, every dish is a dream: that's the tagline for this bungalow restaurant, which dishes out luxurious Indian spreads & depicts lavish Mughal tales of bygone empires on handcrafted walls of limestone & mortar.

First, the food _ northern Indian fare of a wide variety. Our favorite: tender chunks of salmon, flavored with fenugreek leaves for a herbal bitterness & charcoal-cooked for a subtle smokiness.

Lamb Pasanda, a mild curry with cashews & raisins, reputedly once served in the court of Moghul emperors. Alas, Mughle Azam's version was ruined by the terribly gamy, sinewy meat, which tasted more like mutton than lamb.

A safer choice: clay oven-cooked butter chicken. Deliciously creamy, though the accompaniment of chapati could have been less chewy.

Fish moilee _ dory sauteed with tomatoes, cilantro & coconut. Went well with the cumin-laced rice & potato curry. Mughle Azam's food is reasonably priced; RM50 per person should suffice.

Lamb briyani. Good but not great; the rice was fluffy & fairly flavorsome, but something seemed missing, something that we couldn't put our finger on. All in all, expect both hits & misses here.