Legend of India is a powerful name inviting fabled greatness us mere mortals can momentously suppose will be worth our involvement. My officemates and I decided to pay our respects to this place using vouchers we procured from a local deal site. Voucher details consisted of unlimited curry for dinner with rice and dessert.

Although Indian cuisine isn’t top of my list for fine dining, the chance to satisfy an adventure of unrestricted gluttony for this acquired taste was nigh and to enjoy the moment with wonderful work-colleagues doubled the excitement.

This restaurant looked anything but Indian from the outside. Brick and wall foundations could imply any western impressions. If it isn’t for the illuminated font illustrating a script of Asian origin I wouldn’t had tied it with any Indian origin.

The interiors were quite a disappointment. Despite the dimmed lights and ambiance, the place hardly states consistently ‘Indian’ or anything similar to it. It felt a bit rigid, civil and forced. If it wasn’t for the hanging ‘curtains’ and Bollywood videos and music from platform screens, there might not be any Asian reflection.

We were provided a list of curry available for our vouchers. As you can view from the left, there isn’t much to consider and since nobody in our group was well-versed in Indian dishes, we opted to have everything brought out to our table and to request seconds for favourites. The menu on the right is a list of drinks we could order since our voucher didn’t include drinks for redemption.

The good thing about this restaurant is they ask your spice preference so they could tell their chef to tweak the spiciness for each dish they put on your table. I liked that very much.

Papadum is a thin, crisp disc-shaped Indian food usually created from seasoned dough made from black gram (urad flour), fried or cooked with dry heat. This was very crisp and tasty and eating this with either minty or spicy sauces made it an instant hit with everyone we ordered for seconds… and thirds!

Aloo Bounda is a deep fried savory snack stuffed with potato spices mixture. It is crispy outside and soft inside. No ingredient overpowers the other with flavours subtly complementing each other.

Dhal Tarka is a preparation of dried lentils, peas or beans, which have been stripped of their outer hulls and split. It is a healthy source of protein for a balanced diet containing little or no meat.

Palak Paneer consists of spinach and paneer (Indian farmer’s cheese) in a thick curry sauce based on pureed spinach. It is a popular vegetarian dish and is best taken with roti, naan or boiled rice.

Chicken Masala is a dish of roasted chicken chunks, in a spicy (masala) sauce. The sauce is usually creamy, spiced and orange-coloured. I loved this very much. It reminded me of our own local cuisine, afritada, but taken to another level from spices included in this dish.

Fish Curry. This dish’s components were almost similar to Chicken Masala’s but with a subtly added fish aftertaste. This became a hit for everyone.

Assorted Indian Bread, Naan / Tandoori Roti. They were generous with this one and despite very few burned ones, we were able to finish everything.

Gulab Jammu is a popular cheese-based dessert, similar to a dumpling. This is mainly made from milk solids and is kneaded into a dough, sometimes with a pinch of flour, shaped into balls then deep friend. Afterwards, these are soaked in light sugar syrup flavoured with spices like cardamom, rosewater or saffron.

After all the curry and spices of main dishes, Gulad Jammu was a welcome taste to break the monotony. It was very sweet but not overpowering and for those like us, who only acquired Indian flavours, the herb / spice aftertaste was very intriguing.

The servings weren’t that much but we easily became full probably from mounds of rotti and the spice and herbs accompanying each dish. We agreed our voucher redemptions could had probably added more option in their menu for customers to enjoy more flavours but for the number of repeat orders we had I guess we had enough.
It did made me wonder what other Indian dishes were in store since I feel an elusive play of flavours in the end. I was looking for something else, a reminder of what I had. Gulad Jammu flavour stuck in my brain but I am more intrigued on other main dishes available in their menu.

Ma Maison, a contradictory in itself from varying cultures it tries to infuse in one place. The name sounds French, its ‘Japanese Western Food’ tagline connotes a Western-Easter fusion but its interiors are a mix of wood and bricks as I suppose pubs and bars would look like with toque-wearing chefs running around within a glass-encased open-kitchen area at a corner.

The place is a successful product of combined cultures albeit perplexing but snug enough for guests to relish a unifying refined, eclectic taste.

High walls and columns of rich brown wood and bricks for walls depict strong Western Influence. Antique looking accents adorn wooden shelves together with wooden frames of muted colored photos and paintings. Country looking kitchen and sink adorn a wall beside the restaurant’s entrance with pots, herb cabinets, mugs and other kitchen containers. There is even a boat skeleton hanging by the ceiling, which I could not for the life of me connect with everything else.

Can you imagine the interior combinations? Hehe.

Servers wear crisp light polo shirts with black pants. Our server, Rachel, was very accommodating upon volunteering to pour our dish’s sauce on our order so we would not accidentally overwhelm the flavor in one area. The restaurant isn’t big that I was able to observe the staff’s efficient movement from one table to another, speaking clearly with an easy-going attitude hard to deny associating with. One negative comment on them was it took quite long to get our bill.

Besides the food, which was dominantly Japanese, the Asian flairs I could point are the staff greetings of “Irrashaimase” (‘Welcome’ in Japanese), some of the wooden column foundation, and the seats arranged alongside the open-kitchen.

I was a bit taken aback when I was greeted “Irrashaimase” while being lead to our table and not ‘at the door’ where “Irrashaimase” greetings usually happen. Then again, it might be intentional from the restaurant’s fusion premise.

I love the menu. Big but not bulgy, its minimalist approach with wide spacing and captivating pictures are made to make your eyes comfortably roam over the content. If you don’t like to take on the texts, concentrate on the pictures, they are bound to make you drool.

We were told their specialty is the Hamburger Steak, compromising of minced beef and pork patty topped with egg, served with potato salad and vegetables. Since we had the Asian inkling that time, we opted to have Gyoza appetizers and a Teriyaki set for us to share.

Unfortunately, they ran out of ingredients for the Gyoza. We replaced it with a Sausage Platter, a mix of beef and pork sausages, served with sauerkraut. At least that was what the menu states. Yet, the sauerkraut looked lime simple coleslaw, minus the mayo.

Six pieces in all, these meat items are packed and heavy on the stomach. I’m not a sausage fan but I think the rich red sauce helped me welcome the taste enough to finish 3 pieces.

Our meal came with miso soup and salad. The salad’s vinaigrette had a subtle miso aftertaste I couldn’t discern but blended so well with the other salad ingredients I wanted more. There was no hint of ‘sour’ flavour I usually find in salad dressings (e.g. salad, Italian or ranch). It was good and addicting, I will come back to this restaurant if only for that salad vinaigrette.

Our main dish was the Sizzling Seafood Rice using fresh crab, scallops, shrimp served on a sizzling hot plate. It came out with a presentation of a rice island with topped seafood garnish surrounded by the yellow sea of cooked scrambled egg. I got the idea but I was disappointed. The dish doesn’t call for your attention and the taste was too common I considered it an expensive yang-chow equivalent with no twist. Even when our server did the honor of mixing the dish for us, it only exemplified my yang-chow impression I wished I went to ChowKing instead.

Still, I believe the place has more to offer and we happened to order wrong. My heart is not closed to not give it another chance.