Spice girl extraordinaire Vinder Balbir has been synonymous with internationally-appealing Indian cuisine on the Sukhumvit strip for some 40+ years. For most of that time, there’s been just the one restaurant plus a lot of cooking classes, TV programs and popups. Still today her main outlet is in Soi 11, a couple of doors down from the original location she occupied for 30 years until the site was developed into a hotel.
But now, spurred by her business advisor son and backroom stalwart husband, Vinder is spreading the net along skytrain and metro arteries. The latest iteration is Mrs. Balbir's @ Muay Thai Live, at Asiatique The Riverfront (also Robinson Sukhumvit, Platinum, MBK, Central World, Silom Complex and Central Plaza Rama IX & Lad Prao – plus home deliveries). Most are just counters with a few tables but they keep the four tandoor ovens at Soi 11 burning bright.
“I want to make Indian food more available to the community,” she explains.
The Soi 11 HQ spans three shop house units slightly tilted so that its frontage is visible from the main drag. Removing the mezzanine fortuitously revealed an intricately corniced high ceiling redolent of Mughal-era northern Indian palaces. Now with brass bird cage chandeliers, creamy louvered shuttering and classical art prints there’s a subtle regal India feel. High backed chairs in russet and grey are set around rustic timber tables. Giant jars are filled with real lentils and chillies. Flowers are also real. The piped soundtrack is popular Indian but more sonorous than the usual Bollywood/Bhangra wailings.
The key to understanding the esteem in which Mrs. Balbir is held is her perfumier’s nose for combining spices. She mixes almost all her own curry powders, garam masala and all. Fresh curry leaves – unobtainable commercially in Bangkok – are supplied gratuitously by an old friend upcountry. Every time she intuits a new formula, another delicious dish is born.
The well-illustrated menu both lists the classics and innovates fusion concepts – Roti Bruschetta, Stuffed Tomato Curry, Chicken Tikka Masala pasta… – to see if they fly (most do).
She’s also created lots of new breads, naans and parathas, including sumptuous basil naan, multispeed naan and cheese and onion naan.
Also surprising to the uninitiated, an Indian-Chinese section of eight dishes includes Manchurian (Szechuan) soups with Indian spices because, as Vinder explains, “there are little corners of India populated by Chinese who have adapted their cuisine to the local taste – and they love it!”
Originally from Malaysia where she was schooled in an Italian convent, her most recent conventional brainwaves include exquisite Malabar Tiger Prawn Curry in a spicy coconut sauce. Malabar is Goa but Malakka has similar cultural influences. Ripe Mango Salad with grated coconut, a naturally sweet and spicy delight, is a perfect counterfoil to rich and tender Lamb Madras.
Ditto pakoras oozing piping-hot Edam cheese and soft bell pepper, creamy/earthy black lentil Dal Makhani simmered overnight in a tandoor, classic (if you’re a Brit) tandoori chicken tikka in a sensational buttery red sauce, and Alu Raita yogurt with potatoes, onions and spices.
No one ever accused Mrs. Balbir of blandness. Every dish is a distinct riot of flavour while yet mixing and matching perfectly so you can’t go wrong in ordering. Excellent homemade pickles – spicy mixed veg, mango, mint, onion – add more dimensions.
Never tiring of entrepreneurialising, Mrs. Balbir is currently offering cooking classes in collaboration with Makro which is pushing its Indian ingredients. Good though they undoubtedly are, they won’t have quite the same edge as Mrs. Balbir’s originals, however!
