Haveli Authentic Indian Restaurant

Though I haven’t yet dined in at Haveli, I have ordered delivery from them twice now via FoodPanda… within one week!
Indeed, that’s a testament to how exceptionally good Haveli’s Indian fare is as I don’t often like to repeat cuisines or restaurants. They say variety is the spice of life, but I quite like the spice that Haveli is throwing down.
It’s really helpful that they have a house specialty section on their menu, as we all know that the house specialty items are usually the best! And of the ones I’ve tried, most are legitimately A-​list dishes. Take the signature Shahjahani butter chicken: this rendition of butter chicken is hands-​down the best I’ve ever tried! What makes it so stellar? For one, they use tandoori chicken so the whole dish is bursting with that special smoky flavor. And I would probably part with some of my savings account to find out the recipe for the curry — it’s deliciously different; I just can’t put my finger on it. I made this dish last two meals just so I could look forward to enjoying it again the next day! Sweet delayed gratification. A+.
The breads on the specialty menu — the garlic naan and the laccha paratha — are both particularly good. I usually skip ordering rice and instead dip bits of bread into the butter chicken or korma. When dancing with carbs, I’d choose bread over rice any day so for me the choice is easy. But — between the garlic naan or the laccha paratha? Now that’s a tough call. However, I think I might prefer the nutty whole wheat flavor of the paratha, along with the rolled texture… it’s so moist, too.
I’ve also tried the chicken korma as a main which is crazy good, but of course really rich and indulgent (this was expected). I did find the korma to be on the thin side, though… however maybe it’s also healthier that way. The sweet lassi was the only item that didn’t wow me; it was a bit on the small side for the money and warmish.
So, so happy to have found a wonderful go-​to spot for Indian food island-​side!

My 100^th First to Review! (but who’s counting…=P)
Wandering in Tin Hau rather late in the evening, we were pretty tired and just wanted to find a nice place to sit down and relax and get some bites. The good thing about Tin Hau is that, restaurants open till late. Japanese Yakitori, Korean BBQ, local HK-​style desserts… oh wait, authentic Indian food? And two of them next to each other? That’s my joint.
We pretty randomly chose this over the other one, not knowing that it was quite new. We ordered chicken tikka, onion rings, garlic naans, coconut curry fish, and some Indian beers (lol).
Kid you not, the beer tasted like Tsingtao. Totally loved it (don’t kill me craft beer lovers).
Now when most of you think of Indian food, you’d probably think, oh they are really spicy food. The fact is, from the few weeks I worked in Mumbai, I knew Indian food is not about the spiciness — it’s about the spices. Now that’s the good thing. They had four sauces came with the papadum. They were all legit, great to go with the garlic naans. (And only one of them I’d call it spicy).
Chicken tikka was always my favorite dish. I wish I knew how to make it so good. You couldn’t make the chicken so soft without actual skills involved, so it’s not a tough sell.
Garlic naans was very good too. (it’s listed separately from the rest of the other favors, so don’t worry, they do have it!) I should have been more adventurous and tried the cheese naans, butter naans, etc. But hey, as I said it’s been a very tiring night…
The curry for the fish was good. BUT the fish didn’t seem to be fresh — tasted more like frozen fish. Hope the owners see this review and try to source fresh fish in the local market. After all it’s just 20 steps away from the restaurant!
And you really have to appreciate the service. The manager/​owner was really nice, and made the whole experience very good.