Craving Indian food? Before you make a beeline for your usual gastronomic hangout, we’ve got one spot we think you should definitely check out! But before we explore its fare, let’s trace the background and history of Gajaa at 8.
The restaurant’s name is an ancient Sanskrit word meaning “elephant”. In Indian culture, the elephant personifies a number of positive attributes, including abundance and richness, boldness and strength, wisdom and royalty – which sums up everything that Gajaa at 8 aims to showcase. Visually, Gajaa at 8’s facade may be among the classiest Indian eateries in this part of town. It is situated in Lorong Maarof, Bangsar directly across from Gravy Baby.
Ambience
The unique feature of Gajaa at 8 is that it offers two distinct ambiances under one roof. Surrounded by a meditative landscape, the restaurant anticipates sating the senses of its patrons with its warm, regal and luxurious environment. Housed in a roomy bungalow, the entire space has a colourful, calming interior, designed with seating that is sufficiently spaced apart to keep you feeling comfortable during your visit.
The most surprising part to the layout is that there’s a secret entrance to a speakeasy in a nearby room. Just push the portrait and you’ll be transported to this cool and vibrant bar area. Our favourite part of the bar is the ceiling, which is covered with cloud-like cotton balls and LED lights.
Once inside, we were shown to our seats and served welcome drinks – shots of lime and mint juice topped with some pepper. It was really good as well as refreshing, given that we had to deal with the heat outside. By the time we were done with our welcome drinks, the food was being served. Here’s what we had:
Butter Chicken
Butter Chicken is an Indian dish originating in New Delhi. The best thing about this dish is it’s perfect for those who have a low tolerance for spiciness, but love Indian food. The butter chicken here is made from spiced tomato and butter (makhan) sauce. It’s served in a cute bucket (very Indian indeed) and the chicken chunks were cooked perfectly and were super tender. The gravy was sweet, creamy, but not too overwhelming. You should eat it while it’s hot to get the best taste.
Kerala Paratha
The layers are to die for! Soft, refined flour dough is beaten to a thin sheet and folded to form layered bread. What we loved about this paratha is that it was warm, soft and flaky. You can have it as is, or pair it with any side dishes they have. In our case, we paired it with the butter chicken. Simply delicious!
Zafrani Pulao
The best part of Indian cuisine is definitely the rice. Really good rice usually goes by the name of Basmathi. But how to know you’re actually eating Basmathi rice? Simple. Basmathi rice is a long-grained rice type. After cooking, they become very long, slender, and needle-shaped. The Zafrani Pulao is long grained basmathi rice cooked with fresh Iranian saffron milk, sprinkled with almond, cashews and locally-sourced dried fruits. The rice itself has a hint of flavour and aroma.
Kabab E Khaas
This basically looks and tastes like the Indian version of roast chicken. To prepare this dish, they soak cashew nuts overnight and infused with hang yogurt and spices. They coat the chicken with the batter and slow cook it in a tandoor. Often, when we eat tandoori chicken, it seems dry – but this dish is so different. There’s a strong flavour of tandoori, along with other spices, but the chicken is super moist, making it easy for us to eat it. We definitely loved this dish.
Kanthari Broccoli
Just broccoli – but with extra flavours and ingredients. The broccoli is friend with Gajaa’s secret spices and cooked with creamy spicy coconut milk based with Gajaa’s secret sauce. Two secret ingredients in one dish! In one bite, you can taste the crunchiness from the broccoli and creaminess from the sauce. But as you chew, you’ll eventually taste a hint of spiciness. So, for those who have a low heat threshold, just have a cup of water on standby mode.
Amritsari Kulcha
Amritsari Kulcha is a crisp and soft leavened bread filled with mashed and boiled potatoes and spices. This bread resembles naan, except it’s a little bit thinner.
Beverages
Gajaa at 8 offers a wide range of beverages, ranging from alcoholic to non-alcoholic. We ordered three different drinks. First we tried the Banana Lassi. Lassi is an Indian yogurt–based beverage with a smoothie-like consistency. It’s known to be the most popular and traditional yogurt-based drink in the Indian food industry. Lassi comes in different flavours and we were trying a banana-flavoured one for the very first time. It’s not all that bad though. What we liked about this lassi was the sweetness, which originated from the banana itself. There was no extra sugar and the yogurt flavour was strong. The lassi is suitable to have during hot weather, such as we’re experiencing now.
We also tried the Chocolate Milkshake. Typical milkshake – but super rich! It had a bittersweet taste, but good enough to fill our tummies and satisfy the cravings of chocolate lovers. Generally, we enjoy rich chocolate milkshakes. Besides lassi, the best way to end a good Indian meal is with a hot cup of milk tea. The milk tea at Gajaa at 8 came in a small and cute silver tumbler. The tea was super good and heart-warming.
Desserts
Now we can’t go home without dessert! Kulfi is a traditional Indian ice cream made with boiled milk, sugar, saffron, pistachio and cardamom. Available in many flavours, we chose the almond kulfi. Kulfi is a hit or miss dessert if you ask us. That’s because certain restaurants’ kulfi have an overwhelming taste of cardamom, which eventually overpowers the entire ice cream flavour. At Gajaa at 8, the kulfi was milky, nutty and with only a hint of cardamom.
Gajaa at 8 was nice to surprise us with their chocolate cake topped with strawberries. The cake was super, super rich, but tasted so good. We liked how the fresh strawberries complimented the entire dessert and wished they had added more!
Overall, we had an amazing time at Gajaa at 8. The ambience was very calm and cooling, the food was great and there were lots of beverages to choose from. The restaurant offers 8 slots of complimentary parking for customers. However, if you’re coming during peak hours, we’d recommend taking a Grab here. Nonetheless, Gajaa at 8 is a good spot to check out if you’re craving Indian food.
