Tandoori Chicken & Naans ~ JommJalan

@ Stall opposite Ampang Point, Off Jalan Ampang, KL

juicy and succulent tandoori chicken

It amazes me that I took so long to discover this place, which I reckon serves the most amazing tandoori chicken and fluffy soft naans. A little bird gave me a hint of this place last week and after watching Sherlock Holmes on a Saturday night, we headed there on a quest to search for this stall. With vague directions like "near Ampang Point" and "next to guitar shop", we set off in a wild goose chase. Splashie Boy was good humoured enough to drive around Ampang looking for it but after a while, we almost gave up hence the next best thing was to google for directions. Hallelujah for 3G services!!! I stumbled on Fried Chillies' directions and after a driving through a dark curvy road, it was tandoori and naan nirvana at the end!

1. Tandoori chicken skewers on the oven, 2. mutton kebabs. 3. The grill master at work

Nicknamed Uncle Arumugam by the Fried Chillies team, this stall seems to be working non-stop fulfilling orders. To spot the main man, zoom in on a tall fella with the cap. He's the person you need to place your orders with as most of the others tend to ignore you. (I suspect they can't speak the language) Seems he used to work in a Northern Indian restaurant where he picked up his skills. He doesn't do the grunt work anymore, leaving it to his workers to handle the making of the naans and the grilling.

1. dainty fingers flatten naan dough. 2. balls of naan dough waiting to be flattened

The grill master - this stoic looking fella looks after two tandoor ovens fueled by a charcoal fire, moving metal skewers from each oven until they're cooked to juicy perfection. I love the way they make the naans here, transforming from the balls of dough into fluffy soft naans with crispy edges. Once the dough is stretched, it's placed on the side of the tandoor oven. Such dexterity to place it quickly at the sides without burning any of their extremities.

The making of a naan from flattening, placing it on the napkin and tandoor oven before being taken out

The wait is a little long but we're rewarded with juicy and succulent tandoori chicken that we tear with our fingers. As it was late, they weren't serving any keema (my favourite with peas) hence we went for the mixed vegetables. Simply gorgeous stuff - diced carrots, potatoes, mixed vegetables in a creamy sauce that had me scraping the stainless steel dish to get everything down my rumbling tummy.

peek inside for what is going on

The tandoori fish - a piece of tenggiri fish cutlet wasn't as juicy as the chicken but nevertheless it was still enjoyable especially after a dash of lime juice from the halved calamansi lime on the side. The mutton kebab was also fantastic especially eaten hot from the oven.

fluffy soft heavenly naans

However our favourite were the fluffy naans - not rubbery but so pillowy soft, I could eat them the whole night long. We had two types - the butter and garlic but we preferred the sinful melting butter version that screamed "cholestrol!". Other varieties available are cheese naan and keshimiri naan. Not being satisfied with just one each, we ordered another one to share and slowly waited for the additional naan, since it takes a while to get one made.