Mr Biryani Firetop Claypot Dhum Biryani @ AXA Tower Basement

Today, four of us went to try Mr Biryani's Firetop Claypot Dhum Biryani set at their AXA Tower outlet. The set comes with a claypot of biryani, 2 starters and 2 side dishes for $88+. The biryani and dishes were packed full of flavours and aroma. All four of us guys were fully stuffed and talked about skipping our next meal 😄

I only realised today that there's a comfortable makan hangout / hideout at the basement of AXA Tower 😄 There are 4 or 5 eateries here.

Accessibility is superb as AXA Tower is directly at Exit D of Tanjong Pagar MRT station.

Mr Biryani is simply furnished but cool, clean and comfortable.

The $88+ Firetop Claypot Dhum Biryani deal. (Booking ☎ 8661 4273 is required as they have to prepare the table.)

For the tabletop claypot dhum biryani, there's a choice of chicken or vegetarian. We opted for chicken which comes with chunks of fresh meat in a curry of aromatic spices at the bottom of the claypot.

Basmati rice (parboiled to shorten cooking time), more spices, caramelised onion, garam masala, aromatic oil, ghee, coriander etc were heaped layer by layer into the claypot. It was then covered with foil, closed and cooked over a tabletop gas stove. Everything was done at the table, so its a live lesson on dhum biryani cooking as well 😄

The dhum biryani was left to cook in the claypot for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, we indulged in some freshly fried crispy papadum.

While we waited, the starters started arriving. There's a choice of one meat and one vegetable starter dish.

For the vegetable dish we chose Gobi Manchurian, a classic Chindian (Chinese-Indian fusion) dish. It's fried cauliflower fried again in spices. The tender-juicy-crunchy fried cauliflower was enveloped in hot, flavoursome and aromatic spices. This was a delicious starter.

For the meat starter we had Anhdra Prawn Fry.

The shelled prawns were good sized, meaty, succulent, crunchy and I can taste their natural sweetness even though they were smothered by robustly flavourful and hot spices. The hot chili had a lingering sting in the aftertaste - the seductive kind that you can't resist getting stung again.

Soon after we began with the starters, our claypot dhum biryani was ready. Piping steamy hot ready.

I like this biryani a lot as the long grain basmati rice was light and fluffy. The tenderly soft grains were well infused with flavoursome and aromatic spices. As the top and bottom layers of rice had different levels of spice infusion, the intensity of the flavours come in layers. So, every mouthful had a slightly different flavour profile depending on how we fold and turn the layers. It was also not overly greasy at all. Shiok lah.

There was a choice of two side dishes, one meat and one vegetable.

We chose Lamb Shank Masala. It was a good sized, delicious lamb shank cooked in spices till the meat was tenderly soft and juicy. I could taste a bit of the lovely gaminess of lamb even though the shank was stewed in full flavoured spices. Mucks... .

For the vegetable side dish we chose Bhindi Palli Fry which is lady fingers stir fried with spices and crunchy nuts. Again, full on robust flavours, aromas and spicy heat. Shiok.

The richness and intensity of the flavours made me want to ask for plain white rice to enjoy this but I was just too full already 😄

I love paneer, so we ordered an extra side dish of Paneer Tikka from the a la carte menu.

Paneer Tikka is Indian cottage cheese marinated in spiced yogurt so the cubes are infused with spice flavours before grilling in a tandoor oven. Paneer Tikka has the texture of firm tofu and tastes savoury-milky, subtly tangy with flavoursome infused spices overlaid with a toasty smokey flavour. Mr Biryani make their own paneer (not buy frozen packs). I love it.

We rounded up our sumptuous and scrumptious claypot dhum biryani set meal with a round of hot aromatic masala tea (which comes with the set deal).

I enjoyed Mr Biryani's tabletop firetop dhum biryani a lot as I like its flavours, aromas and textures. The starters and sides were delicious too. Four of us were fully stretched by the set meal which I feel is sufficient for 5 pax. At $88+, I feel it is good value too.

I will be back 😄😋