Pita’s & Tika’s Paradise Walk: Superb Tandoori Chicken Kababs

Myra Fong MOREmagazine

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The first Pita’s & Tika’s opened in the autumn of 2016 on Dongxin Avenue in Binjiang, and we have always enjoyed their casual, fast food restaurant for quick Indian meals and Middle Eastern wraps and dips. Following the success of their first branch, they’ve now opened a second location at Binjiang’s Paradise Walk mall with the addition of a tandoor oven to offer a full Indian menu in a more formal style restaurant.

That tandoor oven takes a prominent place at the back of the restaurant where you can see the chef pull out beautiful skewers of plump, roasted meat. There are 2 chefs at this restaurant. 1 chef works the tandoor while the other chef is a curry specialist.

We started with the Tandoori Non Veg. Mix Grill (88RMB), a generous serving of large chunks of chicken, minced lamb kabab, fish and prawn. Everything was flavourful and cooked to perfection, especially the chicken. There were 3 different kinds of chicken kabab. The red one being the most familiar Chicken Tikka, the green one Hariyali Chicken (marinated in yogurt and green herbs such as cilantro and mint) and the white one Chicken Afghani Kabab (marinated in yogurt and cream). The Chicken Afghani Kabab was so tender, juicy and well-marinated that I think it’s the best tandoori chicken kabab I’ve ever had!

▲ Tandoori Non Veg. Mix Grill

The other two appetizers we ordered were Mixed Pakora (38RMB) and Tikki Chaat (35RMB). The pakoras were a mix of onion, mushroom, paneer and potato deep-fried with a thin, crispy, lightly spiced chickpea flour batter.

▲ Mixed Pakora

The Tikki Chaat were two fried potato patties, smashed and topped with cooling yogurt, coriander chutney, date chutney, cucumbers and tomato. It had a very nice tangy and spicy taste.

▲ Tikki Chaat

For curries, we had already tried their Butter Chicken at the Dongxin Ave location and really liked it so we wanted to try the other tempting curries offered at Paradise Walk. We ordered Chicken Afghani (58RMB) and two vegetarian ones – Palak Paneer (50RMB) and Dal Makhni (45RMB).

▲ Palak Paneer

The Dal Makhni was really good, with black lentils in a rich, buttery tomato and cream gravy and a fragrant blend of spices.

▲ Dal Makhni

The Chicken Afghani again stole the spotlight for me, a mild sweet and creamy curry made with the same amazing tender pieces of Chicken Afghani Kabab. If you like Indian curries but don’t like spicy chilies, then this mild curry is a great choice without sacrificing taste.

▲ Chicken Afghani

There is a large selection of naan and rice dishes to go with the curries, such as vegetable or meat biryanis, garlic and cheese naan. We ordered a side of Jeera Rice (25RMB), slender long grained basmati rice mixed through with cumin seeds and Cheese Garlic Chili Naan (18RMB).

▲ Jeera Rice

▲ Chef's Working on the Naan

Among other drinks, there are yogurt lassis to cool your tongue during the meal and masala chai for an after dinner treat with Indian desserts like Gulab Jamun (25RMB) or Kheer Indian rice pudding (15RMB). On top of the large Indian menu, they still do offer some Middle Eastern items such as falafel, shawarma and hummus at this location.

Pita’s and Tika’s are adapting the taste of the dishes to suit local customers, so if you want the real authentic Indian taste, be sure to make that request when ordering.

To get to this location of Pita’s & Tika’s, go to the second level of Paradise Walk mall, find the exit between Zara and Pizza Hut, go through the exit, walk towards the right, then left, then right again and you will see the bright orange and green sign for Pita’s & Tika’s.