Samy's Curry Restaurant (Dempsey)

Samy’s Curry has been at Dempsey for the longest time. I had my very first Nasi Bryani and Flower Crabs here when I was about 7 or 8 years old? (And since it has been a while since I was that age, Im guessing this place must have been around for quite some time now!) Anyway this place brings back so many nostalgic memories. I remember the days when the curry and masala used to be so spicy for me, I had to down mugs of lime juices and suck on ice cubes but I have improved much since then… I am glad to say that the taste has not changed much over the years and bryani is best served on banana leaves

Although, prices are a little steep..we paid $70+ for 3 people

Fish Head Curry (Small)

Plain Naan

Nasi Bryani

2 Flower Crabs

The service and atmosphere definitely makes up for it. But honestly, how cheap do you expect the food to be when the restaurant is located in Dempsey??

I eat there few time for the past 2 mounths.

Always well welcom in Indian way ;)

Always a pleasure to try new dishes, order, seat and the ballet can start with the sauce and vegi freshly prepare. We try most of they dishes and it's really good.

Some say it's over price.... well welcom to Dempsey guys. Do you know one restaurant cheap there??? And for 20 to 30$ per head it's not that expencive i think.

You can have one of the best fish head curry... very meaty and fresh, different style of mouton and chicken.... superbe rice and very interesting teatarik....

Bisou....

Love their briyani, love their curry, love their fried chicken, love their spicy fish cake, love the way they serve on banana leaves. Love to tapao the briyani home also.

I always enjoyed Samy's curry. This makes Muthu look like rubbish. Muthu's curry seems more suitable for people who are not out for authentic Indian food.

Last but not least, love their lime juice!

 

The ambience and setting of Samy's Curry is quite nice. It is a little bit difficult to access without public transport, but the setting makes up for it. 

In general the food is very nice and can be recommended.

However, the prices are fairly high and last but not least it seems they have the tendency to charge you more than stated in the menu. We ate with three persons and they charged us for six portions of rice. It seems this is not a one time mistake as it happened to other friends as well. 

My conclusion: This is the last time they have seen me and my friends. I can and will not recommend this place to anybody anymore. Sorry to see that they ruin their business this way.

i luv the mutton dishes, lots of spices (some a bit spicy though).

Because of its proximity to my working place and hence an excellent place for quick department lunch, we went Samy's Curry Restaurant. We had ordered curry fish head, curry squid, curry chicken, shell-less prawns to go along with our nasi biryani. The prawn was large and fresh. I also loved the squid and the rice that also came along with chilli long bean and mash potato sauce. In addition, I had ordered mango drink that was nice and cool to complement with the food.

The desert was a disappointment though. It comprises simple ice cream that are available in any shop and are costly compared to supermarket prices.

Overall, the food is quite filling for lunch but not recommended for people who are cost conscious. Waiting time for serving food is short.

For photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow.

There are two things you need to know about me:

1.  I cannot detox. The last time I tried, I lasted for 1.5 days. It was basically a 5-day starvation diet with supplement pills including chlorophyll so the shit turned out green like a baby's. 

2. I come from a family of fire-eaters. My mother and sister eat chili like Asians eat rice. My tolerance-level is not as high as my mother's or sister's but good enough.

After eating the curry mutton, my stomach still burns - for the past two days. I shat so much I didn't know I have so much shit in me. The mutton was really much too spicy but on the bright side of things, I detox! There was virtually no meat on the fish head but the rice was perfection. 

It is strange that such a not-so-classy restaurant should be in Dempsey. The decor is all rattan tables and chairs, no air-con, only fans; the decor is very much like a coffeeshop. But the food sure is pricy at $20 per person. 

That's it. If not for the fish cutlets I am definitely not coming back !

Have you been to India say Mumbai or Delhi ? The infrastructure is bad. You pay exorbitant rents by world standards for drab offices. Where am I going with this train of thought ? Samy's place is bare just like its cousin in India. And you pay A LOT for mediocre food in sparse settings.

Other than the fish cutlets we had mutton, chicken, squid; with briyani and the standard 2 veges that come with the rice. Sad to say the taste was way below par. I guess the patrons are only the poor ang-mohs & rich Singaporeans who live around Holland that don't know where to get a good curry that is not in Little India.

Sigh. It's such a nice building that a little sprucing up will make this a place with old world charm without the third-world smells......

We went there last night for a farewell dinner of one of our friends. We have been there several times before, and we all felt like Indian food, so it was perfect. The relaxing atmosphere, laid back waiters, and a lot of food... nothing had changed since our last visit.

We had tandoori chicken, mutton curry and chickpea curry with naan bread. We didn't ask for rice this time, because we were so full on our last visit from eating too much rice. As many other reviewers had suggested, the food is sometime cold. Tandoori chicken wasn't even luke warm, but I guess that's just how they do things. Everything was a little on the spicy side for me, but that was perfect for everyone else.

The only thing that bothered me was that one waiter really wanted to take my plate (banana leaf) away from me even though I was still eating. He kept asking "finished? finished?" but I was clearly still holding a piece of naan bread and a fork. It literally took them half-an-hour to bring our bill as well. Actually, we asked three waiters, waited for half-an-hour and they still didn't bring the bill, so we went up to the counter and paid it there.

But all of those things that often makes me not want to go back to the restaurant is balanced out by the relaxing atmosphere. Yeah, we had to wait for our bill, but maybe that's just how they do things... If you are hungry, with lots of time, I think it's worth a visit. The more people you go there with, the better I think!

Being a Singaporean, I have had the great opportunity of tasting multi cultural food here. But Samy's Curry, is probably one of my most favourite restaurant! Residing @ Dempsey it is about a good 40minute drive from my home(And yes! I am a careful driver), its not an ideally position place for me to go to. But nevertheless every now and then my family and I would go down there for a little Samy delight!

I shall recommend a few dishes. I have not got a breakdown of them but I certainly hope to get it the next time I go down.

- Chicken Thigh (Curry)

- Flower Crab (Chilli/Spices)

- Sotong (Chilli)

- Papadom (Sorry if I mis-spell this its the fried cracker)

- Salad (I am not sure how you order this, but they served it during their "rounds")

- Lime Juice

At first sight, Samy's Curry's layout is not ideal. They have a display hot plate, where they show their dishes. From there you pick out what you want and take a seat. When you are seated a friendly staff approaches, with a banana leaf thats laid on the table and they would serve,(your choice) white rice or briani rice. I prefer the latter as it compliments curry better.

First up, curry chicken thigh. Omg, the chicken is cooked well done! It was soft and tender. Nice, with the compliments of the hot curry sauce, it definitely makes you day if you are a spicy lover! :)

Second, flower crab its probably one of the hardest dish to ever eat. Its shells are so tough. But never should you let it deter you as the sweet crab meat that awaits you is soooo good! The meat alone is so sweet, it literally melts in your mouth(NO KIDDING!)

Third, Sotong is one of the hardest dish to cook. In my opinion a good sotong has to be cleaned thoroughly. Let me take you through my critera: Washed; The TEETH(most cooks are too lazy to realise this) HAS TO BE REMOVED! I hate the crunch of the Sotong teeth its irritating and unpleasant; Purple Edpidermal layer removed, this part is really important to me. Although most cooks today are too lazy to remove this, when a cook does I definitely compliment them with more points!; the inside CLEANED; people don't realise how dirty the inside of a sotong is until they cleaned one. The stench of it makes you wanna regurgitate! But never the less, all this prep makes a good sotong dish. LAST but NOT LEAST!!! THE INK! I don know how the hell some chefs dare declare that stature when they do not remove all the INK from a sotong. Its not only unhygenic, ITS DISGUSTING when a chef does not care about the basic ingrediens in a dish!

Having said all that Samy's Curry does the quickiest way, serve only the body. I guess this is why I wrote all the preparation for a sotong down as I did tell them about the ink issue some time back. Since then, I see only Sotong body and a WONDERFUL concoction of spices to make this dish JUMP! :)

The papadom and salad are served as complimentary to the consumers at Samy's. Both are equally delightful. The only concern the papadom must maintain a better consistency in the frying time. At times the oil taste is a little too over powering.

To end this review I must recommend the life saver in an Indian cuisine, LIME JUICE, its the only way to quench my thrist and literally put out the "fire" in my throat. Although I almost spicy intolerant, over a long dinner, the spicyness would eventually get to you and my best remedy: LIME JUICE :)

All in all, the food @ Samy's deserves a great rating of 8! Ambience-wise, like I mentioned earlier could do much better, therefore a 5 is given. The value of the meal stands @ 6.5 as its really pricy but never the less good! Service is good in general except for the few who decide to sulk and make your day that much lousier: 7

All feedbacks/commends are greatly appreciated.

Till next time ZooM~