Services: 7/10
Scale: [1=poor ---- 5=average/standard ---- 10=outstanding/exceptional]
It was during early September when we were invited to try an Indian restaurant specialising in kabab (or kebab, whatever you spell it) : The Great Kabab Factory. I promise if Indian food is something you don't dislike, here is another great place for the kind of spiced aromatic food in Bangkok. It is a franchise from India and cooked by Indian as well. The place is situated on the ground floor of Majestic Grande Hotel, which is about 200 meters into Soi Sukhumvit 2 (the same soi as JW Marriott Bangkok).
The ambient of this place is kind of cosy and unique. I have, personally, been thinking about the way to describe it but still difficult to put in word really. It is somewhat tough as if it is trying to resemble the word factory for its name but still put Indian feeling and tone into it. By the way, as I mentioned the word factory, I just want to say that each chair at The Great Kabab Factory is really metallic heavy, just like factory thing. In addition, lighting here is somewhat in blue tone, so don't be surprise if some photo is blueish. The place is rather spacious with approximately 50 seats.
 |
| The Great Kebab Factory @ Majestic Grande Hotel, Bangkok |
 |
| illuminated entrance |
 |
| the ambient |
Walking into the restaurant, you will notice right away the open kitchen. Here, there are 3 kinds of main cooking tools (if not mistaken): ulta tawa paratha (curved pan), mahi tawa (a large frying pan), and tandoor (for grilling in skewer). It was quite interesting actually, at least for myself, to get an eye on cooking tools in Indian food for the first time. Anyway, before the food arrived, staffs had brought us with dipping sauces to accompany the food. There were 4 types: yoghurt sauce, tomato sauce, mint sauce, and tamarind sauce. If unsure which sauce to go with which dish, ask the staffs. They are pretty lovely and helpful.
 |
| ulta tawa paratha |
 |
| mahi tawa |
 |
| galouti being cooked in mahi tawa |
 |
| tandoor |
 |
| 4 kinds of dipping sauce |
At The Great Kabab Factory, you don't get to order a la carte menu but only buffet. However, it is more like a la carte buffet, meaning you get the all-you-can-eat style via ordering instead of self service. Menu each day would comprise of 3 sections: 6 choices of starter, 4 choices of main course, and 4 choices of dessert. By the way, there would be 2 kinds of menu: non-vegetarian and vegetarian. The non-vegetarian one would cost THB1,100 and the vegetarian one is THB100 less. In case of going for non-vegetarian choice, you can also try vegetarian ones if you wish.
What I like most here is the starts, especially the kabab. They even claim that there are about 450 recipes of kabab at The Great Kabab Factory so each time you visit, you are likely to see different menu.
For this time, we got a chance to try 6 choices of starter as follows:
Galouti Kabab (9/10) : The first to arrive and the best of the meal. This is minced lamb with Indian spices. The beauty about this one is it just melts in our mouth like o-toro (fatty tuna). It was flavourful and balance. The aroma is also drooling some. Upon spreading the minced lamb over pancake, the spice aroma would hit right on the nose. With a touch of mint sauce and sliced onion, I can just have many more of this kabab.
Achari Murgh Tikka (6/10) : This is basically chicken tikka with pickle flavoured. It possesses strong herbal aroma and paired well with yoghurt sauce. Really tender and juicy. However, it was a little too salty and has to be eaten with salad to compliment.
Macchi Nilgiri (5/10) : It is a fish (Pangasius or Basa Fish, I believe) dish grilled with mint and coriander as the primary spices. Mild and buttery are the characters. To me, this was just so-so but it was better when a refreshing sauce of tomato was added.
Taza Phalo Ke Tinke (6/10) : This one is from the vegetarian range. It is a skewer of chaat masala and honey marinated pineapple, green apple, and bell pepper. It was fresh, spiced, and sweet. Not a bad dish at all for a short break from meaty dishes.
Jheenga Kah Mirch (6/10) : This was an enjoyable prawn dish. However, I felt it was more like an ordinary prawn bbq with peppery note instead of a special Indian dish.
Kashmiri Chooza (7/10) : The last to arrive and it was good. This was a grilled chicken with kashmiri chilli. It was so tender and had strong herbal palate note. Thus, yoghurt sauce did the job well in balancing the flavour.
 |
| Galouti Kabab |
 |
| spreading galouti |
 |
| roll up galouti |
 |
| Achari Murgh Tikka |
 |
| Macchi Nilgiri |
 |
| Taza Phalo Ke Tinke |
 |
| a little closer to skewer |
 |
| Jheenga Kah Mirch |
Between starter and main course, there was a refreshing beverage which was made of mango and banana being served (as in intermezzo / sorbet). The purpose of this juice is to wash away remaining flavour in the mouth and it did its job so brilliantly. So much refreshing after a sip. PS. It tasted in overall like guava juice to me.
 |
| mango and banana juice |
At this point, I have to admit that I was almost full. However, you can see from picture below that the main course is as well heavy. Hence, you better prepare well if you are going to give The Great Kabab Factory a visit.
In my view, the main course was pleasant but not as extraordinary as the starter. What we had comprise the following:
Gosht Biryani (6/10) : This is long grain rice cooked with lamb and Indian spices. It was nice and balance with not too strong spices. A mix of yoghurt sauce also brings up the flavour.
Kadai Murgh (6/10) : Chicken curry cooked in Indian spices that yield tenderness texture and revitalising. I like it but would prefer to have it along with boiled rice.
Dal Factory (6/10) and
Dal Nawabi (5/10) : The former one is black lentil cooked with butter and the latter is yellow lentil in red chilli and cumin. The black lentil one was as expected smooth and creamery whilst the yellow lentil was a little stronger in taste and with coarser texture.
Aloo Gobhi Masala (5/10) : An Indian curry with potato and cauliflower as the main ingredient, it is. I suspect that this is a dish that is mild and can be enjoyable with minimum additional bread or rice.
 |
| Gosht Biryani and 4 curries |
 |
| curries being served in style |
 |
| a little of each to taste |
 |
| selection of Indian bread |
As for desserts, there were a few times in my life that I got chances to taste Indian desserts. Nevertheless, I was not in particular so fond of them. They tend to be starchy and overly sweetened from my point of view. But I have to admit that The Great Kabab Factory did make them better than my previous experiences (still not so in love though).
Gulab Jamun (6/10) was a reduced milk sweet dumplings. It was really sweet indeed but with primary aroma of cinnamon. I would describe it as Indian version of French baba. The next one was
Beetroot Halwa (5/10). It was starchy in texture. This was grated beetroot cooked with milk and sugar and, thus, noticeable milk flavour. This was then followed by
Pista Badam Kulfi (4/10) which is homemade ice-cream with nutty almond flavour. It was not too sweet and creamy but this was somewhat new to me. As I was tasting this, I did get a scent of something familiar. But I was so sure how to put it into words. The only thing that came up to my mind was the bouquet of Yardley talcum powder. Lastly, we had
Rice Kheer (5/10). Again, cooked with milk and sugar and not too sweet. It was like rice pudding in jasmine aroma.
 |
| Pista Badam Kulfi |
 |
| Gulab Jamun |
 |
| Beetroot Halwa |
 |
| Rice Kheer |
We did also get the chance to try some of the beverage range:
Sweet Lassi (7/10) and
Salted Lassi (3/10). Sweet lassi was nice as expected but salted one was weird and I don't think it compliments well with dishes though. Perhaps it was too new to me. The last of the meal was
Masala Chai (6/10). It was black tea (assam tea perhaps) with herbs, spices, and milk. Good strong tea with spices aroma as the third dimesion. Good experience, it was.
Well, I would say The Great Kabab Factory is a really good place to go for Indian food, especially kabab. Just need to prepare your stomach well for lots of food. At the price of THB1,100 per head, I would say it can be a little too expensive for Bangkokian standard where an average cost for an Indian meal here would be around THB500+ a head. But it is worth a journey to experience a great kabab like Galouti Kabab though.
 |
| Lassi (THB140) |
 |
| saled (above) vs. sweet (below) |
 |
| Masala Chai (THB90) |
