14.078 Butter Prawn Makhani

Cycle 14 – Item 78

24 (Fri) March 2023

Butter Prawn Makhani

2.0

at Agra

-Itaewon, Yongsan, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

solo

Upon visiting Agra in Cycle 2, I had described the meal as “the biggest rip-off that I’ve ever experienced at an Indian restaurant” and vowed never to return (2.337 Tandoori Shrimp).

But that was 12 years ago.

Since then, the business has expanded into a chain of 26 locations – arguably the biggest chain of any cuisine that isn’t Korean/Chinese/Japanese/American/Italian. I’ve tried 2 branches: Coex Mall (13.183 Tandoori Chicken) and Lotte World Avenuel (see 13.184 Truffle Snowing Bread), so why not give the original location another shot?

Still in the same building on the main drag, a couple hundred meters west of the Hamilton Hotel.

I was on my way to pick up IZ from a hang-out at his friend’s house, when he called to inform me that the event had become a sleep-over, rendering my driving services unnecessary until the following morning.

Fortunately, the friend lives in Hannam-dong, so the cancellation provided me an ever-welcome opportunity to eat dinner in Itaewon.

I wonder if any restaurants in India look like this.

As before, I went with the set, which comes with tandoori chicken, choice of “snowing bread” appetizer, choice of curry, unlimited refills on naan, basmati rice, and non-alcoholic beverage – a good value for big eaters.

Even though I’ve now seen this several times, I must admit that I still find it rather amusing – if only the food lived up to the spectacle.

As before, the food was hit and miss. The chicken tandoori was decent. The snowing bread was passable. The naan was excellent. The basmati rice was fine, but significant in being actual basmati rice. However, the curry was as lousy as ever: bland and soulless; I’d held hope that Itaewon would be more authentic than the more mainstream locations, understandably catering to local palates, but no – which is a shame, because the naan is so good.