Drop Exchange: Authentic Bombay & Persian Cuisine for the Soul

By Ben Liew  •  26 Aug 2019 in Bars

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Saying that ‘Indian food is Indian food’ is like saying the Avengers is all about Iron Man. Like Chinese, Thai, Malay and all other great cuisines of the world, the range of Indian culinary art is as wide as the country itself.

In the Klang Valley, most Indian eateries serve Southern Indian dishes, therefore, a place like Drop Exchange is indeed a rare gem. Focusing on the cultural food of Bombay (Aamchi Mumbai) – from street food to old-world clubs – and a few Persian dishes thrown in the mix, the restaurant-bar offers an extensive selection of mouthwatering meals and drinks.

From its exterior, you might mistake Drop (its full name is shortened on its signage) as a normal bar without a focus on food, what more the area of Solaris Mont Kiara being well-known for its many watering holes. However, upon entering, you’ll notice that the place is pleasantly-suited for dinning occasions. We’d recommend you bring a date, a business partner, or even your family here.

The industrial-meets-luxe lounge design of Drop is classy yet laidback with pieces of art along the stairs, steam pipes decorating lights from the walls, a magnificent glass cabinet below the stairs and a spacious dinning area on the first floor with a big screen playing sports channels.

Screens above the bar on the ground floor mimic stock exchange tele-prompters but instead of displaying prices of blue chips, they flash drink promos. Another interesting thing about Drop is that you get to bid on your drinks before you get there via the Drop Exchange app – drink prices drop if there aren’t enough customers ordering them for the night.

Drop has a variety of cocktails, liquors, wines and beers. Currently, they have promos on whiskies, shots and a wine buffet on Monday (details in the pic below).

Although they have a steady drinking crowd, from what we noticed the night we checked out the place, what really whisked us away was the food. For starters we had the Hara Bhara Kebab and the Bollywood Vada Pav.

The Hara Bhara Kebab (6 pieces) are made from paneer, spinach, potatoes & green peas fried to perfection with a cashew nut in the centre, while the Bollywood Vada Pav resembles a slider with a spices-mashed potato ball served with Pav green chutney leecha masala and a deep-fried green chilli dipped in salt on the side.

If you need something to open up your tastebuds before your mains, this combo would be it.

For our mains, we decided to try 3 of their most popular dishes – Salli Ma Margi, Tandoori Chicken Pulao and Rogan Josh. Good thing we brought along a guest to help us finish dinner ’cause the portions were huge.

The Salli Ma Margi was the only dish we had from their Parsi corner of the menu, and it had our interest piqued. If all Persian cooking taste this good (it’s our first time trying it, forgive us), we’ll definitely be back to try the rest. The dish is made from Parsi-style chicken curry, with Indian herbs and spices, topped with potato salli and served with pav (buns).

If you don’t feel that adventurous, then may we recommend the Tandoori Chicken Pulao. It’s probably one of the more familiar dishes at Drop. Their signature Tandoori chicken leg is prepared over charcoal and served on a bed of saffron rice with vegetables. It’s probably one of the best tandoori chickens we’ve had in town, and that’s quite a lot of tandoori chickens to beat!

Who doesn’t enjoy a good stew after a long, cold day? A staple Kashmiri dish, mutton Rogan Josh can be found in a lot of Indian restaurants, but to make it taste perfect is another story. It requires long preparation, stewing the meat to the point where it’s not too hard or too tasteless.

Drop’s mutton Rogan Josh is tender and the stew packs a punch. Cooked in aromatic spices and yogurt, you can smell it as the waiter approaches your table. If you’re famished, order one just for yourself. It comes with fragrant bashmati rice too.

With all that spicy food we’d just eaten, it was time for desserts. We tried the Kufti (traditional home-made Indian ice cream) and the Gulab Jamon (milk solid-base South Asian sweet in pistachio cream and nuts).

While the Gulab Jamon was expectedly sweet and pastry-textured, the Kulfi was surprisingly good. We can’t believe this is the first time we were trying it (and we’ve been to India twice before). For ice cream lovers, we would recommend visiting Drop just to sample this exquisite dessert.

Drop Exchange makes for a truly unique dinning experience, and a casual one too. The next time you’re in the area, head towards Solaris Mont Kiara and drop by this place.

Psst… you can get 20% discount off your bill just by mentioning us (JUICEonline) to the waiter. This promo is valid from now until 31 October 2019.

Don’t say we don’t take care of our readers now…

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