As you faithful Blog readers are fully aware by now, Michelle and I love good food. We love to read about it, we love to cook it and we love to try out new restaurants in whatever city we are hanging our hat in. But whenever we find a really good one, we make sure to become repeat customers and whenever we find one that we truly love, we make it our second home.
Such is the case with LAGNAA BAREFOOT DINING. Now, this name should not be a mystery to you if you've seen our photos or have come to hang out with us here in Singapore, you've most likely seen pics from our adventures or had the pleasure to dine there. Michelle and our friend Brett stumbled upon this place in 2009, when they were showing my parents around Singapore and we've been going back since! Lagnaa is an Indian restaurant like no other, it's located in the aptly named Little India district on Upper Dickson Road, nestled between a bunch of historic buildings with extremely subtle signage, so blink and you'll miss it. When you walk in, you are greeted by bright yellow walls adorned with the comments of happy customers past singing their praises about the amazing food, the amazing service and the amazing memories they had. The bottom floor is mainly comprised of the kitchen and a handful of tables with a trophy wall of survivors from their monthly "Chili Challenge" (more on that later), while the other wall is decorated with pictures of happy customers and signage promoting all their activities and there are a lot of them. Upstairs is the namesake of the eatery, barefoot dining. Shoes off before going up the stairs and there you will find a relaxing room in muted tones with low tables where everyone sits on cushions on the hardwood floor. It's casual, pleasant and all around relaxing.
What makes this place work is the staff, it's a small core crew of familiar and friendly faces that do all of the hosting, cooking, serving and cleaning (They share all the duties). SHANTI and KUMARI, the two ever-pleasant hostesses and ofcourse the energetic Head Chef and owner of the place KAESAVAN (known as K7). These three not only make each experience at Lagnaa memorable, they have also become friends of ours here in Singapore. They are always open to letting you ask questions, share a joke and sometimes they will even take you into the kitchen to experience the heat of the tandoor oven. They treat their establishment like their home and they treat their friends like family.
Like I said, the family at Lagnaa is more than just about serving food, they offer a whole host of other experiences as well:
- THE FULL MOON PARTY & CHILLI CHALLENGE: A monthly party where K7 cooks up some amazingly spicy Masala and a friendly competition is held to see who can eat the spiciest dish. Put it this way, there are 10 levels of heat, no one has done level ten, only one person has done level nine and only five people have done level eight. I am personally a level seven and don't know if I can go any higher but that doesn't mean I won't give it a shot one day - it tastes that good.
- MENU TASTINGS: Each month, Lagnaa does specials and in an attempt to find out which special dishes are worthy of going on the menu, they hold a tasting night. Regular customers are informed of the date and time and the first 10 people to respond to the call are invited to the tasting. Each chef comes up with a few dishes, the customers taste each one, votes are tallied and the winning dishes make the cut. The chefs love it, the customers love and in the end, our bellies love it.
- SLAVE LABOUR: Volunteer for a few hours of service at the restaurant and be rewarded with a great meal - seems fair to me! Michelle has done this and loved it, she got to hang with the staff, serve some tables and indulge in some tasty food.
- COOKING CLASSES: Every few weeks a cooking class is held where K7 teaches the secrets behind his awesome food. We've done this before and will definitely do it again!
Which brings me to the real reason we frequent Lagnaa so much, the food. Spellbinding!!! The Indian dishes that K7 and his team come up with is just astounding. Traditional delicacies with a hint of flair, modern takes on classics and just some really fresh, really flavourful comfort food. We always try something off of the specials menu but then we always order our favorites as well: Cranberry Naan, Chili Cheese Naan, Dahl Makhani, Prawns Goa, Butter Paneer, Fish Curry, Aloo Gobi, Mutton Masala - the list goes on and on and no matter how many times we dine there, each time we taste it, it tastes absolutely fantastic.
So thanks Lagnaa, thanks for the continued hospitality, thanks for making us welcome, thanks for feeding us with hearty goodness and thanks for the memories old and new. See you again soon!
LAGNAA BAREFOOT DINING
No. 6 Upper Dickson Road
Little India, Singapore, 207466
+65 6296 1215
