After taking a break from the restaurant business for three years, Mali (Jasmin), the owner of Ali Baba, has reopened her doors. With over 20 years experience  serving the Koh Samui community authentic Indian cuisine, Mali is looking forward to the return of her loyal customers who are, no doubt, looking forward to enjoying her wonderful Indian food.

Once located in central Chaweng, Ali Baba is now located on the ring road, on the same side as, and just past, the Bangkok Samui Hospital and Ohms bikes. This new location has plenty of space for parking, which Mali feels is important for her customers.

The menu at Ali Baba has everything you would expect from an Indian restaurant of this caliber. A nice selection of soft drinks, juices, shakes, Indian sweet or salty lassi, Indian teas and, pleasingly,very affordable beers.

The extensive food menu includes photographs of the popular dishes and starts with a choice of Makhani, Chana or mixed Dal and Tarka – yellow pulse with brown onion in smoking hot ghee masala.

The appetizers are served with salad and sauce. Choose from chicken, fish, vegetable, aloo, onion or paneer pakora – special homemade cheese marinated in special sauce and deep fried. Other favorites include samosa, onion bhaji and either plain or masala papadums.

From the tandor, a special oven used for hundreds of years heated with mosquite charcoal that is heated to 400 degrees, enjoy a  half of whole chicken, Tandori full murgh – six pieces for two people, chicken tikka (red chicken) Malai tikka (white chicken), chicken sheek kebab or tandori fish tikka.

The curry menu includes curry, masala, tikka masala, butter, korma, saag, vinadaloo, white cream, do piazza, karai, Madras, rogan josh, buna and chili chicken, lamb gosht, gosht mirchi wala, gosht masala, korma, sag wala, keema raja, rogan wala, choti karai, jalfrezi wala and makhani wala. You will find a huge range of fish and vegetarian dishes as well as vegetarian and non vegetarian Ali Baba Specials. There are plenty of side dishes including aloo methi – potatoes cooking with fenugreek leaves in a special Indian gravy.

Indian breads are in abundance .Puri, keema paratha and vegetarian parantha – wheat flour stuffed with home made cottage cheese or vegetables are all freshly baked and delicious and of course you will find a wide variety of naan breads including peshwari – stuffed with dry fruit, cashew nut & cheese as well as plain, garlic butter, keema and lamb keema naan.

The rice menu includes biryiani of either vegetables, chicken, mutton, prawn or fish as well as yellow saffron rice, plain, mushrooms or peas pilau.

Don’t forget to order Dahi (yoghurt), the plain dish is fresh and cooling or you may want to try aloo raita (yoghurt with potato), Keera (yoghurt with cucumber) or Mixed Raita (yoghurt with cucumber, onion and tomato.

If you have as sweet tooth, there are a few desserts Kulfi – homemade ice cream, Gulab Jumum – two juicy balls made from cream of milk in scented light syrup and Indian rice pudding.

There are two very affordable set menus for either one or two people. Set menu for one person includes 2 x papadums, chicken curry, navarakan korma, pilou rice, plain naan and a beer Chang and is less than three hundred baht. The menu for two includes 2 x papadums, chicken korma, vegetable jalfreizi, 2 x pilau rice, 2 x plain naan and 2 x beer Chang.

The restaurant itself is large enough to be spacious but small enough to be cozy, and has an abundance of fans to keep you cool while you enjoy your meals. The walls are adorned with classy Indian art works and the tables are covered with blue and cream checked cloths.

The restaurant is open from 11 am until 11pm and you can enjoy a free delivery service, on orders over five hundred baht from 2pm until 10pm in the Lamai, Chaweng, Bophut, Maenam, Bangrak and Choeng Mon areas.

If you are looking for some great, and very cheap, accommodation, as well as a superbly authentic Indian curry, Mali and her husband Narin have 50 rooms at the centrally located Chavin Condotel in Chaweng. The rooms range from three hundred to six hundred baht a night and there are plans to open another Indian restaurant there too. To book a table, or to order a take away, call 088 450 5779 for accommodation enquiries call Narin on 083 6464665