Zaffron Kitchen East Coast

Came at around 1PM-ish on a Saturday in December. The Birthday Set was a steal. The portion might look small, but it was just the right size to fill you up. The food was delicious. The chicken was moist and juicy. The ambience is really good. Service was good.

Probably the most scrumptious, most tender chicken butter masala that I have ever tasted. The kitchen is wide open for viewing and meticulously clean. The lunch meal menu is a super bargain! We will be back!

The butter chicken and tandoori chicken were great and with garlic naan, even better. I enjoyed the masala chai. Shared passionfruit drink, was refreshing as well. The manager is very hospitable :) Just the aircon is a little cold

4 Aug 24 Food was good. Good range for vegetarians. Cheese naan was delicious! Service and atmosphere are ok. The place wasn’t too packed on Sunday for lunch so we could feel free to lol.

First time at Zaffron. We ordered the Michelin set for two and a kid's tandoori wrap. The mixed grill was good, and the lamb shank biryani was decent with tender meat. Unfortunately, the rice lacked fragrance. Additionally, the service crew was not very knowledgeable.

We really enjoyed our dinner the other day - had pudina tikka, chettinad chicken and naan, which was on the house as part of weekday promotion. Didn’t expect to enjoy the food this much, the tikka was just rightly done - and so succulent and juicy tender generous sized pieces. It came with a green chutney which was highly enjoyable as well. The chettinad chicken I was expecting to be fiery and beyond my spice range, but wow, it was so delicious without the spice overpowering any of our taste buds. The naans were so fresh and pillowy. Hats off to the chef. We would be coming again!!

Zaffron Kitchen is probably the one best Indian restaurants I’ve tried. I super liked it, I just had to go back! This platter, the butter chicken, and garlic naan are absolute must-tries! Service is prompt and friendly, too.

Finally tried this place after years of walking, driving past it. I must say that prices are pretty reasonable but the food quality wasn’t at great as i had expected. It’s not bad, but not great. The naan roti wasn’t served hot and didn’t have the texture and taste that one would expect. The butter chicken was too heavy and took the toll on one appetite. The tandoori fish was too salty, whilst the chicken was kinda average. The lamb briyani on the other hand was good and saved the day.

My husband and I enjoy a good butter chicken with naan. Having been in Asia for two weeks, we wanted some Indian food at some point so our last night in Singapore, we went to Zaffron Kitchen. Zaffron is located on East Coast Road across the street from our hotel and is a Michelin bib gourmand eatery. Once acknowledged, we were seated promptly without a reservation. We satisfied our craving by ordering the butter chicken with rice and garlic naan. I also added the passion fruit lassi to the order. The food took more than a few minutes to come out and we were hungry. My husband and I devoured the chicken, rice, and naan. The lassi was refreshing and cooled my palette. We brought our own bottle of water so we didn't have to pay for it. Service was okay. Definitely worth a go, if you're a fan of Northern Indian food.

Been here many times especially when we are in an indian cuisine fever. I would have gladly given a 4 star but today we discover there is no free flow of water!!! Now that is a BAD chicken tikka for the management. Otherwise we had our usual package chicken tikka, garlic naan, mutton curry, two types of rice and a mixed veg curry. Finishing of with teh terik and were happy as usual. as usual they are understaff :). patience is key here. clearing table is slow. getting out teas after meals takes 15 minutes. Nov 20th '16 Back again for an Indian fix. Unfortunately this time round instead of the service staff being a mess the kitchen too was a mess. Post putting in my order at 7:40pm there were at least 4 tables waiting for their food. In fact one table with a party of 8 walked out. Come on management wake up!!! Get a hold of your wonderful business before it get hold of you! Feb 2nd '19 Back again and they never fail as usual.

Zaffron Kitchen was pretty good Indian fare. Sure, the iPad ordering substitutes for friendly service, but the food comes out fast. The Tandoori (and meats generally) were fantastic. Succulent, high quality and tender. The Biryanis were a bit of a miss - still good, but not great. The Butter Chicken was silky smooth and the Naan were reasonable. 6 people plus 2 bottles of wine worked out to be $50 each - which, by Singapore standards, is still kinda pricy.

I think Zaffron has heard our cries, because I found the service here was insanely fast and incredibly friendly. Loved loved loved the atmosphere. Chill and buzzy. The chicken tikka starter was unreal. In comparison, the chana masala (chickpeas) and mutton rogan josh were just ok - good, but not *amazing*. I also couldn't stop dipping everything in the the mint chutney. Amazing. Will almost definitely be coming again for the good food and great vibe.

This is a 3.5 for me, but because I do like the food, I'll give it a four. Don't get me wrong- I like Zaffron Kitchen's branding. Their ambiance is great, they have iPad menus that are easy to navigate and work, and it's kid-friendly. Their service could use a little more work, though. The first time we came here, it took almost half an hour for our food to arrive. The second time, I was one of the first to arrive for lunch and it took a little under 20 minutes. To echo the other reviews, the servers are a bit distant, but I get it- you don't need to remind me where I am. I was surprised about their naan lunch sets- it lives up to it's name as it comes with 4 large pieces of fluffy naan! Very filling. I also liked all the sides that came with it, and my butter chicken hit the spot. If you're looking for a good veggie side, their aloo gobi is my favourite! Service may not be the best, but I know I'll be back.

This was my first time trying "actual" Indian food and i'm not disappointed. Our order: I came here with my mum for lunch and we ordered 2 set meals - available now weekdays from 1130am - 2pm, if i remember correctly. I got the Tandoori Naan set which included 2 pieces of chicken; naan; biryani rice and the sauces + curry Mum got the Vegetarian naan set which had basically the same things except for the chicken Taste: Tandoori Naan Set: The chicken was coated in some yummy goodness (i actually don't know what it was marinated int) which tasted ahmazing. To my surprise, it wasn't really spicy as I thought it would be - how stereotypical of me! The naan was hot when it was served and tasted absolutely spectacular Biryani - i've never had biryani before but according to my mum, it was one of the best ones she's had and trust me, she's pretty picky about her food. Yoghurt - this was one of the "sauces" (not sure if that's the correct term) in the set and i really liked it Curry - ahaha i personally found this a tad spicy but nevertheless it was superb As for the Vegetarian naan set, once again, mum said it was the best. Portion: We were initially a bit skeptical to order 2 sets because we though it'd come out huge, however, the portion was just enough for one person. Service: Because it was our first time there and it was my first time trying Indian cuisine, I didn't really know what to order. The waiter tried recommending some things to me but I didn't quite grasp what he was trying to say... Nevertheless, service was fast and the staff were friendly Price: This place is definitely a bit pricey and is not one of the places you'll visit every day. However, for the food served, it's definitely worth it. Overall, I really enjoyed my first real Indian cuisine of my lifeeee and i've fallen in love with Indian food... hehe :)) OH AND SET MEAL CAME WITH A DRINK!

I hate to sound like a broken record, but I second my fellow Yelpers that Zaffron has excellent food, but service / food delivery is poor. Thanks to the Yelp app, via Check-in, I discovered that it took 27 min! for the food to be served. Fortunately, it was the entire order, which consisted of Butter Naan, butter Chicken, Basmati rice and aloo gobi. When the attendant delivered the food, we didn't have any utensils at the table and had to kindly ask the diners/table next to us for their unused set. (Hint: the service staff should've done this for us). Despite it's suspect service, Zaffron delivers excellent Indian Cuisine within a modern restaurant exterior. The butter chicken was definitely my favorite dish of the ones I ordered. Not as good as my favorite North Indian restaurant in Novena, but good nonetheless. The sauce was thicker and darker in colour and a tad less sweet. Overall, Zaffron delivers 4-star food with 2-3 star service. If you are craving for great Indian good in the Katong area, but are happy to wait just a little longer than normal for food, then Zaffron is an excellent choice!

The food is great, but I'm leaving it at 3 stars because twice I've had really bad service and it spoilt the whole experience. Long queues, forgotten orders, rude waiters and such. Other reviews cite good experiences though, so maybe I just caught them at a bad time or something. Anyway. If you're vegetarian most Indian places are full of options and Zaffron is no different. My favs are the Tandoori Gobi or the Tandoori Mushrooms. In the curries section, their Dhal Mahkani is probably the best I've tried anywhere. Ever. Their naan is pretty spectacular as well, but the curries go really well with rice, so it's a tricky decision. I'd say go with lots of friends and order lots of things. What really adds to the experience is the presentation of the food, which is pretty and quite stylish. The waiters aprons also have clever food-based slogans on them which is fun to read. Do make a reservation as it's quite crowded usually, and every time I walk past at dinner time there's a long queue. There's also a play area for children which looks like so much fun I've always been tempted to sneak in. Also, popcorn machine!

The Zaffron Kitchen had a décor and ambience that doesn't seem to resemble an Indian restaurant, but perhaps more of a usual European restaurant. Anyway, we sat down quickly and ordered our food because we were rather hungry. The service here was prompt with smiling waitresses. We tried a few of their dishes such as the fish kebab, chicken tikka, butter chicken, chicken biryani and chicken chettinad. The chicken chettinad was very spicy and I really liked the taste. We dipped the naan into the curry and it was simply perfect. The chicken was also very tender and the meat came apart easily. The chicken tikka was another of our favorites. There was a distinct and nice grilled flavor to the chicken, and the meat was succulent and tender. Overall, we had a great Indian meal here and would definitely be back.

I dropped in for a quick dinner last night at 9.30pm with my husband. The restaurant was buzzing and there were only 2 servers running about fulfilling orders. However, they got to us as quickly as they could and within 10 minutes, we got our food. They were also really apologetic to us for being short-handed for the night. We ordered the butter chicken, palak paneer, fish tikka as well as the biryani rice. We loved the well-seaoned fish tikka and palak paneer, that came with lusciously thick spinach gravy. We did think the butter chicken gravy, however, was a tad too sweet for our liking. The biryani rice was fragrant and light on taste but it could have come in a bigger portion for $5.50. The price came up to around $70 for both of us, which is admittedly pricey for a quick dinner but at least the food and service made up for it. We'll definitely be back the next time we're in Katong looking for a spot for late dinner!

I was drawn to Zaffron Kitchen's modern and rustic exterior. The food is wonderful and I really like their attention to detail and pride in what they do which shows through their interior design and food presentation. A great restaurant for fabulous Indian cuisine. Will go again next time I am in the city. Love!

Bad experience. Order for the main course didn't go through due to an error in their system. Waited for over half an hour and asked for the bill. When the error became apparent they made us pay for the drinks and naan and let us walk out instead of trying to fix our dinner.

I love this place really hard, I've been here about three times over the past year (I now just call it "The Z"). Every time I'm here I get the garlic naan - I've had plenty and Zaffron's is the best, partly because theirs is crisp-giving-way-to-chewy, but mostly because it's liberally garlicked. Always trust a liberally-garlicked naan. I also remember Zaffron's palak paneer, tadka dal, and channa masala very fondly - then again I'm easily pleased if food is heavily spiced and generously salted. Please get the malai kofta - I think not enough people try it because it's a lesser known vegetarian dish, and people play it safe with butter chicken + naan. But malai kofta gives you two falafel-textured torpedos made of veggies, nuts, and legumes, smothered in the creamiest, slightly sweet, cumin-laced cashew gravy that goes straight to your loving thighs. Two of the better things about Zaffron: 1) You get to adjust the heat level, very handy for people like me who don't hold our chilli well. 2) The staff are also awfully nice, I don't usually encounter staff who come round asking if the food's good, or use coasters to fix a shaky table for us. Maybe I don't have great expectations, but I never take nice service staff for granted.

We tried out this restaurant as my daughter wanted to give us a treat. We checked out Yelp and reviews were mixed, generally stating that the food was good but the service poor. Nonetheless we decided to give it a try. True to form the food, northern Indian style WAS good. All dishes we tried were very nice except the nan which was a little tough. The portions are larger than expected. We were impressed. The restaurant is child friendly with a little play area. Very casual atmosphere, perfect for a family dinner. Service was good. We had the fortune of interacting with the restaurant manager Dinesh. He was very service oriented and we had a pleasant chat. I suspect that previous reviews had them working on improving service and it has seemed to work. We noticed that the other staff provided service with a smile, though there is still some way to go on in that while they did serve well it did not seem genuine. They need to do a little polishing. A credible performance. Perhaps in time Dinesh's example and training will rub off on them. We had a great evening and the cost of a full meal was about $30 per person. Very affordable. I will be back.

Decent North Indian food in town. Only spice level was low. Probably they should have asked for choice of spice level. Water is served free. Good setup, small children play area with cartoon TV is blessing!

Zaffron is a relative newcomer to the buzzy eatery lined stretch of Katong. It's unpretentious and serves up authentic North and South Indian food. It's not much of a stretch to say that almost all the items on the menu are hits. The butter chicken is a must try - succulent meat swathed with gravy, fish masala is fork tender, and the naans are great. My group did find the Kashmiri naan a little unusual though, as it didn't quite go with the rest of our savory items. The kulfi was interesting, though some detected a hint of cardamon, and it did not agree to those who were averse to the spice. Due to the popularity of the restaurant, service can be a little spotty. The decor is very pretty though, and there's a play corner for kids to busy themselves at. The A/C is very cold, but happily, the service is warm. If you can catch the servers' attention, that is.

Good food but very slow service. We ended up waiting ca. 20 min for our drinks to arrive and more than 50 min for Our food to arrive.

Refined Indian cuisine, but most dishes are very heavy. Don't expect to be productive at work after having lunch at Zaffron Kitchen. Very nice ambience. Too many aircon units can make the place uncomfortably cold, however the staff are willing to adjust it. I experienced both very good and very slow, inattentive service where it can take 15 minutes to receive the bill. Food is consistently good, not the service.

Rich Indian food with very mediocre service and indifferent attitude. As a family of 5, we recently went to Zaffron Kitchen for lunch, as one of my daughter's friends had recommended it to her. Initially we were very impressed, because as we sat down we were handed out a tablet to look at the menu and order the food. However, we soon realized that the restaurant had basically done away with almost all waiters.The description of dishes on the menu was inadequate and the sole waiter in the restaurant was clueless. We were keen to try out some their kebabs, as they looked appetizing in the kitchen window. We were debating between ordering separate kebab dishes or a kebab platter, which had an assortment of Kebabs. We wanted to make sure that we ordered adequate amount of kebabs. The menu did not state how many pieces each portion had and our waiter had no idea. After much back and forth we were told that each individual kebab portion has 5 pieces and the platter has 4 pieces each of 5 types of kebab. When I confirmed that the platter had 20 pieces, we decided to order the platter, as we thought that would be the right amount to order. When the kebab platter arrived, it only had 3x5 that is 15 pieces. When we asked, we were told by the restaurant manager that it only has 15 pieces and our waiter gave us the wrong information. The restaurant manager made no attempt to find a solution, ie either take additional order, or allow us to cancel and reorder, leave alone the gesture that any other restaurant would have made of making it up by topping the platter with additional 5 pcs as were initially told. From there on the experience went down hill. The kebabs were very greasy, we had under ordered, so we had to ask for the tablet again as they would not accept the order any other way. Besides the service snafu and rich (greasy and creamy food), the pricing was high for Indian food on the East Coast Road area. Unlikely that we will go back or recommend it to any of our friends, unless the service improves.

What can I say that hasn't already been said. I have been coming here since early 2011, even had a birthday dinner here for my daughter with the extended family. For my group meal the service was good, for most other meals the service was awful, the food has always been good. The service has been improving, they have chosen to go the route of self ordering iPads and decreasing the actual staff to guest interaction. This technique has worked well to improve the "Service." The food has always been very good, it has been what has kept people coming back, their front Tandoor churns out good smoky tasting food including Naans and Daal Makhani. Aside from the food, the real draw is the family friendly atmosphere with a kids play area in the back, including a play house and even children sized sinks and toilets. Although, now that I think about it, the staff is just as indifferent to the kids as they are to everyone. The food quality will reward you for returning, the kids area will let you enjoy the food, and the staff seem to be getting trained to stay away!

standout indian food in the grastronomic wunderland that is katong - I don't usually come to this area because it's a little far out of my reach, but the many good reviews of this place were too great a draw to resist. and they live up to it - indian food made modern, really in the style of masala zone in london, which I haven't yet seen in singapore - I would say this is food that admittedly might play more to the mainstream consumer's idea of indian rather than traditional fare, but it doesn't detract from the pleasure of eating here, and judging from the clientele in this place - it might not be wholly unauthentic either. you do pay for the experience though - prices are much higher than what you'd see at other indian joints, though merely on par with other new cafés/bistros. service is a little absent-minded sometimes - though this only happened with one of their waitresses - but the food is well good, and well worth coming back for.

Last time I will be coming to this place. Waiters/servers look as if they don't want to make any eye contacts to sit you, give you the menu, take orders or anything customers want to do. If this was the US, they would be getting that infamous $0.20 tip.

The first time we have been ever asked to finish up & leave because they wanted to give the table to someone else. When we were seated we were never told that we need to wrap up within a certain time. The moment the last morsel was eaten, we got a 'Times up' comment from the waitress. Embarrassing and very insulting. Never coming back to this place.

We've been twice with our kids and enjoy the ability to let them play while we eat, and the food is quite good, but both times the service has been really bad. Late orders, missed orders, not asking if we wanted more drinks, not clearing away empty plates, etc. While we like having a place to take the kids, it's frustrating and I don't know if we'll go back.

Terrible. Pudina chicken tikka was inedible, tasted like raw meat was kept outside for too long. Methi mattar malai was safer, however, was not tasty. Server/waiter had strong BO. One star for pleasant music.

First time a restaurant is so bad i feel compelled to write a review. After an hour the food's not here but after complaining, it's here within two minutes. But cold, which got me wondering if it was sitting on the counter for the past hour. And the rice was last to come, isnt that ridiculous? Fish tikka was first, cold... I think its the same dish i saw when i passed by when i walked past the couple of time. And for the price, i could get the same or better. Not impressed

Best tandoori snacks with lip smacking taste in singapore. We ordered couple of snacks and all were absolutely relishing. Main course and deserts were average. We tried dal makhni and naan and i would say dal was not upto the mark however naan was average. On the desert front too, deserts are different however locak a bit in giving authentic taste. Overall very good restaurant if you want to relish tandoori items or Biryani

Love the good but the service sucks, especially on a busy night and you have a big party. They are just so disorganised. Make sure you order enough from the start because they don't co-ordinate your add-on order, so you wait & wait & wait. Then you loose your cool cause you waited too long.