SINGAPORE — Sometimes, being forced to renovate and revamp is a wonderful thing. It gives a stalwart eatery a chance to show that beyond the reputable food it serves, it can also elevate the dining experience to surprising new heights.

This is absolutely the case with Rang Mahal at the Pan Pacific Singapore. It recently underwent a major facelift (in tandem with the hotel’s own renovation) and to reveal a dining room that bears the sheen and polish of European style, with tasteful touches of Indian grandeur.

Like the restaurant itself, the menu has also been given a makeover. While classics like the palak paneer and tandoori items remain, most of the food is now lighter and more contemporary. There are also more healthier options like an entree of quinoa upma (S$24), the gluten-free grains softly tempered with curry leaves, mustard seeds and chopped coriander stems that lend a whisper of acerbic grassiness.

The new menu sees the chefs combining western ingredients with Indian spices and cooking methods to yield beguilingly complex creations such as the tandoori Portobello (S$32). The mushrooms are cooked in the tandoor oven, which coaxes excess moisture from them to yield a winning smokiness that is complemented by a sprinkling of earthy chaat masala and melted cheddar cheese.

The tandoor also imparts a pleasingly mild smokiness to salmon steaks (S$44). They were beautifully cooked so that the flesh was a glistening coral and mildly spiced with bishop’s weed or ajwain, with the flavour suggestive of thyme.

Even without the vivid spicing or richness that we often expect of Indian cuisine, Rang Mahal’s food bears a spellbinding lavishness. To wit: A dish of tava scallops (S$42) bathed in a velvety coconut sauce with a slow-mounting spiciness. Flecked with thinly-sliced green chillies and onions, its exacting balance of flavours was stupendous — fresh, sweet, spicy and mellow all segueing into each delicious mouthful. But by the time our main course of raarha gosht (chunks of lamb cooked in a fiery riot of spices, S$44) arrived, I was immune to its charms, having been enamoured with the quiet complexity of the dishes that came before.

What’s also new here is the bread service, where a chef prepares the phulkas (a variety of puffy breads like chappati, S$12) tableside so they are as fresh as they could possibly be. Given its fine dining constitution, the restaurant serves a simple brown rice pulao for a rather dear S$22, which you should splurge on. Comprising a mix of spiced brown rice and mixed vegetables, it is so comfortingly delicious, you’ll forget its stratospheric price tag.

Speaking of which, eating here certainly isn’t cheap, but there is value for money when you come for the daily S$55 buffet lunch that features a selection of the restaurant’s signature dishes. ANNETTE TAN

4.5 stars

Rang Mahal

Level 3, Pan Pacific Singapore

7 Raffles Boulevard

Tel: 6333 1788

Opening hours:

Daily noon to 2.30pm, 6.30pm to 10.30pm