Welcome to the CC Hub. Pic: M T Davis.

Captain Carlton’s, at Pearl Condominium, has reopened with little fanfare. It looks largely the same, it’s got the same owner and it still offers Italian and Chinese food but there have been some significant changes behind the scenes.

The name has changed; it’s now CC Hub — a mixture of Captain Carlton’s and Zaika Bar, one of owner Aneil Vyas’ previous ventures. The signs that hung at Asia Plaza until Zaika Bar shut last year can now be seen in the CC Hub window.

They are not the only thing to make the move from Asia Plaza to Pearl Condominium — Indian food is now on the menu at CC Hub.

New chef Hrishikesh Giri has been brought over from Chennai to implement a range of north-Indian style dishes — and the results are fantastic.

Timeout tried several dishes and was impressed on all counts. For those who don’t like their food too hot, the chicken butter masala is a good place to start. For the heat-seeker, the tasty chicken vindaloo packs a mean punch. Of course, all should be served with a healthy dose of garlic naan.

While the food was excellent, there were only a handful of customers when Timeout visited CC Hub and this affected the atmosphere in such a large space. The music also sometimes veered too far toward disposable western pop; the more interesting Indian tunes were definitely a welcome reprieve from this.

Mr Vyas says there are few restaurants in Myanmar that offer the same, north-Indian style as CC Hub.

“Most of the Indian food in Yangon is rice-based, whereas our dishes are more suited to bread, like naan. Most other places also use a lot of oil but we try to keep away from that as well,” he says.

Mr Vyas says the dishes have been modified slightly to the Myanmar style, with a greater use of Chinese rather than Indian spices.

The prices at this restaurant-cum-bar are competitive; most mains are between K3000 and K5000.

There is also an expanded drinks menu, which is heavy on the cocktails. Unfortunately there is no draught beer but the new Indian-style drinks, including a vodka lassi, should get punters curious.

The last new addition is lunch packs. For US$3 a day, customers can have genuine, “home-made style” Indian food delivered to their office in the afternoon and, going on the quality of their in-house fare, this is not a bad deal – although not everyone wants to eat Indian for lunch, every day. Which is why, for the casual Indian connoisseur, CC Hub is a worthwhile place for dinner or drinks.

CC Hub – Pearl Condominium, Kaba Aye Pagoda Rd, Bahan township.