My dad and I picked up some takeout from here today after a long afternoon working on the boat. The food was sublime -- we had one butter chicken, one rogan josh (both medium-spicy), one side of pakora fish and one of samosas. Everything was superb. The butter chicken (my choice) was fantastic -- creamy, rich, moderately spicy, just the way it should be. Although the rogan josh was meant to be dad's, I helped myself to a fair portion before 'confirming' with him that he hadn't been all that hungry anyway, right? We agreed it was even tastier than the butter chicken. Very 'herby,' in a good way. It definitely had a kick to it, and while delicious, it came close to being a little too spicy for my liking ~ so if you're of delicate palate, I'd recommend perhaps going for the mild option on the rogan josh. The butter chicken though (also medium) was considerably milder. As ever with Indian, I wished the portion of rice had been a little more generous, as I always seem to run out halfway through my curry. But maybe I'm just doing it wrong :)
The samosas were great too. I went through a 'phase' of eating a lot of these, and these ones were right up there. The pakora didn't have that crispy deep-fried 'shell' to it as I'd expected, but the flavours were all there. My dad couldn't get enough, in fact he hoovered 5 of the 6, thus compensating me for my liberties in the RJ department.
We thought the food was very reasonably-priced, the mains were $14 and 15 respectively (the RJ was with lamb, hence the extra $1) for a fair-sized serving, the samosas $6 and the pakora $12. Perhaps the only one of those that's a bit iffy is the pakora, as the portion was relatively small. (I think their internet menu (the takeaway one) lists slightly inaccurate prices, as our total definitely came to $47).
The interior of this restaurant made an impression on us as we sat waiting for our fare. From the outside it's quite nondescript. When you walk in, however, you're met by a demure, elegant setting, very quiet with soft music playing in the background and some seriously posh furniture about the place. The chairs in particular were so impressive we almost wished we'd taken the eat-in option. It's a really welcoming and elegant place, and very calm in ambiance, which appeals to me. It would make for a lovely, intimate dinner setting.
The waitresses were 'reservedly friendly,' they kind-of made an ambiguous impression on me but then again it was hard to tell given we were only having our food to take away. We weren't given cutlery with our order, and since we intended to eat by the beach I had to go back and ask for some. It surprised us a little that they'd made this oversight, but it was no biggie.
Given the quality of the food, I'm looking forward to dining-in here in the near future, either with my parents or with a friend of mine who's a bona fide Indian fiend. read more