Tag: butter chicken

Categories
Italian

Ginger Indian Restaurant – Harris Park NSW Restaurant Review

So apparently Ginger is a local Western Sydney icon, news to me as someone who grew up in the famous 2145 postcode and who had not heard of this restaurant until last week, when I went with two colleagues before a night shift who had together eatern there in excess of ten times.

We started with the Fish Amritsari ($14). This was actually really good. The batter was very lightly applied and crispy. The flavouring was very lightly spicy and salted, to the appropriate degree, and the chunks of fish were thick and moist. This was on the higher side of the quality scale of what I had pictured ordering (I’ve had a few middling renditions recently) and I would get this again.

The Murgh Makhni (Butter Chicken) ($21) was fine. A bit on the sweeter side to what I’ve had previously. The size was good, not served in some tiny pot.

The Shahi Korma Lamb ($22) I was less fond of. Our waitress questioned the table’s choice of choosing two sweet curries with not even a hint of spice, but this is what the people wanted. Irregards I don’t think a spicier lamb curry would’ve saved it. I just didn’t love that the pieces of lamb meat were quite solid and tough.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a Cheese and Garlic Naan ($5) I didn’t love. Not the best ever garlic and cheese naan of my life (the bread from nearby Mazaidar in North Parramatta is a strong recommend for me), but no complaints here.

Would I come back? Probably not ten times. But that fish was great.

Ginger Indian Restaurant
94 Wigram St, Harris Park NSW 2150

Categories
Indian

Thar Indian – Neutral Bay NSW Restaurant Review

One of the problems with being a Western Sydney Person at heart is that it’s extremely difficult to find good Indian food outside of the 2145-2150 postcode at a price that you’re willing to pay.

We visited Thar Indian in Neutral Bay on our way back from a failed mission to buy a rich divorcée timber bedroom set in Manly. Though we didn’t manage to fit any of her high quality, low priced furniture into our car, we did get a glimpse of how the other 1% lives, and an important lesson how to actually buy things from Facebook Marketplace. (Protip: with a rented van).

My partner was hungry on the drive back, and so we spent almost as much as we would’ve on a timber queen bed, two bedside tables, and a tallboy dresser on Indian food.

It’s hard to consider either the Bombay Beef (a curry cooked in potatoes) ($21.90) or the Butter Chicken (a similar price) particularly memorable. They were good, yes, but not extraordinary, and not so much better than what I’ve been making recently at home with my own two hands and a poor understanding of how to follow instructions from Youtube.

Bread, contrastingly, is a thing I’ve yet to attempt, and the garlic naan ($5.90), cheese & garlic naan ($7.50), and keema naan ($7.90) were all fresh, oily, and delicious. Let me know in the comments if you have a source in the Inner West or Western Sydney for something from the freezer aisle.

Does Udaya carry something good?

Thar Indian
75 Military Rd, Neutral Bay NSW 2089
0408 756 424

Categories
Indian

Not Just Curries – Harris Park NSW Restaurant Review

We needed to find somewhere local to eat one night when I was on call for strokes. The idea was to have a quick in and out meal, at a place where I could still be back at work within the requisite period to do a quick NIHSS. The quick in and out bit didn’t go quite to plan, but the food was great.

The pappadums were free because they forgot to make our order for 45 minutes. My partner generally likes pappadums, I have no strong interest in them, but I’m happy we didn’t have to pay $1 each for them.

This half tandoori chicken ($18) was great. Such good flavours, whilst remaining not too salty, and so juicy on the inside as well. Served on a sizzling hot plate.

We had some keema naan ($8), garlic naan ($5), and cheese garlic naan ($7). No complaints about the quality here, though I guess it is a bit expensive at $5-8 per bread.

I was a bit embarassed about ordering the Dehli style butter chicken ($25), but this was actually a bit spicy, as well as yummy. It was, as the kids would say, ‘bomb’.

This kulfi, Indian style ice cream with pistachio, was also comped as an apology for the lateness of the meal. It tasted good, and at $7 is a nice novel thing to try. Though we were a bit miffed at waiting quite a while for our food, the subsequent service and free stuff more than made up for it. They were very apologetic.

Can recommend.

NB: This post was originally titled “I Love Curries”. Though I do, this is not the name of the restaurant. (Corrected March 2025)

Not Just Curries
66 Wigram St, Harris Park NSW 2150
(02) 9893 8202

Categories
Indian

Kohlis Indian Restaurant – Nowra NSW Restaurant Review

Kohli’s is at least one of my nursing colleagues’ favourite Indian restaurant in Nowra. It is so highly regarded in the local area, that some online reviewers have taken to comparing it to the quality of South Asian food available in the golden 7.5km stretch between Pendle Hill and Harris Park. Keen to fact-check these claims against my hood, I took an unscheduled trip to Kohli’s on one of my last days in town, waiting no less than five minutes at the front of the restaurant in confusion before my existence was acknowledged.

This fish amritsari ($14.50) was not bad. The fish was appropriately soft, tender, and moist, though the batter was grainer than I’m used to. I’m certainly no expert in Indian cuisine though, so perhaps this is just a known normal variant. Not bad.

The cheese-garlic naan ($6.20) was also not bad. What I got matched what was written on the tin, though did not quite reach the dizzying heights of say Mazaidar Foods in Sydney’s subcontinental heartland, with it lacking a certain moistness of freshly tandoored bread.

The butter chicken ($22.90) the dish that Sid and Emma told me I had to try. Imagine their surprise when this review comes out after hanging in the queue for like 2 years in 2024. It was not bad, but again I think it’s probably unfair for me to compare Indian food from regional NSW to a restaurant like Nawaz Flavour of India in Glebe which had one that was exceptional.

OVERALL COMMENTS
I’m sorry that you came to this site for a review of an Indian restaurant in Nowra only to find recommendations for alternate restaurants a 150km detour away. The food at Kohli’s was certainly very normal, I think I am just an extremely picky eater given I grew up in Western Sydney. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Kohli’s if you’re in town and absolutely fanging for a butter chicken, but I also don’t think that it reaches the point where it’s clearly on the top tier of restaurants in and around town. (DTC felt similarly, though we did not eat together)

It might also be worth hiring an extra guy to wait tables around peak periods.

Kohli’s Indian Restaurant Nowra
116 Kinghorne St, Nowra NSW 2541
(02) 4421 0300

Categories
Indian

Nawaz Flavour of India – Glebe NSW Restaurant Review

Allow me to walk you through the items on Nawaz Flavour of India’s $41.50pp banquet menu, eaten in their private dining room with 20 colleagues. Though I am by no means an expert in Indian cuisine, it is currently my eleventh non-consecutive year living along the train line between Harris Park and Seven Hills.

The starters started us off strong.

The chicken tikka may have been the best I’ve ever had in my life. They were thick pieces that managed to remain tender and juicy both inside and out, with the perfect quantity and quality of flavouring.

The seek kebab were meaty and juicy, good but not quite as standout as the extraordinary tikka.

This jam was wild. Fruity and unexpected.

This Fish Pakora was extremely good. Again, very juicy and moist on the inside. Like the chicken tikka this fish was also able to avoid being too oversalted, something I can’t say for a number of my local restaurants. Also the best I’ve had.

I didn’t care too much for the Samosas, to be honest. They were very standard, potato stuff. But the other starters were great.

The Chicken Butter Masala was good, maintaining the tenderness of the chicken tikka that preceded it. Very mild, and widely loved. The colleague sitting next to me (JZHW) couldn’t stop talking about it.

This Dhal Makhni was my first oral introduction to dhal (having known about it as a food for some time). As a meat-eater I was less impressed. I’m a big fan of having something to chew on.

The Beef Vindaloo was good, though not particularly memorable.

Same goes for the Kashmiri Lamb.

Saffron Rice was ample.

Naan (not shown) was good in quality but unfortunately lacking in quantity, and given the volume of curry I think that we could’ve done with approximately twice as much around the table. We did order a piece of garlic naan (pictured) to share, though I don’t know if this was charged for on top of what we paid for the banquet.

DISCUSSION

I honestly don’t know if it’s just the fact that most of the Indian food I have is delivered after 9PM when all the non-Indian restaurants are closed, but fish pakora and chicken tikka at Nawaz were both the best I’ve ever had. Definitely worth a visit.

Nawaz Flavour of India
142a Glebe Point Rd, Sydney NSW 2037
(02) 9692 0662