By Franz Scheurer
Situated next to KFC on Pacific Highway in Lindfield, this unpretentious suburban restaurant serves food with, as their menu states, ‘Flavours from the East’.
The small space, although quite stark, is bright and friendly and the less than swish chairs comfortable. They use good linen complemented by reasonable table and stemware and although licensed, welcome BYO.
The menu is unashamedly Indian and the wine list is quite acceptable. We started with ‘Calamari with ginger and holy basil’, kada (Indian wok) tossed calamari with a little ginger and a lot of holy basil. I am glad that this first dish did not set the tone for the rest of the meal. The calamari were rubbery and the whole dish was bland, boring and lacking in salt. The ‘Lamb Shanks Panjun-style’ were slow cooked with brewed vinegar and brown onions. This dish was terrific. Succulent, gelatinous, spicy but not too hot it convinced with both its flavour and its generous size. The ‘Butter Chicken’, my companion’s benchmark dish, was excellent as well, the meat succulent and the sauce thick and palate-coating, and a perfect match with the tangy-sweet mango chutney. A dish of ‘Baigan ka salan’, eggplants cooked with cashew nuts and Hyderbadi spices had good texture and worked very well together with the protein dishes. A small side dish of Dahl was a little runnier than I would have liked. We ordered Roti, plain Naan and Paratha instead of rice and the naan was outstanding. To scoop up morsels of food bread and pop it in one’s mouth is a real pleasure and something that takes me back in time. All I could do was chew happily whilst humming Duke Ellington’s Mood Indigo; what a magic combination. We shared a very good ‘Zaffran ka Metha’, an Indian style pannacotta flavoured with saffron and rose water and served with thin slivers of dried paw paw.
Apart from the first dish, the food is really very good. The service is very friendly, efficient and the timing is great. Value for money is excellent and if you feel like some Indian food that is very well spiced without being hot, I can thoroughly recommend this place.
Score: 6/10
For more information or bookings:
Indigo Restaurant
304 Pacific Highway
Lindfield NSW 2070
Tel.: 02 9416 1229