Himalayan Kitchen

I worked a six day week this week and we decided to celebrate my only night off with a nice dinner out in North Adelaide.

It was a lovely little place, very homely. with beutiful photos of Nepal on the wall and some interesting wall ornaments.



After a long look at the many options on the Menu (Sorry it's such a bad photo)


We started with a bottle of Tasmanian Pinot,



And picked 2 mains and a handful of sides instead of starters.

There was a bit of a delay in the kitchen so these Pakora arrived at our table with a spicy potato dip in the centre,

They were very taty in a chickpea batter, with a tasty little salad to go with.



Our mains arrived and looked and smelled wonderful.


The Boy chose the Goat from the main menu "Slow cooked Tender Goat in traditional Tibetan manner enriched with mustard oil and fenugreek" $21.90


I chose the Organic Spinach Chicken Curry "Oven cooked with ginger, garlic and tomato, in spinach puree, with optional chilli" $22.95


For our sides we chose Aloo Achar "Spicy potato salad, made with peas,onion, lemon juice, red chilli and a mustard oil dressing $7.00


and Pickle "Hot tomato and garlic" $2.00 Not at all what we were expecting but really tasty.


And of course Dal "Traditional red lentals simmered with cumin and garlic $7.50
I think dal is a great way to judge the quality of the kitchen, If the dal is so good you'd be happy to just have it for your meal you know the rest of the food is going to be good.

Dinner was fantastic, Probably not the best Nepalese in Adelaide that title still belongs to Namaste in Parkside but really tasty food in a place we would't usually hang out.

We had an Entertainment voucher $20 off our bill. It was still expensive but nice for a special night out.


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Open Tue,Sun 5pm-10pm;
Wed-Thu 5pm-10:30pm;
Fri-Sat 5pm-11pm

66 Melbourne St
North Adelaide SA 5006
(08) 8267 3037

Maya Masala Restaurant

Me and the Boy were in town on Friday night and decided to treat ourselves to Maya. Let me start by saying I've been to this restaurant before and had wonderful service, great food and rolled away from the experience with a full tummy and happy memories. Unfortunately this visit did not live up to our expectations.

Firstly the restaurant was not busy, but we were seated at the worst table in the house, It rocked whenever you put your glass down and was next to the Toilets with a cold draft from the street door whenever anyone came or went. I'm not the most assertive of people so we didn't ask to change tables. We did ask for napkins to put under the table to stop it rocking and spilling our drinks but they never appeared.

Secondly the staff have always been relaxed and created a lovely environment to settle in with a bottle of wine. Not tonight, our waiter was pushy and insistent. I felt like I was in a fast food joint and they were trying to get us out the door. Whilst we were browsing the wine list and discussing the menu, the waiter asked us 4 times if we were ready to order and If we wold like poppadoms to start, REALLY pushing the poppadoms. (we probably would have had poppadoms if he hadn't been so insistent). we were trying to chat about the menu, They had dishes that my southern Indian work colleagues used to tell me about and The boy has traveled through India but the Waiter kept interrupting whenever we mentioned a dish and asked if we wanted it for starter.

Our wine for the evening was a Skillogalee Take Two Shiraz Cabernet, Quite a nice drop.

We decided on 2 different thalis then we would share, a non vegetarian thali and a Punjabi thali, The waiter then tried to up sell us to both getting the Punjabi thali as it turned out the non-vegetarian thali was just the Punjabi thali without the chicken tandoori. SO a quick change of plan and I went for the seafood thali.


The Punjabi Thali had; Tandoori Chicken, Riata (a bit too sour for me, I didn't like it), Dal (Not as nice as I remember the first time we were here, Quite bland and watery), Mild Paneer curry. Goat curry (The tastiest dish we had), Butter Chicken served with Rice, naan pickle and a poppadom a sweet pudding dish with a creamy rice and nuts. $19.50


The Seafood Thali had the same Riatta, Dhal and pudding, also fried fish (a little chewy), a fish curry and a prawn curry, The prawn curry contained 1 prawn! Disapointing. $19.50

I'm hoping we just hit it on a bad night and it has not come under new management or anything?


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Maya Masala Restaurant
10 Market Street (just off Gouger St)
Adelaide
08 8231 1177

Auld Christmas

In Shetland we celebrate Auld Christmas on the 6th of jan. This is Christmas day by the Julian calendar. When the change over was made from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar in the Britain Wednesday 2 September 1752 was followed by Thursday 14 September 1752. Some people saw this as 12 days being stolen and wanted there days back. The 25th of December would be the 6th of January on the new calendar so Christmas was moved too.

This is an old tradition, Christmas is now mainly celebrated on the 25th of December, but we also celebrate on the 6th of January by visiting family and friends. Me and the boy decided to keep this tradition by going out for a nice dinner somewhere we wouldn't usually go.

We went to Jasmin Indian Restaurant at Hindmarsh square in the CBD. Jasmin celebrates it's 29th birthday this year and has just been awarded "Best Indian Restaurant in Australia" at the 2008 Restaurant & Catering Association Awards for Excellence.

The menu was wonderful with too much to choose so went went with the "feed me" banquet where you choose whether you are hungry or starving, we went with hungry and still had more than we could manage.

We started with Tikka Prawns, they had a crispy coating on the outside and they were very tasty.

Tandoori Chicken "Boneless pieces of chicken lightly marinated and cooked in the tandoor." These were nice but not as wonderful as I was expecting after the prawns

and perhaps Alu Tikkas "Potato patties as only Mrs., Singh can prepare." These reminded me of fishcakes without any fish

The prawn came with a wonderful sweet chilli sauce that tasted like it had capsicum in it too, the other two were served with a mint sauce, so scrummy

Then we had 2nd Starters!
Samosas "Meat, vegetables and spices wrapped in a light pastry, a specialty of the house." This was nice almost like a filo pastry.

and Tandoori Mushrooms "A large mushroom marinated in balsamic vinegar and coriander and cooked in the tandoor." These were delicious! so juicy and full of flavour.

For our mains we had

Bhoona Ghosht "A full-flavored medium to hot lamb curry prepared to an old family recipe."Butter Chicken "Boneless pieces of chicken cooked in butter, coriander, tomato and ginger to produce the most popular dish served from the kitchen." and vegetable accompaniment from the specials menu, potato with green beans.

This was served with Tandoori baked Naan bread, Mango Chutney, Cucumber Raita, Papadams and of course rice.

Our second mains were
Beef Vindaloo "one of Mrs. Singh’s most outstanding creations. A favorite with those who like it hot." and Cheese Naan "a house specialty."

This was amazing tasty food far more than we needed and we ate far more than we should.

The banquet cost $44 per person.

We walked, or should I say rolled as our bellies were so full, down to Gouger Street to my favourite wine bar cork. We were in here shortly after it opened and had a lovely chat with the owner, he suggests wines you might like and gives wonderful tasters before you make your decision, it's a tiny little place but it has a lovely atmosphere and is perfectly situated opposite the markets.