Urban Tadka is well known in the foodie groups. It's Indian Fine Dining at its finest. I had the pleasure of visiting Urban Tadka last year and head back to check out their new menu recently. Mr Weekend Food Escapes loves Indian cuisine.
The venue itself is beautifully presented and there's a function on today for a birthday in the Urban Tadka function centre next store. It's a modern up market atmosphere but the buzz of people chatting and laughing away makes it feel warm.
A great way to start the meal is with some Mini papadums with three way dips ($10.50). These crispy little papadums make for great scoops for the three sauces, there's a tomato salsa, cool green mint sauce and a sweet mango chutney. I personally find papadums incredibly addictive and before I know it - all the papadums are gone. It's a great way to warm up the tastebuds. I recommend.
Now for some modern plating - Urban Tadka has this dish called the Crispy Taco Chat with crispy fried wheat wafers, mash, chickpeas, mint, chilled yoghurt and tamarind chutney ($15.90). This dish is beautifully served up with additional tamarind sauces and yoghurt in syringes for your own personal food theatre. The taco shell is crunchy and the filling is smooth and soft. The tamarind sauce in particular really brings the dish together with a hit of sweet and mildly sour taste. I love this dish.
To celebrate all things in life, we also order some cocktails. By recommendation of the staff, there's the Blushing Mumtaz which is made from Hendricks, Rose Sherbert, Rose Water Drops, Shredded coconut, shaken, strained, poured over ice. This drink is tasty - sweet, colourful and likely to give you an energy booster.
By recommendation, there's also the Smoked Southside made with Ink Gin, Lime Juice, Simple syrup, Smoke Infused, shaken and strained. This purple concoction is so pretty, I feel special drinking it. This too is a sweet cocktail.
So the meal continues. Who's hungry? We share a number of other entrees including this Kasundi Paneer - cottage cheese fingers, mustard seeds, fennel, infused spiced potato ($16.90). Who can resist a firm paneer cheese? The saltiness of the cheese and the texture is very enjoyable to eat. I sip my cocktail for flavour contrast. Yum.
Mr Weekend Food Escapes comments that everything so far at Urban Tadka has been perfect. The next dish is Murgh Malai Tikka Corn Cob with breast fillet, bush spices, fresh cream, black pepper sauce and corn on the cob ($17.90). Mr Weekend Food Escape loves corn on cob and goes straight to nibbling on the corn. I delicately cut the corn off with my knife and fork and eat this with the marinated chicken. The chicken is well cooked, retaining flavour and moisture (even after we have been taking photos for some minutes).
Another protein entree is the Saloni Seekh Kebab made from minced lamb, minced chicken, lahori spices, finger limes, almond dust ($18.90). This dish is great for those who love kebabs and this reminds me of some of the middle eastern flavours that you may find. The complexity of flavours mulls over the tongue.
If you are not a meat eater and prefer seafood. You may want to consider ordering the Machi E kalmi which has Barramundi, dukkah, coconut chutney, lemon zest ($21.90). I have to say, this is one of my favourite dishes as I love barramundi. This dish has so much flavour jam packed into the fish. The cous cous soaked up those flavours and the salad makes for a refreshing contrast to those bold flavours.
The next dish, Pudina Lamb KI champein are slow cooked lamb cutlets, hung yoghurt, secret spices, garlic and chive mash ($30.90). Mr Weekend Food Escapes excitedly says they are amazing, crispy, flavourful and delicious. This is all before I even get to pick a lamb cutlet up. However as soon as I take my first bite, I quickly concur with his conclusions. This would also be a contender for one of my favourite dishes.
Can you believe, after all those dishes that we are yet up to mains? It's at this point that I get a chance to speak to one of the owners who reminisces about the flavours street side and tells me the flavours are inspired by amazing street food scene in Delhi. You can see the passion in his eyes as he relives these food memories.
I am instantly sold and order the mains that he recommends. This includes Nukkad Murgh, chicken fillets, green chillies, fresh coriander, caram seed, home ground spices ($26.90). This dish is so beautifully presented and the curry is glistening in the light. Mr Weekend Food Escapes enjoys the flavours of this curry and in particular notes the chicken is very well cooked - flavoursome and tender. He soaks this up with some rice and some naan.
There's also this eggplant dish, Shahi Patyala Baingan with seasonal dried fruits and a clarified butter cashew gravy ($23.90). Eggplant is such a versatile vegetable that soaks up all those flavours. There's a nice variety of vegetables that add textural contrast in this dish. I eat this with some garlic naan.
Mr Weekend Food Escapes takes numerous photos and then claims the Aloo Bukhara Ke kofte is his favourite. This dish is made with crispy spiced veg balls in a creamy cashew sauce, white pepper and cardamom powder ($23.90). The vegetable crispy mounds sit like small mountains surrounded by a tasty flow of curry. I must say, this cashew sauce is incredibly tasty.
No meal is complete without some naan and garlic naan. So make sure you order both to soak up all those flavours - Bur Buri Plain Naan ($3.50) or Lasuni Naan Garlic ($4.00). I personally can skip the rice but Mr Weekend Food Escapes loves rice so he puts a few spoonfuls on his plate with the cashew sauce gravy.
Wow! What a meal this has been.
After a flavour party in my mouth, we finish up with dessert.
This dessert is a combination of Mr Weekend Food Escapes favourite desserts - Kulfi and the crushed rice pudding. The dessert is the Mango and Pistachio Kulfi Falooda which has vermicelli noodles, sabja seeds, crushed rice pudding, rose sherbert, handcrafted mango ice cream and pistachio ice cream ($13.90). This has been executed extremely well with a modern twist. The Kulfi is designed to break apart in the glass as you eat this dish.
Summary: Overall, this has been an absolutely flawless meal. I am a big fan of Urban Tadka and highly recommend you visit. My favourite dishes were the barramundi, lamb cutlets and Nukkad Murgh curry. Mr Weekend Food Escapes would say his favourite was the dessert as it was modern, tasty and a combination of his favourites. Perfect!
Price: Most mains are $22-34. I would recommend ordering a number of dishes to share.
Location: 321 Mona Vale Rd, Terrey Hills, NSW
Opening Hours:
Closed Monday
Tuesday to Sunday 12pm to 12:45pm; 5:30pm to 9:45pm
What an amazing review guys... so much effort.. well done and thank you so so much. lovely photos also. Thanks again so so much .
ReplyDeleteMJx