Saturday, January 25, 2014

Masala Art Indian Restaurant

Masala Art Indian Restaurant
http://www.masalaartoz.com/ 


One becomes very money-conscious after committing to a home loan. As much as food is still an interest of mine, I notice I'm a lot more focused on coupons and online deals than I was before. I found a great three course feast coupon for Masala, which is conveniently located to us, so it was a no-brainer to pick one up online.


We used the deal last night for dinner. Masala Art Indian Restaurant is located opposite the Barracks in Paddington. Parking around there is always a challenge so we looped around and got lucky in a side street. The restaurant is bigger than we first thought. There's a long inside dining area, outside tables, and a takeaway section.
Our voucher entitled us to shared starters, a main of choice each, rice, naan bread, dessert and two glasses of wine.

We got our wine first, both selecting the house red. I don't know how long the bottle had been open for but it had the slightest vinegary quality. After a few sips, I couldn't notice anymore ;)

Pakoras and tandoori chicken

The starter plate comprised of two each of pakoras and tandoori chicken. I always love pakoras. Crispy onion fritters with yoghurt dip? Delicious. It's like a smushed-together ball of onion rings.

Naan bread - with butter chicken and lamb vindaloo

My main of choice at Indian restaurants nowadays is always butter chicken. I went through an experimental phase of trying lots of new curries with exotic descriptions but now I don't bother because I realised I like nothing better than the classic, creamy butter chicken. I have had disappointing versions of it though so I'm glad that this wasn't one of them. It was everything I like in a butter chicken: creamy, thick, slightly sweet and with ample amounts of tender chicken.

Marc chose the lamb vindaloo. We were warned by our waiter that it had a bit of heat. I tried a little bit and because I'm very chili-intolerant nowadays, I found it to be too spicy for me. Of course Marc thought it wasn't spicy enough. The lamb pieces were nice though and it smelt so good I wish I could've eaten more. I mixed bits of this sauce with my butter chicken to create an uber hybrid.

To me, an Indian feast is not complete without naan bread. If there's enough naan bread, I don't even need rice. I liked the naan bread here. It had a great garlic butter flavour and nicely charred exterior. This plus butter chicken sauce went down as such a heavenly combination that soon, I was out of both.

The rice was plain basmati. I don't normally eat rice but I'll have some if I run out of naan just to give the curry sauce something to coat onto. It might be a psychological thing but I'm so used to seeing saffron rice in Indian restaurants that the lack of yellow colouring seemed weird to me. I know that in most cases, it's just food die and minimal traces of actual saffron but you can call me crazy.

Gulab jamun

Our dessert was a ball each of the gulab jamun in sweet syrup. Most versions I've tried in the past are yellowish but this was more white. It tasted alright though I wouldn't have been able to handle more than one.

I loved the butter chicken and naan bread at Masala Art Indian Restaurant. The dining atmosphere was quiet and chilled though there was a bit of traffic on the busy road that made it more desirable to sit inside than out. Our waiter was really nice and the food arrived promptly.
Masala Art Brisbane on Urbanspoon

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