The Little India Restaurant

Where: 155 Musgrave Road, Berea

Open: Daily 10am to 10pm

Call: 031 201 1121

The Poet and her family wanted to go back to Little India on Musgrave Road. It has been a while since we had both eaten there, so I was happy to join them on a rainy Tuesday evening.

It’s a large restaurant, overly lit, with a side balcony overlooking the street. The tables are covered in plastic cloths that reflect the light (so apologies for the pictures). Ditto the menus. But it’s comfortable and our waitress greets us warmly.

The menu covers the full gamut of North and South India, plus there’s an Indo-Chinese menu and a range of local Durban Style curries and bunnies.

We started with some items out of the tandoori over and shared these. I enjoyed the Seekh kebab (R145). The meat was nice and juicy while not being overly hot. The whole still had texture, as so often this is ground to a paste. The chicken tikka (R115) too was a success - juicy although this carried a surprising spice kick. They were served with lemon and a simple salad and a coriander chutney. Kathik was critical of the paneer tikka, wanting it to have had longer marination in the spices, but I enjoyed the charcoal flavours that came from the tandoori oven.

We also ordered a plain dosa (R70) which was nice and crisp and I enjoyed the flavour of the dhal that went with it, while avoiding the coconut chutney.

Mains saw us all going in different directions. Vivek’s lamb kadai (R130) being the pick of the curries. Ordered medium, it was not overly hot and just had a lovely depth of flavour. The aloo paratha (R45) that went with it needed longer in the pan. I really enjoyed my prawn Chettinad (R150) which had the bold pepper notes this southern curry is known for. I mopped it up with good butter naan (R22). Both Kathik and Vivek gave it the thumbs up.

Arjun’s rogan josh (R130) was enjoyable, if a little heavy on the tomato, but that may just be suffering from a comparison with the kadai. While Karthik enjoyed his paneer tikka masala (R110) served with rice.

The Poet ordered crispy chilli chicken (R115) from the Indo-Chinese menu with a plate of Szechuan veg noodles (R80). Both were bizarre. I could smell the cloying scent of the sweet and sour sauce in the chicken from the other side of the table. The chicken wasn’t particularly crispy either, and the noodles were heavy and dense - and surprisingly hot. The Poet described them as Indian roadside style where they’re cooked in curry sauce rather than soy with chillies. Sadly both dishes confirmed my bias against Indo-Chinese.

I enjoyed the kulfi (R55) afterwards which had a good hit of cardamom and plenty of nuts. It was a refreshing end to a substantial meal.

Next time I’d like to try their Durban style lamb curry.

Food: 3

Service: 3 ½

Ambience: 2 ½

The Bill: R1541 for five