Address: 4/323 Parnell Road
Phone: 09 358 2969
Website: athidi.co.nz
Cuisine: Indian
Rating: 7/10
Maybe it's all the talk of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, but I've been craving Indian food lately.
Seeking something a bit special I headed to Parnell where Athidi on Parnell, makes the claim of serving fine Indian cuisine.
Located in the old historic village, all quaint and colonial, it looks out over the Auckland Domain and back towards the city skyline. With daylight saving and a big sunny veranda this makes for the perfect place to enjoy outdoor dining, as you watch the sun slowly sinking over the city.
Arriving ahead of my friend, I had time to take in the dining room at Athidi. The standard photo of the Taj Mahal graced one wall while a half-hearted sari draped another and a shelf nearby sported a variety of delicate brass ornaments. The decor felt a little tired but as soon as the place filled up, and with the staff being such exceptionally gracious hosts, the place was buzzing and it felt like we were part of a big Indian dinner party.
Indian food can be deceptively rich and filling so I've learned to be wary of filling up on starters, as tempting as they always seem. Instead, we ordered from the vast selection of vegetarian and non-vegetarian mains, requesting that they all be brought out at the same time so we could have a veritable Indian feast.
In parts of India where vegetarian food predominates it always makes me laugh that restaurants that do serve meat are advertised as "Non-Vegetarian" in their signage. If it's not mentioned, you can assume the restaurant serves only vegetarian food.
The menu at Athidi follows suit to some extent with vegetarian dishes up front and a section described as "Non Vegetarian" to depict the meat, chicken and seafood dishes.
Because of the great selection of non-meat dishes on offer at Athidi, we two, of definite carnivorous persuasion, surprised ourselves by ordering a couple. The dal makhni, was rich and velvety. I'm not sure if I'm just highly suggestible, but the menu mentioned that this black lentil dish cooks on a slow fire overnight and I swear I could detect the smoky flavour underneath the subtle spices of ginger and garlic. This is true Indian comfort food.
Malai kofta is another favourite dish of mine and the version at Athidi was excellent. These soft little dumplings, made with cottage cheese and potato, were so light and fluffy they floated in the creamy cashew nut gravy. In this dish the hero spice was cardamom - that wonderful and often used ingredient in India that transcends both sweet and savoury cuisine.
But before you begin to wonder if I've turned all veggie on you, fear not, we included some non-vegetarian dishes in our banquet.
Our waitress was helpful in steering us towards mains that would be distinct from one another so that we didn't suffer from they-all-taste-a-bit-similar syndrome that can happen with Indian food.
The trick is to sample from the different regions, as the cuisine is unique to each, and the menu at Athidi allows for this with dishes from a variety of regions being represented. So, although I wanted to order a curry from South India, our waitress, knowing that we also wanted the Goan fish curry, encouraged us to head north instead and try the saagwala.
I couldn't have been happier with the recommendation. With tender pieces of chicken cooked in a rich, pureed spinach sauce, it was lively with fresh coriander and not weighed down with cream.
The Goan fish curry - gurnard cooked in coconut cream, vinegar and chillies - was spicy, sour and delicious though the fish was slightly strong in taste which marred the balance of this curry, and made me ponder at the freshness of it on this Sunday night.
An Indian salad of cucumber, carrot, green chillies and a sprinkle of chat masala added zing and freshness to our meal, though the amount of chunky slices of red onion made my eyes water and I couldn't get far with it.
But perhaps it acted as a digestive because, even after all that food, I had room for an Indian sweet that in my opinion, stands way above the rest - gulab jamun. Sweet milky dumplings served warm and drowned in rosewater syrup.
Though sickly sweet, I adore them for their perfumed flavour and, served in their cut-glass dishes these were a fitting end to our banquet.
Athidi is gracious and authentic and they certainly deserve a medal for their efforts in serving tasty Indian cuisine.
From the menu: Malai kofta $13, dal makhni $13, chicken saag $13, Goan fish curry $21.90, Indian salad $6.50, naan $3, poppadam $3, gulab jamun $10.
Drinks: Fully licensed.
