Oh Calcutta, Parnell

Bhavana Patel with Oh Calcutta's manfoori kebab and sweet chilli duck with plain naan. Picture / Carolyn Robertson

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It was a hell week at work so it was three or four days before I caught up with the Valley Girl.

She was still on a fast simmer. "I can't remember the last time that I enjoyed food so much," she told me. Which is no small compliment to the chef because the Valley Girl - unlike so many of her generation - does not shrink from letting anyone know how much she enjoys food.

Nor - again unlike so many of her generation - does she object to fish, fowl or flesh. Or all of the above at one sitting. "Bring it on," is her attitude.

Much to the surprise of our waiter who took our orders that night, repeated them back, and then ventured a tentative opinion. "May I just suggest," he offered, "that you may have a little too much food here? Perhaps, sir, if you were to reconsider the ... "

"I don't think so," the Valley Girl said in a tone that removed any suggestion of further debate on the matter.

I'm sure that if he'd heard the conversation, Anand Patel would have applauded. Over a decade he has refined Oh Calcutta to the point where many insist it is the country's best Indian restaurant. .

These are hot times for Indian and other Asian foods, though Patel has lamented that 90 per cent of New Zealanders order butter chicken and suggested people try executive chef Meena Anand's chicken makhanwala or if they were adventurous, sweet chilli duck or a vindaloo.

We were going to be adventurous. Our road trip through the subcontinent would stop off at the tandoori prawn (marinated in yoghurt and spices, gently cooked in the tandoor), fish tikka (hapuka fillets wrapped in the green masala of coriander, seven herbs and spices then smoked); mansor kebab (lamb cutlets marinated in red spices and aromatics, skewered and boiled over charcoal); and a baby - I'd have said healthy teenager - snapper that had been marinated, skewered and smoke-roasted in the tandoor. Honourable mention to Anand's sweet chilli duck - boneless, cooked with roasted cumin, roasted spices such as cloves, brown cardamom and aniseed before finishing with fresh curry leaves, chilli and garlic.

Finally channa masala, chickpeas cooked in a lightly spiced tomato and onion gravy, because our mothers told us that we must have vegetables on the side of the plate. Or in our case, the table. Oh, and little dishes of cucumber and yoghurt raita because that sort of stuff is healthy. In moderation.

In our defence, five (give or take a few) of those dishes were entree-size. "There are just so many gorgeous things on this menu, I could eat them all," said the Valley Girl. "I want to come back tomorrow." So on balance I feel we were quite restrained.

We had a slight difference of opinion over the beverages, she sticking to the view of the great 1930s gastronome Andre Simon that the only match for curry is iced water while I go along with modern wine guys who say you can experiment with gewurztraminer, Australian dry riesling, softer shiraz with lamb tikka masala, New Zealand sauvignon blanc.

I experimented with Allan Scott's 2004 sauvignon blanc from a fairly priced wine list ($34 bottle). It matched most of the dishes apart from the whole snapper. I can't report on that because I didn't get a look in.

We thought about dessert but dismissed that as unnecessary self-indulgence. Ditto, a taxi. We walked. "You know, that waiter was probably right," reflected the Valley Girl around Symonds St. "I think you were greedy to have the lamb entree and the duck curry. One of those would have been quite enough."

Address: 151 Parnell Rd

Ph: 377 9090, 0800 CURRY OUT

Owner: Anand Patel

Executive chef: Meena Anand

Food: Indian

On the menu: Tandoori chicken (chicken marinated in spices and paprika) $18.50

Saag Ghosht (Punjabi lamb curry finished in pureed spinach, spiced with fenugreek) $17.50

Goan fish curry (fillet cooked in tomato and coriander sauce, finished with lemon and coconut cream) $16.95

Dal Makhani (stewed black lentils, finished with coriander) $13.95

Vegetarian: All over the place

Wine: Reasonable list, good prices

Bottom line: Over a decade Anand Patel and Meena David have refined Oh Calcutta to the point where many insist that it is the best Indian restaurant in the country. Avoid the predictable, venture into chicken makhanwala or sweet chilli duck.