GOAT
Cuisine: Indian
Phone: (09) 377 7414
Address: 12 Wyndham St, CBD
Drinks: Fully licensed
Reservations: Accepted
From the menu: Fried fish $28; fried dahl $22; prawn balchao $28; Afghani chicken $26; roast ghee $23; beef shortrib $36; “The Goat” $39; chili paratha $6; garlic naan $6
Rating: 16/20
Score:
I asked the waiter at Goat if he could select some dishes for us and he said “Of course. How hungry are you out of 10?”
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Advertise with NZME.We replied, unwisely as it turned out, that we were somewhere around an eight. He took this to mean that we hadn’t eaten for some weeks, and that only by consuming every single item on the menu would we have any chance of surviving through the night.
“The number eight means something different to an Indian,” he explained to me later as I lay prostrate on the floor, begging him to stop bringing me plates of food. Apparently, just as non-Indian New Zealanders have learnt to appreciate the difference between Kiwi Hot and Indian Hot, we also need to be cautious when describing how hungry we are. In both cases, “medium” is your best bet.
You won’t often find me complaining about an Indian feast but I will say that the sheer number of dishes made it a little harder to understand and appreciate each individual creation. That excellent waiter did his best to explain them in a memorable way but the room was working against him: Goat is a long wooden box and noise is a bit of an issue. If you think it’ll affect your conversation, look for a four-seater table and see if they have room to let you sit together on one side.
Nobody is working harder than this team to make their new restaurant a success. They spotted that I was a reviewer early and really laid the service on thick (this happens less often than you might think and ultimately, though it changes the experience, can’t mask a bad restaurant, or a good one). Despite their hyper-regular check-ins I liked them a lot – including the chef, who headed the kitchen at Prego for some years before opening this new place, an Indian restaurant specialising in lesser-known regional dishes from across the subcontinent and beyond.
“My favourite match with Indian food is Central Otago pinot noir” said the waiter, delivering the German riesling I’d just ordered. He explained in quite compelling detail why this was, including the way common spice notes in the wine matched the spices often used in curries.
“I’ll know what to order next time!” I said, noncommittally, but he had already walked off with a determined look on his face and returned with a bottle of pinot for us to test his theory. It was quite lovely though I made a mental note not to talk aloud about anything that might be nice, lest he immediately bring it to us. It’s a bit like when you visit a home in the Pacific and say “I like your clock”, then watch in horror as the whole family scrambles madly to take it down off the wall and stuff it into your luggage as a gift.
Despite all the food, I noticed Goat didn’t serve us any rice, but I dared not mention it even as small talk. The next day I asked my friend Gaurav what he thought and he nodded approvingly. Rice with curry is a Western thing he said. Back in India rice is more of an optional dish if you’re in the mood.
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This authenticity runs through the menu, which is full of dishes you would only find in India (or Afghanistan, or Pakistan). From the fried fish of Lahore in the north to a vinegary prawn balchao of Goa in the south, eating at Goat feels like a genuine culinary adventure.
What to order? From the entree menu I loved the paneer, served in soft, handmade slices roasted in ghee and served with a fiery coconut-tomato sauce. If you’re interested, the geographical origin of each dish is noted on the menu and I shall be planning a trip to Mangalore, south of Goa, if I ever realise my dream of an Indian food holiday.
The meat dishes are heavy but really lovely. They tend to cook things bone-in which is better for flavour and tenderness, though of course it’s a little more work to eat. No problem with the beef short rib, where the meat is so perfectly soft it slips off the bone easily, but the signature goat requires a bit more work – worth it, obviously, though your knifing and forking is further obstructed by a full head of garlic, roasted and placed on top of the meat so you can smash it up and stir it round like an Indian bibimbap.
There are some solid vegetarian options – eggplant in particular is colourful, spicy and intensely yummy. It’s halved and roasted and then decorated with pickled red onion and garlic cloves and would be more than enough of a main for someone avoiding meat. They could start with a beautiful fried dahl dish – little balls of moong in the style of falafels but so unbelievably soft despite their time in hot oil. They’re served in a little bowl garnished with fresh condiments including green chutney and daikon.
A few weeks ago, census figures showed that Indians are now New Zealand’s third-largest ethnic group. As their beautiful local population grows and flourishes, it feels appropriate that Auckland now has restaurants that go well beyond rogan josh and tandoori chicken.
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