Author: Alex

Taj Tandoor, Adelaide

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date of visit:  Friday 20 August 2010

Our previous trip to the Taj Tandoor, on Rundle Street, was towards the end of last year, quite late on a busy Saturday night. On that occasion we enjoyed our food but were left underwhelmed by the service.

We headed for a return visit on Friday night – this time very early in the piece (around 6:30pm) and the restaurant was easily half empty. It filled up rapidly in the hour or so we were there, so if you want to eat slightly later on a Friday night then booking is recommended.

Actually, booking isn’t recommended (by me, at least) – because the sloppy service we experienced last year hasn’t improved and our experience on Friday night was (and I’m being kind here) laughable.

We arrived without a booking and, despite the large number of empty spaces, finding us a table turned in to a two man operation. This kind of redundancy was evident throughout our meal … if a job could be done by one person you could pretty much guarantee it would be done by two or more. There appeared to be a clear hierarchy which meant that staff wasted time deferring to at least one other person before making decisions.

This is particularly frustrating when you’re waiting for a drink and pappadums! We were actually given menus while waiting for a table but, when seated, had to wait a surprisingly long time for a drinks order to be taken. Naturally, we weren’t surprised when our drinks took a while to turn up …

The icing on the bad service cake was that, at the point we were about two thirds of the way through our entrées, literally, still with knives and forks in hand, we were approached by a waitress who asked if we were ready for our main courses. What? Mid mouthful am I really expected to answer that? What made her think that we would be ready?

It struck me as odd that, in a restaurant so eager to turn tables we would have to wait to pay our bill. But wait we did … as two people doubled up on register work, sorting bills, dockets, receipts … This meant that neither paid very much attention to us as the restaurant took our money. What an excellent way to make your customers feel valued.

You’ve probably realised that we won’t be rushing back, but clearly this is a popular Adelaide eatery, and if you can forgive bad service you might be interested in the food, which we feels falls in the ‘pretty good’ category.

I started with a very nice mango lassi, which I scoffed before almost any food arrived. I began my meal with the vegetable pakoras and Andy with the fish tikka. Both of these dishes suffered from being reheated – in the case of the fish, very much so, as it was really quite rubbery – the knife was keen on bouncing off the flesh than separating the flakes. The pakoras were in a lot better shape – a little tough but tasty nonetheless.

For main course I had a plate of the dahl with a buttery, buttery naan and Andy had the lamb rogan josh with pulao rice. The dahl had a good heat to it and was rich and creamy (and was perfectly mopped up by the naan) and Andy really enjoyed his lamb – it was tender and the sauce was rich, redolent with cloves and finished with a lovely sour tang.

But that’s not enough for me to put myself through the sloppy service mill again.T here are many good curry restaurants in Adelaide with service several notches above that at the Taj Tandoor. And, of course, there’s always the problem that an excellent curry can be produced at home – a restaurant really does need to offer something a bit extra whether it sits on Rundle Street or not.

I doubt we’ll be giving the Taj Tandoor the opportunity for third time lucky for a while …

Taj Tandoor on Urbanspoon

Spicy Chicken Stir Fry

- Alex 3 Comments

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Wow. That sounds like an exciting and different thing to cook and eat … but before you skip to the next recipe give me a chance to sell this one to you!

We eat Chinese food quite rarely (that’s my fault – I have found relatively few dishes that I actually like) but while in Sydney recently we both enjoyed a Szechuan dish which involved beef and a lot of chilli and cumin. Flicking through Ching He Huang’s Chinese Food Made Easy* in search of dinner inspiration we came across the wordily named “spiced beef stir-fry topped with spring onion and coriander” that sounded like it came very close to the Sydney original.

The recipe calls for beef fillet – which, at our butcher, was just $42 a kilo. Ouch. For a stir fry, laden with chilli? We quickly changed our minds and opted for one large chicken breast (around 200g) as a fiscally sound substitute. The only other things we needed to pick up on our shopping trip were some fresh coriander and a bunch of spring onions.

This super tasty dish is perfect for a quick supper because there’s no marinading required. When you’re ready to eat, beat the chicken breast flat and then slice very finely before coating with a mix of 1 tbsp of ground cumin, 1 tablespoon of chilli flakes (go gently here if you, or your guests, aren’t in to really spicy food), half a tsp of black pepper and a sprinkle of sea salt. Ensure the chicken is well coated. You can always do this in advance if you want but if you’re hungry, heat some oil in a wok and add the chicken. Have the oil hot and quickly stir fry the chicken (you’ve sliced it really finely, haven’t you?), so it starts to brown. Then add a splash of rice wine vinegar and a splash of soy sauce. This dish isn’t saucy – you’re just adding a bit of seasoning.

Take the wok off the heat and mix through 2 finely chopped spring onions and a very generous large handful of roughly chopped coriander.

We served with a generous portion of plain rice and a simple side of green beans, steamed and fried off with some onions, garlic, chilli, sesame oil and pepper. Also very simple and tasty. But it would work just as well in a tortilla or pita bread …

So often with cooking, I need to refer to a recipe to stop me from adding the entire contents of the spice drawer to a dish. This is a perfect example of this – it’s almost a store cupboard recipe but it has loads of flavour and, as you eat it, the chilli heat builds and builds.

One we’ll definitely be having again and again and we’d even be happy to share it with guests!  Absolutely delicious.

*Also available from Amazon UK, Amazon US or Fishpond Australia.

Steak and Ale Pie

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One of the things I miss about England is the monthly magazine that almost every supermarket produces. Mostly, these magazines are free (although the ones you pay for are usually well worth it – quite a few Waitrose Food Illustrateds and Sainsbury magazines are still in my collection): they consist of a lot of advertising in various guises but almost always have a good selection of recipes.

This recipe for steak and ale pie is based on one that originally appeared in such a magazine, produced by the now defunct supermarket, Safeway. It’s really easy (so don’t be frightened if you’ve never made a pie before!) but very tasty – make extra and any that doesn’t fit in pie dishes works just as well with some mash as a stew.

The only thing you can’t do here is rush. You want to simmer the mixture for at least an hour and a half so you may prefer to make the filling one day and construct the pie the next …

This take on things produces enough filling to make two (generous) one person pies as well as a more normal sized two person pie.

Start with 750g of diced beef (I used blade), toss it in seasoned flour and brown, in batches, in olive oil over a moderate to high heat. Set the beef to one side, reduce the heat and then add two onions cut into wedges, two peeled, sliced carrots and some whole, but peeled, garlic cloves. I say ‘some’ because you know how much garlic you do or don’t like. Because it’s braised along with the beef it’s not a super strong flavour.

Allow this mix to soften for a few minutes, before adding 375mL of real ale (I used Black Sheep, bought at vast expense from a local bottle shop – but you do need to use a good quality beer with plenty of flavour), 200mL water and 2 tbsp of tomato paste. Bring this to the boil, then add some thyme and bayleaves before covering and simmering for at least 1 &func12; hours. After this time, when the meat is tender, you may wish to increase the heat and remove the lid to thicken up the sauce.

And that, with just a handful of ingredients and hardly any effort, is your pie filling.

Allow the filling to cool and, if necessary, reserve some of the gravy. If you like lots of pastry (and yes, we do!), grease your pie dish(es) and line with shortcrust pastry. Brush the edges of the pastry with egg, add the filling and top with puff pastry, sealing the edges well. Finish by ensuring there’s an air vent (if you have a pie funnel, even better) and glaze with beaten egg.

Bake at 200°C (non-fan) for a good 45 mins (longer if you’ve made one massive pie), until the pie is golden and you can’t wait any longer.

You may wish to serve with vegetables or salad on the side or you may wish to just scoff the rich, warm, pastry goodness!