‘Unauthentic’ Aus-Indian a delight at Daughter in Law
Naan pizzas. Curry chips. A help-yourself-fridge full of craft beers. This is not a cringe-worthy novelty dreamt up to garner Insta likes, it’s bloody delicious “unauthentic” Indian, writes Dan Stock.
Eating Out
Don't miss out on the headlines from Eating Out. Followed categories will be added to My News.
“This is the best mouthful you will ever eat.”
Hyperbole? Sure, but it’s just this type of infectiously delivered grand statement that has seen Jessi Singh travel — and conquer — the world with his take on the food of his home.
From Kyneton’s Dhaba at the Mill a decade back through North Fitzroy’s Horn Please and Babu Ji — first in St Kilda, then in New York and joined by Bibi Ji in Santa Barbara — Jessi has taken subcontinental comfort out of the takeaway container and onto the plates of pretty people on two continents.
He made Indian, dare I say it, cool.
Twisting tradition into unauthentic but delicious dishes wrapped up in all the colour and drama of a Bollywood soap with a help-yourself-fridge full of craft beers to get the party started, Jessi’s brand of Indian is a fun-first riot of big-flavoured good times that takes nothing too serious. Apart from the cooking, that is.
After almost four years in the US he’s returned home, opening Don’t Tell Aunty in Sydney’s Surry Hills last year and now the similarly-themed Daughter in Law up the top end of Lt Bourke St.
What was Greek restaurant Kri Kri has been transformed into pastel pink and peacock blue room of living greenery and Bollywood movies and just enough bling to make it sing.
There’s a large bar where on-theme cocktails are being shaken — a coconut and yoghurt-spiked mai tai; a namesake tandoori-roasted pineapple and cardamom gin number, $18 — Indian pop on the stereo much more enjoyable here than on a 16-hour bus ride to Agra — while in the dining room, comfortable banquettes and velour booths takes care of duos and bigger groups respectively.
Dining with a group is a good way to go, for the large menu has much on it you’ll want to try, starting with one of the “naan pizzas”. While sounding like a cringe-worthy novelty dreamt up to garner Insta likes, these are, instead, a terrific take on crunchy dough topped with cheesy tastes.
On a thin, crisp, tandoori-smoky base, the “Don’t Tell Italians” takes tandoori chicken, capsicum and green chilli, loads them up with cheese and drizzles the lot in punchy garlic oil. It’s at once familiar yet new: pizza that’s unmistakably Indian. It’s bloody delicious ($18).
From the same wonderfully inauthentic playbook: chops and chips.
Four South Gippsland lamb cutlets are marinated over two days — first with ginger, garlic and mace; then massaged with mustard and coconut oil — before going into the tandoor and coming out smoky and tender and gnawingly good.
A bowl of “curry chips” served alongside — crunchy, thin fries dusted in a blend of green mango powder, mint, fenugreek and dried Kashmiri chillies — nails the here-and-there double act ($32).
More traditional pleasures can be found in the “from the pots” section, whether a bowl of tender pork vindaloo with a nice hit of heat ($25) or a knockout palak paneer, where fat tiles of firm cheese come swimming in a garlicky spinach gravy amped with chilli and cumin ($20).
But it’s Aunty Dhal that will have me coming back time again. Lentils like you’ve never seen them before, a five-day cooking process renders these black beauties into a thick, creamy and almost meaty sauce in which the richness comes from the lentils themselves and not ghee or oil. It’s another big-hitting win ($16), a serve of which also forms part of the bargain $15 thalis that take care of work-week lunches.
In these early days Jessi is out ferrying plates from the kitchen, while Sacha Imrie (ex Marion) is on the worldly wine list that champions new locals and buzzworthy internationals but is aimed squarely at drinkers happy to spend — somewhat at odds with the bright and breezy offering and staff dressed in mufti.
Though no faulting the fun of a drinks trolley rolled tableside with its selection of $8 nips to calm a curry-filled belly.
MORE RESTAURANT REVIEWS
NEW TASTES AT TULUM A TRUE TURKISH DELIGHT
THE CHINESE FOOD YOU PROBABLY HAVEN’T TRIED
THE FRENCH DINER WHICH COULD’VE ENDED IN DISASTER
And that mouthful?
Jessi’s take on the popular street food gol gappa (also known as pani puri, depending on whether you’re in the north or south), these semolina “balls of happiness” ($3.50 each) filled with cumin-yoghurt and tamarind chutney are at once sweet and spicy, cool, crunchy and creamy.
It’s a one-bite explosion of relentless heat and heavenly incense and dust and chaos and multi-limbed deities and Behind the Beautiful Forevers and colour, so much colour, red and orange and saffron and ginger and chai wallahs and bejewelled elephants and sacred cows and sunset drum circles and bhang lassi and wandering sadhus and spiritual awakenings and the impossible beauty and infinite resourcefulness of a billion curious people.
Yes, it’s unforgettable. And, yes, it’s one of the best things you’ll eat this year.
DAUGHTER IN LAW
37-41 Little Bourke St
Open: Lunch Mon-Fri and dinner nightly.
Go-to dish: Balls of heaven
SCORE: 14.5/20
Victorian winery named best value in the country
Acclaimed wine critic James Halliday has named this Victorian winery as the best-value in his annual wine awards — here’s where you can buy a bottle from your local.
How to get 20 per cent off food delivery
As Melbourne settles into another round of lockdown, many are stepping back into the at-home routines refined during the first wave. But for those shunning the stove, a popular food delivery service has knocked 20 per cent off all orders.