Urban Tadka Indian Restaurant
321 Mona Vale Road
Terrey Hills, Sydney
Urban Tadka is such a beautiful venue. You experience the wonderful ambience from the minute you arrive and then you go inside to even more. The decor is elegant with the room being adorned with various ornaments. It sets a great mood for what is to follow.
For drinks we each had a cocktail. It’s a great way to start a meal. Sirs was rum based, and Mlady’s had vodka and hints of lychee. They were both pretty drinks that we each thoroughly enjoyed.
The menu has a map of the world and there is also some history provided about the various dishes. You get a good understanding of the background and ingredients used. On to the amazing food and Samosas Two Way were our first dish. One was lamb Keema Matar and the other was shredded smoked chicken. Both were a lovely golden colour with a nicely crisped outside pastry. There was plenty of tasty filling inside with really good spices and the accompanying sauce complimented them so well. It was a lovely way to start our meal.
Vada Doi was next. This is a spiced fritter with beaten curd, mint and coriander, chutney, chilli, confit and dusted burnt cumin. Its history in the literature describes Vada Doi dating as far back as 500 BC. This dish had quite a bit going on with so many wonderful textures and amazing flavours. It was soft and so fresh and flavoursome.
We tried the Paneer Sigdi next which is charcoal cooked cottage cheese cubes with spiced yogurt marinate. It was delicately crisped outside with a lovely soft centre. It’s a nice light dish and you could taste the freshness of the bean sprouts.
Of course wine is available here and the list is good. Sir had a nice Tin Shed Shiraz and Mlady had a refreshing Rose.
The Palak Paneer - cottage cheese logs with fresh hand-cut English spinach - was another light soft dish. It had very delicate fresh flavours and was extremely moreish. It was appetisingly vibrant too.
We had two breads and the first was Chur Chur Dhaniya Parantha. It’s whole meal butter layered flaky bread with coriander. This went so well dipping it into our mains and soaking up those mouth-watering sauces.
Our second bread was Peshwari Shakkar Naan. This is a sweet plain flour bread with dried fruits and raw brown sugar. This was certainly a great bread. Again, you can use it to dip into the delicious sauces, or just eat it on its own as it’s so good.
From the ocean part of the menu we had the Jhinga Mango Moile. The pan seared prawns were perfectly cooked. They were nice and juicy and plump too. There was also tempered mango coconut purée and chestnut. What a great combination - prawns, mango and coconut. It had amazing flavours. The chestnut had a nice soft crunch and added another dimension. It was a beautifully balanced dish.
Chicken was our last main. The Murgh Magaz - Maari. This was a chicken fillet (it was so moist) coriander pods, Chur - Chur dhaniya Parantha. We loved the spiciness of this, and it had such a great sauce.
We did manage to fit it dessert. Dulce De Leche Gateau arrived first. This glorious dessert was on a choco-sable base with wattleseed cheesecake, dulce de leche insert, caramel glaze and cocoa nibs. The spoon just glided through revealing a scrumptious taste sensation and the base was soft with a nice crunch.
Our last dessert was the Malai Rabri sheer yakh, Gajrela. It had freshly grated carrots, full fat milk, sugar and ghee, cardamom powder, chopped nuts, in-house made thickened milk and saffron kulfi. It was topped with edible ‘silver’ - very impressive. It had so many taste sensations. The freshly grated carrots were warm and combined with the coolness of the thickened milk and saffron kulfi - balanced well together. A very nice tasting dessert.
The food at Urban Tadka is fresh with wonderful well balanced taste sensations. All the dishes were appetisingly and beautifully presented. Their menu showcases so many delicious dishes with so much to choose from.
Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Urban Tadka. Special Thank you to Inder (owner) for taking time from his busy schedule to chat with us. Thank you also to Rajib and Kunwar for looking after us. Big thanks to Jason from Spooning Australia for arranging this tasty visit.