Ginger Restaurant, Harris Park

The Easter long weekend is much awaited in Australia, it's our longest holiday- 4 day weekend. As I mentioned earlier it has been about 6 months since we moved to Sydney, we have been eating our way though this city and it has been great so far. There was a lot of eating involved during the holidays, one of the days we decided to visit Harris Park's Wigram Street. It is lined with Indian Restaurants and we decided to give Ginger Restaurant a go. Wigram Street nicknamed Vickram St by the Indian Population (I hear it's an inside joke) has a LOT of Indian Restaurants and Sweet Shops and Indian grocers. The street is adorned and lit up with fairy lights in the evening and is full of buzz and chatter as you would expect from the Indian Community. We reached Ginger at around 9 pm and it was relatively empty, only a few tables full. The Restaurant decor is modern and the colour theme is blue. There is a nice outdoor sitting area where you can also have hukka, the Ginger signboard with the cute bike is a nice touch.

We took our seats and were handed the menus by the waitress. We started with Hariyali Kebab and Burra Kebab for entree followed by Dal Makhni and Kadai Panner with lachcha parathas & garlic naan for mains and gulab jamun for dessert.

Entree: Burra Kebab

Lamb cutlets marinated in yoghurt & spices and traditionally cooked in a tandoor.

($12.9)

The lamb cutlets were cooked well and mildly spiced. It was a pleasant dish but could do with a little more flavour.

Entree: Hariyali Kebab

Mashed potatoes, pea, spinach and spices, lightly fried

($8.9)

Hariyali kebabs literally means green kebabs and are usually green coloured vegetable kebabs. This dish was not hariyali kebab, it was more like Alu tikki (Spiced Potato patty) The patties were crispy and the filling was tasty. The pairing with tamarind chutney was a bit odd, I would have preferred mint or coriander chutney with it. They served it with a few strands of shredded cabbage which qualified neither as a garnish nor salad. A very average dish.

Main: Dal Makhni

Black Lentils cooked in butter

($13.9)

Dal Makhni is a very common restaurant dish and we were not disappointed. The lentils were cooked well, were nice and creamy, had good flavour and tasted delicious.

Main: Kadai Paneer

Cheese cubes tossed with bell pepper and 'dummed' with tomatoes & onions

($15.9)

This dish was a bit of a hit and miss as well. Kadai Paneer is famous for its hit of coriander seeds and chunky capsicum with a tangy, spicy tomato based sauce.  It was creamy and mellow and was more like a Paneer Makhni, hardly had any capsicum and there was no coriander seed flavour. It tasted pleasant but was not Kadai Paneer.

Breads: Lachcha Paratha

Whole wheat bread layered with butter and baked in tandoor

($4)

The Lachcha Parathas were nice and flaky and were a delicious accompaniment.

Breads: Garlic NaanUnleavened soft flour bread topped with garlic and baked in tandoor($3.5)

The Garlic Naan was beautiful and soft with a nice garlic hit. They tasted great with the curries.

Dessert: Gulab JamunSoft round deep fried cottage cheese and flour balls soaked in sugar syrup and flavoured with rose water($7)

There is no better way to finish a meal than with hot gulab jamuns. They should be soft, sweet, sticky and warm with a hint of cardamom. This particular version was quite average, there was no strong cardamom or rose water flavour, the texture was nice but overall a very mediocre dish.

I was not bowled over by the food, it was mediocre in my opinion - not bad for a mid week take away. I would go back for the dal and lachcha parathas.

Food 6/10

Service 6/10

Ambience 6/10