When we arrived in the car park and I saw a big neon sign saying “Tandoori Sizzler”, visions of Indian salad bars and cheese-bread danced through my head. Alas, it wasn’t a Tandoori Sizzler, but a simple suburban Indian restaurant with great food.
The evening was already going well, a jovial car trip out to Dural… Who goes to Dural to eat? Who goes to Dural on a Saturday night? Well, there’s a first time for everything. We arrive at Sizzler with a six pack of Beez Kneez (this honey beer is a perfect choice to cut through the spice) and we are left to open them ourselves… Luckily my boy-scout-of-a-dining-companion was prepared and had brought his own bottle opener. Our young waitress seemed nervous. She is probably still at school and just works here weekends. I try and make her feel at ease by thanking her for handing out the menus and smiling at her, but I think this just intimidates her more.
Marcus eventually arrives, and we let him do the ordering as it is he who suggested this establishment. He feels the pressure.
We start with Daal-E-Noorjehan, which is a combination of lentils, mustard seeds, curry leaves, carmalized onion and fresh coriander; thick and bursting with fragrance. It comes with a minty raita, which incidentally earns me $15 when I eat the remainder for a dare. Thanks, Marcus.
I do not know the exact names of the dishes we are eating, and the wait staff are no help. I point to a delicious dish which unfortunately doesn’t look that good as it is brown and lumpy, and ask what it is… A different waitress says it is a vegetarian dish with cheese… Even though she is staring straight at the chunky cubes of beef… I smile and say “It was very good”…
So I apologise, readers, for the non-specificity of this post, but in short, everything at Tandoori Sizzler was a treat.
We get the Joaliah Prawns with a clingy, sticky, dark red sauce of tamarind and date. It is a winning combination of sweetness and mysterious sourness provided by the tamarind.
Apart from the lovely fare, the night is punctuated by buzzy conversation, littered with Seinfeld references and other pop-culture mishegas. Boom.
