Located in Terrey Hills, Urban Tadka is what we would describe as fine dining Indian.

If you’re from the Eastern Suburbs like us or anywhere on the southern side of the Harbour Bridge, you’ll almost need your passport and a VISA for the journey. If you love Indian food and curries, it is well worth travelling for. You’ll need a car to get here and as you travel through Terrey Hills, follow the directions closely and you’ll pull into a large car park and on this huge site amongst a few galleries is Urban Tadka. The art in the opening foyer is absolutely incredible.

Be sure to ring and book ahead as when we were there it was almost full and we also know they do lots of weddings and also have a huge catering business.

The restaurant is more a venue than simply a restaurant, it is in a lovely bush setting, it has a huge outdoor space, plenty of room indoors for dining, a large bar with a cushioned couch area and a function space.

The food can be described as authentic Indian with a modern twist. Food is plated beautifully and popping with colour and cooked with a diversity of flavours and spices. Cooked in a variety of methods; smoked, slow cooked and wok tossed. Drinks wise, there’s a fully stocked bar or you can order a typical Indian non alcoholic drink, a mango lassi which went down smoothly!

We began with papadums and a 3 dip colourful platter of tomato/onion dip (kachumber), salsa and beetroot yoghurt. A great start to prepare you for the culinary adventure ahead.

The Mahararja Kebab Platter was recommended by the staff, and like its name, this amazing tandoor mixed meat dish is fit for a King. This dish was served on a cool home made display stand, crafted from copper pipe. The meats all tender and juicy with a good amount of spice;

The lamb cutlets are flavoured with garlic, ginger, yoghurt and tandoori spices (Adraki Champein)

The Tandoori smoked shelled prawns are amazing – seasoned with garlic and spices (Zatar Lasooni Jhinga).
The (Donalli Seekh Hazaarvi) a kebab meat roll of chicken and lamb mince are rolled with herbs and spices

The chicken tandoori fillets (Murgh de Tikka kararee) were so succulent.
Sitting on the bottom of the frame was the tandoori marinated barramundi fillets with ginger, lemon, dukkah and garum masala (Dukkah machi Patrani) and this was a great addition to the platter.

There were a good range of mains to choose from including chicken, lamb, pork and seafood options as well as vegetarian selections. This made for a tough decision and it’s probably best to go for a banquet if dining in a group.

It is pretty much obligatory to order a curry when you’re at an Indian restaurant and the Kesari Lamb sufiyana – made with tender slow cooked pieces of lamb in a beautifully rich creamy cashew sauce with mace and cardamom is a good choice. The curry sauce has a nice sweetness and a good spice kick.

The show stopper, as extravagant as a Bollywood blockbuster, was the Urban Agari Lobster – the sweet lobster meat wok tossed in a pan with a combination of special spices and ingredients that are aromatic and compliment the sweetness of the lobster. Presented nicely with the shell of the lobster tail. It was incredibly flavorful, so much so, there was not a skerrick of sauce left on the plate.

You couldn’t be at an Indian restaurant and not have some naan. We had the cheese naan and ordered a serve of basmati jeera rice, for mopping up the tasty curries and sauces. Urban tadka also sell biryani and roti.

If you’re here in a large group, the Banquet “Dawat” would be great, for $49.90 pp, you receive the Papadums, dips, 5 entrees, 4 mains, breads, rice and dessert. For $60.90, they add in an extra entree and main. Dawat means a festive or joyous meal, and the food here is certainly something that will provide that.

The meal finished with another highlight, an enormous Dessert platter with Chocolate, Mango and a stunning pistachio kulfi.

There was also the Mango mousse cake with coconut, cream cheese and raspberry, so light and fluffy and not overly sweet.

Another light dessert on the platter was the chololate and pistachio mouse served as a dome with a light green glaze. This dessert was nice and airy, perfect to follow the rich spicy food we enjoyed beforehand.

The platter also includes the Urban Tadka version of the Black Forest cake served on a crisp chocolate biscuit base of cereal.

We had an abundance of food with unique flavours and this culinary journey was one we very much enjoyed.

Urban Tadka 

321 Mona Vale Road
Terrey Hills
New South Wales 2084

We dined as guests of Urban Tadka. Thank you to Spooning Australia http://www.spooningaustralia.com/ for extending the invitation.