Chicken Chettinad is spicy and delicious when served with pillow-soft house-made naan. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
Amara Indian is a relative newcomer to the city’s diverse dining scene. Tucked in between Chop Chop and the Civic Noodle House, this unassuming Indian restaurant is dishing up meals that are big on flavour.
Visiting on a weeknight, I settled into my table in the high-ceilinged space and perused the menu. The first thing I spied were some very tempting cocktails based on classic drinks with a subcontinental twist. While the Indian Heritage Old Fashioned was tempting, I went for the Bombay Spice Margarita: a blend of mango, lime, tequila and triple sec with a masala-salt rim. It was spicy and sweet, with the tequila punch of a proper margarita. It was dangerously delicious.
Manager Shiva runs an attentive and friendly team of staff. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
Manager Shiva expertly guided me through the menu, pointing out a few specialties that he thought I might enjoy. They have a few options of dosai (also sometimes spelled dosa), which is one of my favourite South Indian dishes. Traditionally, they’re made quite large (I once had a dosa that rivaled the size of the table it was served on), but at Amara, they are cleverly offering a mini entree-sized option. Sign me up!
The Bangalore Dosai is filled with aromatic potato masala with a chilli and coconut spice mix sprinkled on top. The sour pancake has satisfyingly crispy edges and plenty of the moreish filling, with two small ramekins of creamy coconut chutney and sambar soup.
The Bombay Spice Margarita packs a spicy, fruity punch! Photo: Lucy Ridge.
Indian meals are often best shared amongst a group to experience a range of dishes, but I was sadly dining solo that evening. I made the best of it with a serving of chicken chettinad, a dish from the region of Tamil Nadu that is richly spiced. Shiva checked my spice tolerance before I ordered because chettinad is traditionally a very spicy dish with layers of heat from chillies and black pepper. It lived up to its reputation, but I managed to survive the heat.
It’s an absolute pleasure to scoop up pieces of fall-apart tender chicken in the super-soft house-made naan bread. Apparently, they have a few regulars who load up on naan every time they visit!
The dosai at Amara can be ordered as an entree size. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
But Amara has options even for those who prefer things mild. Shiva informs me that they make their butter chicken a little differently, and he reckons it’s the best in town. Their chef clocked over 25 years of experience in Sydney before moving to Canberra, so the recipes have stood the test of time!
I stuck to slowly sipping my cocktail, but there’s a solid drinks list with everything from local wines to Indian beers and (of course) the much-loved mango lassi. There’s also a couple of wicked-looking dessert cocktails, or you can BYO wine.
A trio of desserts, including an excellent gulab jamun. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
At this point in the meal, I was feeling very full (cue the handy takeaway container), but there was one more dish in store: a tasting plate of Indian desserts. Carrot halwa, gulab jamun and pistachio kulfi. The halwa is served warm and isn’t too sweet for my palate, with raisins studded throughout like jewels. The kulfi is a dense, frozen dessert, and the pistachio flavour is a nice accompaniment to the halwa. Gulab Jamun is a dessert made from reducing milk and blending it with flour to make small balls of dough, which are fried and soaked in a sugar syrup (usually scented with rose). This particular gulab jamun was served warm and melt-in-the-mouth delicious.
Amara offers some good value set menus – great if you’re dining with a group – as well as an express lunch special. Their location right near the tram stop and bus interchange also makes them a prime candidate for pre-theatre or cinema dining.
Amara is located in the Melbourne Building, 51-53 Northbourne Ave. They are open from 12 noon to 2.30 pm Monday to Saturday, and from 5.30 to 9.30 pm Monday to Sunday (until 10 on Friday and Saturday nights). Follow Amara on Facebook or Instagram and book online.
