Abhi's Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in Sydney

Abhis Indian Restaurant – A Quest to the Inner West.

On a wet and blustery Friday night back in October 2024, the Oakham Curry Club (OCC) set out on a much-anticipated trip to Abhis Indian Restaurant in North Strathfield. The turnout was solid, bolstered by two new trialists, and the added bonus of a few extra Tigers, as Friday nights often are.

First impressions of Abhis were promising. The restaurant was buzzing with energy, full to the brim and with an atmosphere that suggested a well-established, proper curry house. Despite not getting the prime table, the staff were attentive, and service was prompt throughout the evening. The set menu, recommended by our knowledgeable host, was slightly on the pricier side but looked solid, and we were eager to see how it would deliver.

The food came out quickly and was varied, offering some strong, well-balanced flavors. However, while the dishes were of a high standard, many diners felt they lacked the punch of spice that often defines a standout curry experience.

Some of the highlights of the night included the lamb korma, butter chicken, and the gulab jamun for dessert, all of which were universally praised. However, while ambitious, the set menu didn’t quite feel like the traditional Indian feast we were hoping for. Every plate was cleared, but some diners felt that the portion sizes didn’t quite match the price tag. There were murmurs of “room for seconds,” which may have been more about the underwhelming portions than the quality, as everything was well-prepared.

Despite a few reservations about the value for money, the evening at Abhis was thoroughly enjoyable. The backdrop of the restaurant provided a fantastic setting for two truly excellent performances by the trialists, and the jovial atmosphere added to the night’s enjoyment. However, a few diners voiced similar sentiments: “I truly enjoyed my time at Abhi’s, but something didn’t quite click for me. It didn’t feel like my usual Indian joint,” and “Solid, but not quite enough quality or quantity to justify the price point.”

In the end, while the food was solid and the experience generally enjoyable, the value proposition was where Abhis seemed to fall short. There was a sense that, despite the high quality of ingredients and service, some of the dishes didn’t offer enough bang for your buck, leaving some of us feeling a bit underfed. Perhaps Deliveroo riders in the area might have found some additional business on the back of this.

Service = 7.36 Customer Care = 7.36 Quality = 7.5 Value = 5.93 Atmosphere = 7.86

Verdict: 7.2 – Abhis Indian Restaurant is a solid option with a good atmosphere and excellent dishes, but it may need to find that perfect balance between flavor, portion size, and price to truly win over the Oakham Curry Club.

The Oakham Curry Club (OCC) is one of the worlds most respected reviewers of Indian cuisine. With multiple international franchises, we relentlessly scour the globe in pursuit of the crispiest poppadoms, the tastiest sauces and spiciest curries. Restaurants must score an average of 7.5/10 or above to receive the coveted OCC sticker of...

It’s hard to believe that three years have passed since I was at Abhi’s Indian celebrating their first quarter century. The restaurant is still as popular as ever, both with North Strathfield locals and blow-ins like me, who consider Kumar Mahadevan’s inspired Indian dishes worth the trip.

The highlight of this visit was a Seafood Moily ($27.80) from the Kerala region of Southern India. Beautifully cooked scallops join ling fillets and prawns in a soupy golden coconut curry flavoured with turmeric, fresh curry leaves and whole mustard seeds that pop on your tongue. It’s savoury and compelling, particularly over Kashmiri Pilau ($3.80) dotted with dried fruit and nuts. Rice at Abhi’s is served individually, and the serves really are predicated upon you actually needing a bowl each, so we added on a Plain Rice ($3.50) to eat with our second curry.

Ennai Kathrikai ($19.80) is done Hyderabadi-style, with smoky baby eggplants and banana chillies sitting in a thick ground paste of cashews, peanuts and coconut. It's clearly a popular dish, as it has been on the menu since I first visited Abhi's back in 2010, though it seems to have shrunk a bit in size.

While I found the eggplants themselves tasty, the sauce lacked the beautiful clarity of the seafood moily; which I kept returning to over and over again with my Garlic Naan ($4.20). Breads at Abhi's are fluffy and well handled, with sweet coconut interior of the Peshwari Naan ($4.80) proving another winner.

One fast way to jazz up any curry is to add on Lacha Pyaz ($5.80). This brimming bowl of washed, masala-spiced red onions adds a textural element and bright flavour highlight to the eggplant's thick and creamy sauce. The onions ate better than the more expensive Side Dish Platter ($8.80) combining cucumber and yoghurt raita, tomato and onion kachumber (salad) and sweet mango chutney.

Not wanting to commit to a whole bottle of wine for a lazy Sunday night, one-course dinner, we opted to enjoy our curries with a Kingfisher ($9) apiece. We left smiling and well sated, with the bill for two people scraping in just under the hundred-dollar mark for what is still a better than average Indian feed,...

I had high hopes venturing into this dining space. I had booked a table of 8 for my family as it is my birthday we were celebrating. As we walked in we were greeted kindly and escorted upstairs to take wait for our table to be made. Straight away we were met ferociously by a lady who told us not to “record”. We had realised that there was a doctors meeting we were not aware of and one of our friends had just taken a pan view of the room to showcase how nice it was. The lady was apart of this medical meeting. This lady was rude with no regard for human kind all she cared about was her job. The staff were trying to accomodate us downstairs where we had initially not planned to dine. We asked them several times if we could go upstairs and they said no because the medical meeting upstairs was ongoing. And even if we went upstairs we had to sit in a corner not in sight of them - which was insanely ridiculous. How can this lady dictate where we sit and don’t sit? My wish is that she learns how to treat people with respect, I understand that she may be fighting her own battle who knows but this is unacceptable. The staff did not accomodate our wishes nor try and grant a middle ground they just bundled some tables together on the lower floor next to the window and let us stay there. Funnily enough half of our group are also medical professionals and I believed the code was to treat all human beings with respect. This place is not worth the money nor the drama. Avoid...