Flavour of India Edgecliff — Restaurant in Sydney

Flavour of India has been a fixture of Sydney’s dining scene for 29 years. The usual peak-hour William Street crawl to the Eastern Suburbs gives you plenty of time to contemplate its bright orange signage, done in a font that now has retro appeal. The interior of this long-standing restaurant is more glamorous than the exterior would lead you to believe. Gleaming chandeliers & the wood panelling ceiling look like they have been there since the 80s, when the venue started out life as an Italian restaurant. It’s surprisingly well insulated from the traffic too, with dancing lights on an ornate mirror & a faint distant hum, the only indications that we’re parked right on a busy Sydney thoroughfare.

Flavour of India biggest claim to fame is it was the site of INXS musician Michael Hutchence’s last meal, before he was found dead in the Ritz Carlton hotel the next morning, staff explain when they deliver our pappadums. Crisp, dry & flavoursome against mint raita, a good mango chutney and an undressed kachumber salad, the pappadums sustain us while we unravel the menu. It’s got some peculiarities – dishes (spicy crab served in potato skins) & ingredients (like cherries in lamb meatballs with a sweet & sour cherry reduction) that you don’t usually associate with Indian cuisine. As staff explain, the restaurant has evolved to meet the needs of the local residents, who don't always want to eat spicy cuisine.

It is impressive that chef Hayat Mahamud, who has been with Flavour of India since its inception, invents his own curries to address the wants and needs of locals. However, over a clever East India Punch ($30/litre) that summons the British colonies with freshly pressed lemons and house tonic, rounded out with a little pineapple & almond intrigue, I make my curry selections & give these dishes, along with the house speciality, butter chicken, a wide berth.

We opt to begin with a entrée from the tandoor selection - a shared Charcoal Sizzling Platter ($35). Presented on a cast iron pan insulated with a banana leaf, it’s won by the nicely charry lamb cutlets kept juicy & pink under a gentle yoghurt, ginger and spice marinade. Big ling fillets are cooked gently in the tandoor then accompanied by an achar of preserved lemon, turmeric and a hint of chilli. It’s my view that the generous portion of chicken tikka could do with more chilli bite, because it becomes a little bland when dragged through the accompanying mint yoghurt.

With the menu ranging all over the Subcontinent, we move onto a Goan curry, an more unusual Chicken Vindaloo ($26). Coming from the west coast of India, this dish shows Portuguese trader influence. It’s basically meat in a garlic wine marinade (carne de vinha d’alhos) turned Indian by switching the red wine for palm vinegar and throwing in plenty of dried red chillies. Against fragrant, well-separated Basmati Rice ($3/person) it’s a pleasantly spicy curry that has a big tangy vinegar hit to aid digestion.

The digestive aid is going to be especially welcome if you order a Cheese & Garlic Naan ($6.50). While ridiculously tasty, Flavour of India’s thick, almost pancake-like naans are likely to stonker you completely. They’re so cheesy and good just by themselves, I almost forgot to dip it into my Beef Kerala ($26) gravy. This is a lovely curry from the southern tip of the India, an area blessed with swaying coconut palms. Coconut cream makes its way into this coastal curry along with garlic and fresh curry leaves, for a simplified flavour palate against potato and falling-apart hunks of beef that will remind you of rendang. We order it spicy and are not disappointed with the slow building heat.

You’ll also get some fresh chilli bite on the Chilli & Cheese Naan ($7), made in a similarly thick and cheesy style to the cheese and garlic naan, but easier to eat with the bright, freshly cut chilli rings breaking up the imminent death-by-cheese richness. We left stuffed but smiling, happy to have seen why Flavour of India has survived in Sydney’s often brutal restaurant scene for nearly...

As I sat down at Flavour of India and opened the menu, my heart sank and a wave of dread washed over me.

My immediate thought was how I might redirect my friend, who was still on her way, to another restaurant. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible and what followed was a journey into the world of bland cuisine.

In its early days, Flavour of India had a menu that was short, focused and built around quality and flavour. What I was handed, however, was an excessively long list of dishes, a red flag to any seasoned diner. A menu boasting around 50 items, plus rice, breads and spice-level variations from mild to hot, often signals trouble, hinting at quantity over quality and a kitchen stretched too thin.

Sadly, both proved true.

The Samosas appeared to have been pre-cooked and then deep-fried again to order, resulting in a rock-hard outer shell, so much so that our cutlery struggled to break them open. The Onion Bhaji was similarly disappointing: burnt on the outside and lacking the savoury depth you’d expect. The minted yoghurt, meant to accompany both dishes, had the right colour but was runny and completely flavourless.

The final entrée, Spicy Crab meat with shredded ginger, chilli and onion served in potato skins initially intrigued me. But the chilli was so overpowering it drowned out any trace of the crab’s natural sweetness.

We approached the mains with cautious optimism.

The tandoor lamb cutlets were nicely coloured and visually appealing but that’s where the positives ended. They lacked any of that distinctive smokiness that a tandoor oven should impart.

Finally came the goat curry, ordered medium hot. While the meat was tender, it was impossible to tell what, if any, spices had been used. The dish was, quite simply, insipid.

In the end, the experience felt less like a celebration of Indian cuisine and more like a cautionary tale about ambition without attention to detail.

Flavour of India, once celebrated for its commitment to quality and taste, now feels adrift. It’s weighed down by an overextended menu and led by Chef Hayat, whose 20-plus years at the helm have not, at least on this evening, translated into a dining experience that fulfils the restaurant’s stated promise: “… our menu captures flavours and cooking styles from every corner of the beautiful country that is India,” as declared on the opening page of the menu.

There is no corner of India where bland is...

We had a wonderful dinner here! We usually order takeaway or delivery from this restaurant, but we decided to dine in for the first time after finding a deal on EatClub. The experience exceeded our expectations—dining in was much better than takeaway, and the staff were incredibly friendly.

We chose the banquet menu, which was around $55 per person. It started with tandoori chicken, lamb, and samosas as entrées, and each dish was fantastic. For mains, we had butter chicken and beef curry, both served with rice and naan (including garlic naan). The butter chicken was definitely our favourite—we think it might be the best we’ve ever had!

The portions were generous, so we decided to take half of our meal home. The staff were kind enough to pack it up with fresh rice, which was a thoughtful touch.

The highlight of the evening was the chef Hayat, who came over to greet us. He was so warm and welcoming. We realised while eating that it was actually our anniversary (we had forgotten!), and when we mentioned it, the chef surprised us with a complimentary mango dessert and lent us traditional Indian hats for some fun photos.

We also tried the chocolate naan to take away, which was absolutely delicious.

The whole experience was so enjoyable that I almost felt guilty for using the EatClub deal! Thank you to the team for making our evening so special. The restaurant was quiet when we dined, but there was a steady stream of people picking up takeaway orders. I highly recommend coming in for dinner—you won’t regret it!

We’ll definitely be back (next time, without the...