Foreign Return Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in Sydney

THIS RESTAURANT GAVE ME SEVERE FOOD POISONING, NOROVIRUS.

I went to this restaurant with a friend and ordered the mussel dish. One of the mussels was off/rotten/bad, I knew it as soon as I bit into it, both the taste and texture was bad so I spat in into the napkin. I was not well versed with seafood at the time so I didn't realise I should complain, I just knew something was wrong with the mussel. After 45 minutes I started to feel a little off, then went back to my friends house and vomited violently for a long time. I also had severe diarrhoea. I was too unwell to even uber back to my own house until a few hours later. I called the restaurant and they said sorry and did nothing. I then kept vomiting so called back to complain again, they put me on the phone to the chef who said that the mussels were fresh and that he smell tested them before cooking them to make sure they were ok.

I have spoken to several people about this and have been told you don't need to smell test fresh seafood and friends have advised me that if the chef needed to smell the mussels before cooking them, he must have known the mussels were old. I don't know how it came to be that i was served a rotten mussel, although I was violently ill for the next week. I had to have several days off work as I was sicker than I had ever been before. I could't eat for days and lost 3kg. When I called the restaurant for the second time when I first got sick, they refunded me and the owner told me he would do what we could to help and offered to drive me home from my friends house. I declined as I was too physically sick to get in a car as I knew I would vomit all over the car. I had to take 3 sick days of my limited permitted sick days, I had to get 3 ubers including to get home and to go to the doctor to be tested and I had to spend a lot of money on medicine and liquid food and I also had to pay the doctors fee.

I asked the restaurant owner to reimburse me for the hundreds of dollars I had spent and to compensate me for the sick days I had used since his restaurant got me sick. I asked for him to reimburse me for these sick days as if/when I go over my employers sick day limit I will then have the following sick days deducted from my salary. I didn't hear from the owner for 2-3 days and I said I would need to leave a bad review and take further action as he wasn't helping me with the terrible situation his restaurant put me in. Again, this was seriously the sickest I have ever been in my life, and the stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, extremely painful dry reaching and headaches were absolutely horrendous.

I could not even drink water without throwing it up and when I was dry reaching, my entire chest and stomach would ache and continued to ache the following days. I had to take nausea pills every couple of hours to prevent myself from dry reaching. The restaurant owner went from saying he would do all that he could do to help, to saying that it wasn't his restaurant that got me sick and that norovirus is going around at the moment so I must have caught it from somewhere else. It was completely false to say I caught norovirus from someone else because norovirus is extremely contagious and I had been kissing my partner before the dinner and my partner did not get sick. If I had contracted norovirus before going to the restaurant, my partner would have contracted it also. I got sick approximately 45 minutes after spitting out the bad mussel. I know for a fact that I got sick from that bad mussel.

The owner tried to scare me and threaten me with police and lawyers when I asked him to compensate me what I had lost. At the very least, I wanted him to compensate me for the medical and travel costs etc, but he did not pay a cent. I reported this restaurant to the council and am finally leaving this review. Not only was I extremely sick but the whole ordeal cost me a few hundred dollars, three sick days and I received police threats and legal threats from the owner. Its safe to say I will never be going to this restaurant again. Terrible and...

A little bit about my dining experience at Surry Hills - Foreign return. I will start off with their cocktails. The signature cocktail menu has a very fancy description of cocktails which in truth are basic but good. The point I am making is that not giving a description when it’s a cocktail you’d find at any good bar. The Food - Prawns Koliwada is amazing. Taste, texture and presentation is spot on! The Crab cake was below average in taste and the garnish made it wrestle salty. The Rechado tikka was bang on with the taste of Rechado masala (spice mix) but the chicken was over cooked to a point it was dry and threaded. In my opinion would be a good idea if they didn’t cook it on the bone. The Goat curry was outstanding probably the highlight of the whole dinner. We got 2 desserts and to be honest it was one of the worst desserts I have had in a long time. Again trying to be gimmicky but fails in taste and quality. The Gevar was tasteless, it just looked good. My wife ordered the Bhapa doi, couldn’t go past a couple of spoons. And we just left the desserts as it is and asked for the bill. No one came and asked why we left the desserts or take any feedback. The Service - Now comes the interesting part, I specifically asked for a CRISPY butter naan also mentioning to make it as crispy as possible with my goat curry but when it arrived it was a normal butter naan and was really soft. I called the staff and told her I had asked for a crispy naan to which she said “you want more crispy?” I responded and said I just want a crispy naan and this is soft and she made a face and took it away to get a new one after 5-6 mins which my goat curry just sat there on the table “chilling”. Again this is just my opinion, having worked as a chef and in hospitality for many years. If I would be the server I would have just taken the naan and ensured the customer gets what they want, rather than questioning when she knew exactly what I was talking about but the best part was the Naan I got the second time was no different than the first one. So I just had 3-4 bites got the curry packed and left the naan. No one came to check if everything was ok or is the naan ok the second time. Anyway overall, it was a very mediocre experience. Will not recommend to anyone. There are better places around with a lower price point and better food...

Dined with my family from India and thoroughly enjoyed food by Chef Sandeep and Chef Tarun the restaurant team of Poonam and Tanya provided great service. Enjoy every visit with great recipes like Dilli ka butter chicken, bharli vanghi, authentic Indian dishes in a modern style.

First visit in n2024; We like the new egg plant dish, it's amazing. Visited last night in a group of 5. Every one enjoyed the food service and atmosphers.

Celebrated special family event on Fri 1st Sep. Was worth the long drive the great service, the food and busy environment.

Visited Foreign Return with family and friends without proper booking on Sat 21st May 23. The restaurant was jam packed. The restaurant staff tried to accommodate us and provided a great service. Our friends enjoyed the food and drinks and plan to return. This was their first visit.

Caught up with an old friend at Foreign Return on friday 28th April. Enjoyed the ambience service food and drinks. Had a great time.

Visited Foreign Return last Sunday after a few months and enjoyed the new menu. Dak Bunglow Chicken was superb, also Paneer we tried was very different from whatever we tried elsewhere. Butter Chicken all gueste enjoyed. Going again this Friday networking with some colleagues. Looking forward to the hospitality of the new restaurant manager Mathew John who paid personal attention and all wait staff was great and provided excellent services. The new menu is worth trying while the menu changing again for winter soon.

I have visited the Foreign Return three times my first visit in Jul-2021 with big groups. The treatment was special each time with staff very professional making sure we do not need to ask for anything. The food was enjoyed by all guests and special cocktails were the highlight. The experience each time made us visit again and again. Some of our guests were so impressed and went with their friends again. The owners give personal attention and staff are professional and well trained in the Hospitality Management unlike students working in many other restaurants. Jamun gin and tonic and marigold gin and tonic so great you can feel like home with taste of jamun after every sip. must try... waiting for lockdown to finish to have party there with friends. hope it ends soon. Bira beer...