IndoChainese — Restaurant in Sydney

Honest review...This is the worst food I have ever eaten. We came here based on the great reviews and were keen to try it before booking them in for catering. We had the starter platter, chai and veg korma. We were very specific from the start we wanted the food to be mild, as this is what we would be ordering for catering. The waiter was confident the veg korma would be made very mild, but did say the paneer in our platter would be medium spicy.

Starters - Gobi dish (Manchurian?) had a very strong vinegar taste. In fact we commented it tasted like chemicals and wasn't palatable. Paneer was fine. Chaap was undercooked

Main - this is where things really went down hill. The veg korma was so spicy, even more than the "medium spicy" paneer, that even my husband who eats spicy food couldn't eat it. It also had paneer in it which wasn't mention in the menu. In addition, it smelt very strongly like egg.

We sent the dish back and we offered a substitute of paneer butter masala which we were told would be made mild. What came back was just sugar. Again, could not be eaten. My parents are chefs, we eat restaurant Indian food in Harris Park all the time. Restaurants always tell us if they can make something mild or not and the mild dishes are always well flavoured. I just wish if they couldn't make the dish mild and decent they should have told us and it would have been fine.

After all that we paid 60$ of which all we could actually eat was the entrees paneer. The rest we either ate because we were hungry or we took home to fix ourselves. We didn't eat any of our mains, only the entrees.

Never going here again, or recommending it and certainly wouldn't use them for catering ever. I'm really surprised they made us pay for that.

Response to reply - We didn't finish the food on our plate. As mentioned we ate the entrees but there was still a full serve mix of rice and veg korma on my plate when we left because of the issues. We offered to return the veg korma but the server said to keep it as it would be thrown away, we insisted we return it but they told us to just keep it. We were still charged for this and not the replacement paneer, I have the receipt as proof. So its a blatant lie to say we took both curries at no charge. We told the server upfront the korma was too spicy and we told the server the paneer was very bad and tasted like sugar... so no, we did not enjoy our meal. We were very honest and again I told the server they could try the paneer dish themselves to see how bad it was. We took away the rest as we had paid for it and planned on fixing it at home.

Your response is also very different to the same complaint from someone 3 weeks ago where you offered a refund.

I dont expect a refund, but I do expect that in future if someone asks if a dish is mild the response is truthful, that either it isn't mild or cannot be made mild without lacking flavour. Again, like I said, we have had these same dishes, mild, at other restaurants...

Indo Chainese needs a lot of improvement in its food.

Unfortunately I found the food to be over-rated for Indo Chinese dishes. I am unsure why it ranks higher than Dragon House, which has more authentic and better tasting Indo Chinese, (although it lacks in the atmosphere department). I have tried some very good Indo Chinese food before, but this has been the worst to me.

I ordered Chicken Noodles 65, Schezuan Chicken rice and Cheese Naan. The dough of the naan tasted sour to me, with a mild layer of uncooked dough. It dried up extremely quickly. It tasted like something an amateur at home cook might make and i would not rate it as restaurant worthy. It certainly does not compare to any naan in any surrounding restaurant.

The noodles were unfortunately saturated too highly in spices, and I would say it was a rung above instant noodles in taste and flavour. The schezuan rice lacked flavour, relying solely on a punch of spicy chilli. There was nothing tasteful about it compared to any schezuan I've had elsewhere.

In the case of both dishes, I thought the restaurant fell into the trap of many Indian restaurants, which is using pieces of chicken that aren't top tier in some respects - as I would say it's closer to takeaway chicken and not restaurant level. All in all, everything I ate tasted bad except the side yoghurt. I have had to throw away a large portion of what I've bought as I just couldn't find myself wanting to eat any of it. I am dissappointed.

I have only tried a small amount of dishes here but based on this, I would rate the restaurant a max of 3 and out of 5 and will not return or order here again, instead would opt for Dragon House or out of this area to get this kind of food in the future, such as the excellent restaurant in Panania.

If I could ask anything of this restaurant, it would be to get a better chef. Taste test your meals. Ask yourself if you would eat certain dishes more than once and would eating a lot of it make you feel good or ill? Also, would you combine certain dishes together and does that create a dynamic taste or a same-same taste that is not balanced but overpowering?

The saving grace of the restaurant is the chai, which you can thankfully get from the counter and leave. However, I wouldn't getting the samosas with the chai, as they are also...

This is what most of the restaurants in Harris park get wrong. Quantity over quality.

The name of your restaurant is IndoChinese, but the menu is so vast and has so many options that it raises a big question, why does the menu have Indian dishes? IndoChinese is a Cuisine in itself and an amazing one by the way.

Coming back to my statement quality over quantity, it’s very simple the name is IndoChinese then stay true to what the cuisine should be. Most of the restaurants in Harris Park sever the same food. So that sets you apart? The menu card feels like a think book. So many items but not a single dish that tastes authentic.

I had: Triple Fried rice Chicken Lollipop Chicken Chilli

Not a single dish had the a hint of Schezwan Chutney. The triple fried rice had Peas and Sev, instead of fried noodles. I am confused if this is done to reduce costs or if there is not a single person in the kitchen who is from Mumbai.

Mumbai is where IndoChinese is consumed the most, it's almost a staple food. Most of the dishes originated in Mumbai. If you are able to crack the taste palette of a Mumbaikar then you are game. You got it right.

The front of house staff, excellent. They looked after us, asked if we need anything else. I enjoyed talking to them.

I am happy to help the restaurant simplify their IndoChinese menu, help them cook the Schezwan Chutney and cook some other dishes that I grew up eating in Mumbai.

It should always be quality over quantity, reduce the menu, specifically the size of the Menu. Only make those dishes you can be masters at. Don't try to do too many dishes and cuisines at the same time. This will set you apart.

Big disappointment and heart broken. Most of the food we ordered was packed and we went home almost...