Urban Tadka — Restaurant in Sydney

Located in Terrey Hills, Urban Tadka is what we would describe as fine dining Indian. If you’re from the Eastern Suburbs like us or anywhere on the southern side of the Harbour Bridge, you’ll almost need your passport and a VISA for the journey. If you love Indian food and curries, it is well worth travelling for. You’ll need a car to get here and as you travel through Terrey Hills, follow the directions closely and you’ll pull into a large car park and on this huge site amongst a few galleries is Urban Tadka.

Be sure to ring and book ahead as when we were there it was almost full and we also know they do lots of weddings and also have a huge catering business.

The restaurant is more a venue than simply a restaurant, it is in a lovely bush setting, it has a huge outdoor space, plenty of room indoors for dining, a large bar with a cushioned couch area and a function space.

The food can be described as authentic Indian with a modern twist. Food is plated beautifully and popping with colour and cooked with a diversity of flavours and spices. Cooked in a variety of methods; smoked, slow cooked and wok tossed.

We began with papadums and a 3 dip colourful platter of tomato/onion dip (kachumber), salsa and beetroot yoghurt A great started to prepare you for the culinary adventure ahead.

The Mahararja Kebab Platter was recommended and like its name, this amazing tandoor mixed meat dish fit for a King. This dish was served on a cool home made display stand, crafted from copper pipe. The meats all tender and juicy with a good amount of spice; The lamb cutlets - flavoured with garlic, ginger, yoghurt and tandoori spices (Adraki Champein) The Tandoori smoked shelled prawns, garlic and spices (Zatar Lasooni Jhinga). The (Donalli Seekh Hazaarvi) a kebab meat roll of chicken and lamb mince, rolled with herbs and spices The chicken tandoori fillets (Murgh de Tikka kararee) Sitting on the bottom of the frame was the tandoori marinated barramundi fillets with ginger, lemon, dukkah and garum masala (Dukkah machi Patrani).

There was a good range of mains to choose from including chicken, lamb, pork and seafood options as well as vegetarian selections. This making for a tough decision, best to go for a banquet if dining in a group.

It is pretty much obligatory to order a curry, The Kesari Lamb sufiyana - made with tender slow cooked pieces of lamb in a beautifully rich creamy cashew sauce with mace and cardamom. The curry sauce has a nice sweetness and a good spice kick.

The show stopper, as extravagant as a Bollywood block buster, was the Urban Agari Lobster - the sweet lobster meat wok tossed in a pan with a combination of special spices and ingredients that are aromatic and compliment the sweetness of the lobster. Presented nicely with the shell of the lobster tail. It was incredibly flavorful, so much so, there was not a skerrick of sauce left on the plate.

You couldn’t be at an Indian restaurant and not have some naan. We had the cheese naan and ordered a serve of basmati jeera rice, for mopping up the tasty curries and sauces. Urban tadka also sell biryani and roti.

If you’re here in a large group, the Banquet “Dawat” would be great, for $49.90 pp, you receive the Papadums, dips, 5 entrees, 4 mains, breads, rice and dessert. For $60.90, they add in an extra entree and main. Dawat means a festive or joyous meal, and the food here is certainly something that will provide that.

The meal finishing with another highlight, the Dessert platter with Chocolate, Mango and a stunning pistachio kulfi.

There was also the Mango mousse cake with coconut, cream cheese and raspberry, so light and fluffy and not overly sweet.

Another light dessert on the platter was the chololate and pistachio mouse served as a dome with a light green glaze. This dessert was nice and airy, perfect to follow the rich spicy food we enjoyed beforehand.

The platter also including the Urban Tadka version of the Black Forest cake served on a crisp chocolate biscuit...

If you are looking for a caterer for a special event, one that serves the finest Indian dishes with a modern twist, is exemplary in customer service for your guests, who serves dishes with such allure and finesse, and will co-curate the menu that represents both you and your partner, look no further, Urban Tadka is it and more! Not to mention they have won consecutive “hats” year on year.

My husband and I got married in August at The Stables, Bendooley Estate in Bowral, and knew that we had to have Dimpy Uncle and his team with us to complete the night. Food was super important to us and we are so GRATEFUL that the team was available and where with us to mark our day. It would not have been the same without them.

Our wedding started early in the day and then went into our reception in the night. In our early conversations with Dimpy Uncle, he asked us what our schedule of events was for the day, what time the events would start and conclude, and thats about all he needed to then be able to use his expertise and experience to advise us on when best to serve food, how it should be served and what would be good complementary items. He also curated the menu to represent the north and south of India (representative of my South Indian heritage and my husband’s North Indian heritage). Uncle Dimpy demonstrated such professionalism throughout the planning of our wedding, and also gave us immense comfort in trusting him based on his approach with us. He was caring, insightful, and experienced.

The day was supported and led by Raj, who was such a star. Raj was a true representative of the Urban Tadka team and its values. His attention to detail, timeliness, proficiency and just checking on us and that our bridal party was also fed was just a few of the things he did to go above and beyond for us on the day. Our day, as all wedding days are, had some unforeseen situations arise leading us to change the sequence of the events. Again Raj, and Dimpy Uncle (who also made it to our day and was there with his staff ensuring everything was to standard) were able to adapt and cater to the changes. Raj, thank you so much for your professionalism, your exexmplary attention to detail and for your efforts on the night.

Ashwin and I have all great things to say about Urban Tadka, our catering experience at our wedding and also just the way in which it felt so personal with the team (it felt like we were dealing with family). We are so glad that we got to have Urban Tadka as our caterer. However the real gold is that every single one of our guests who have spoke to us post the wedding day has said many good things about the day but one consistent comment is “the food was amazing and there was plenty of it”. Some guests were even converted from not preferring Indian food to absolutely loving it after our wedding. Others wanted the details so that they could take their family and friends to Urban Tadka for a meal. Every single person loved the food, the variety, and let full & satisfied. (refer to the pictures for our menu items)

Uncle Dimpy, Raj bhai, and the entire Urban Tadka team, THANK YOU so much for making our day so special. For your meticulous attention to details, for your fine experience and for the whole journey. We cannot recommend you enough!

We plan to spend every anniversary dining at your fine establishment in...

This was an exceptional experience. In fact, we are still missing the butter chicken and craving it. There is a story about that a bit later in this review.

What’s to love? The cocktail game is on point. Not only are they flavorful, but this is the first time I’ve had a cocktail actually say something to me! So cute the way the edible message was on the top of my glass. I ordered the No Way Jose. It had tequila, Campari, egg whites, passionfruit, honeycomb, finger lime pearls and the aforementioned edible topper.

Our server was fantastic! Thanks Raj! Knowledgeable about the menu, pleasant, brought the drinks quickly, and he was overall just a complete delight!

Our appetizers were inventive and fun. We have eaten a lot of Indian food and Himalayan food and Indian Street food and beautiful tandoor options and upscale Indian food dining… So we always appreciate when a restaurant has the staples like the butter chicken but then also goes above and beyond with some of their entrées to present something new and inventive. The samosas were wonderful. Look at all of the fun accompaniments. I had the tandoori shrimp, and I have a deep allergy to coconut, which the server gladly accommodated and created a dish without the coconut.

Now the story about the butter chicken. My husband had filled up on appetizers, and although he loved his butter chicken, he was really looking forward to taking most of it home and having it late at night. So he had eaten about half of it. But the server, who was incredibly attentive and fabulous the entire night, accidentally threw away the leftovers. So he made an entire new batch. This was incredible. My husband was thrilled. This was above and beyond, and if we lived in Sydney or anywhere near Sydney we would be going to this restaurant on a weekly basis.

Here is the sad part. The next day we were going to go to New Zealand. And my husband was too tired when he arrived home to eat the butter chicken, so he was planning on having it when we arrived in New Zealand, but they wouldn’t let us bring it into the country! He was so sad.

Overall, this was an incredible experience. Food. Atmosphere. Service. All was on point. When we go back to Sydney, this will be our first stop! Can’t stop raving about...