Zyka Indian Cuisine, Upper Riccarton — Restaurant in Christchurch

7th November 2018 - We went there to have a celebratory birthday dinner as the birthday person has chosen Tandoori Palace. We ordered garlic naans, boti kebabs, butter chicken, mango chicken and kerala fish curries. The curries were delicious and yummy 😋. Both butter and mango chicken curries were on medium spiciness while kerala fish curry was hot. The mango chicken is quite different as the curry is quite sweet but with a strong mango taste (similar to mango lasi but creamier gravy). The [mango curry] gravy was not bad and goes well with the rice. Even though the chicken pieces were coated with the gravy, it was still tasted bland as the mango flavour did not infused into the chicken pieces.

One thing I noticed was that the portion sizes have became smaller; less pieces of chicken and fish. 🤔 😕 I hope this is only an oversight and one-off. If this continues to be the case, then I by go somewhere else.

This is a licensed eatery and you can order the drinks 🍻🍸🍷🍾🍹🍺. There is no outdoor dining area.

There is a limited onsite parking 🅿.

They accept cash, EFTPOS and credit card payments (yes, Paywave is available), for those who want to know.

Friendly staff.

Would I go back? Yes, for now. ☺ Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5. 😋. Ambience: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5. Price: ⭐⭐⭐ out of 5. Worth the money: ⭐⭐⭐ out of 5.

2nd September 2018 - this is the definite our favorite restaurant. We went there for Father's day dinner. We ordered boti kebabs (medium spiciness and it was great! But the kids found it slightly spicy 😰), butter chicken (for the kids), lamb kadai (or khadai), and kerala fish curries. All with medium spiciness. We also ordered two different Naan breads; garlic naan and cheese & garlic naan. We love the cheese & garlic naan but the original garlic naan was slightly disappointing compared to our previous visits as it was dry (and is crunchy). Anyway, the overall meals were delicious and flavoursome.

Would I go back? Yes ☺ Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5. 😋. Ambience: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5. Price: ⭐⭐⭐ out of 5.

What can I say. This is one of the best Indian restaurants in Christchurch. Check out my food photos.

My family and I have been there many times, at least 5 times in the last 6 months. The food was great and delicious.

One of our kids' favorite is the butter chicken 🐔. It is sweet and creamy, and goes very well with basmati rice and the kids love it 🤗.

We always order the tandoori [half] chicken up kick off our dinner. It comes on a sizzling plate with 4 chicken pieces on a bed of shredded cabbage served with minty yoghurt dipping sauce. We occasionally ordered the chicken Tikka but tandoori chicken is still the yummy entrée.

As for the mains, we would normally order a few pieces of garlic naans, one butter chicken 🐔 (no surprise there 😜), one chicken 🐔 korma, and either lamb 🐏 vindaloo or Rogan Josh or lamb 🐏 Khadai. The lamb vindaloo and Rogan Josh curries are hot and spicy but full of flavours. Each curry has a distinctive flavour but vindaloo is slightly hotter (spiciness) while Rogan Josh is slightly milder. Lamb Khadai is different, it has a strong taste of masala sauce with green chillies and onion slices. I only recently had this dish and am starting to like it.

All these curries are amazing with strong flavours. I recommend to stick with medium spiciness but if you are feeling adventurous and want to try hot, be my guest. Perhaps you should get ready a glass of milk or a yoghurt, just in case 😂.

The environment at this place is welcoming and relaxing atmosphere. Friendly staff and good service. It was a house with a wooden floor that was converted into an Indian restaurant with a separate takeaway area. This business has been here for at least 10 years.

Would I go back? Yes ☺ Food: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5. It was yummy 😋. Ambience: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5. Nice and warm. Dimly lit. The dining area is not cold, as I didn't need to wear my jacket while eating. Price: ⭐⭐⭐ out of 5. Reasonably priced compared to other Indian...

1 star only because 0 is not an option. Let me take you through my evening at Zyka, Upper Riccarton. My friends and I decided we wanted to get curry during a very intense study week. Four of us dined in, and showed up at 6:45pm. We were seated immediately - amazing service. We then looked at our menus and were ready to order. At 7:10pm we FINALLY placed our order. We then waited patiently, watching all the people around us get their food. At 8pm I asked on a wait time, where I was promptly told it would be 45 minutes. I clarified, and they stated that 45 minutes was the wait time from order. After an hour, we asked again, where we were told that one table was still ahead of us. We then watched 3 tables receive their food before we were given ours, at 8:31pm. We decided to stay in because at that point we were very hungry. After about 5 minutes, one of the people I was dining with found that their chicken was pink - and not the passable pink you could expect in a slow cooked curry. Needless to say, they did not finish their food. I was then about to put the rest of my food in a 50c takeaway container, when I found a long curly hair intertwined amongst my food. I decided not to keep my food as I was pretty disgusted. We then went to pay, where the person behind the till had to have 2 people explain what was ordered before they believed us. We then found out that the discount deal we ordered was not specified at the beginning of the meal as the waitress did not clarify (she also rolled her eyes and called my meal bland when I ordered a mild korma. I am recovering from being sick). I will not be ordering from this establishment again, and would appreciate a refund at the very least or some type of compensation for this appalling evening. Previously I had ordered takeaways from Zyka and really enjoyed it, but unfortunately after this evening I will not be returning, and I hope you will not either after...

A very nice Indian restaurant, though there are better alternatives out there. I ordered the chicken vindaloo which in itself, is a challenging dish to prepare however Tandori Palace managed to pull off an adequate culinary skill in making. The sauce was spicy, but sweet at the appropriate level and held a reasonable amount of flavor while being spicy. However, the issue I had with this was there was not an adequate ratio of chicken to sauce, leaving the sad pieces of chicken(which was tender and well cooked) in a large amount of sauce. The rice was fairly standard, but a fairly generous serving which when combined with the sauce, held together well and at a good ratio. As for the Bhaji, they were something commendable with the nice crispy coating on the outside while keeping moisture within, which is a admirable feat when preparing onion Bhaji, many Indian restaurants fall short of this and end up drying them out too much or having them soaked in oil, which Tandori Palace did not. The icing on the cake of my meal was what stood out to me the most. The Naan. I ordered a cheese and garlic naan which was cooked to perfection, there were no burnt edges, no ocean of oil, just goodness. With evenly distributed garlic and a bread stuffed with cheese and herbs, I was delighted at the taste of such a naan. However, where Tandori Palace fell short again were the portion size. The naan I ordered was considerably smaller than most other Indian restaurants which came again as a disappointment and the reason I gave this place 3 stars. Overall would recommend to people looking for a...