Haandi {CLOSED}

Haandi, an award winning Indian restaurant in Fremantle has recently opened in Joondalup. On a recommendation from a friend with an Indian background, who knows a good curry when he eats one, we tried Haandi for a family dinner. So it wasn’t just myself and Chef that had to be impressed, but the Pastry Chef (Chef’s little bro) and Pappa Chef, Chef’s dad who’s been in the hospitality industry for some 40 years.We were warmly greeted and seated. We had a complimentary basket of poppadums to nibble on whilst we looked over the menu. For entrée we share some onion baji and tandoori chicken – cooked in the tandoor oven. They were both very good and made me hungry for more!

The six of us decided to share everything, so we chose a selection of dishes ranging from $19.50 to $22. We had super fresh garlic nann (which smelled A-Mazing!), roti and plain basmati rice, plus our dishes;

 Lamb Rogan Josh
 Lamb Vindaloo
 Butter Chicken
 Lamb Saag

Pappa Chef commented that Indian and other Asian cuisines do vegetarian food so much better than many western cultures. At Haandai they cater for vegos very well, with a whopping 30 vegetarian dishes on the menu. In addition to our meat dishes, we also tried a Shahi Paneer (cheese) curry ($16.50) and Jeera Aloo Gobi – potatoes and cauliflower sautéed with ginger and cumin seeds ($16.50) and we really enjoyed them too.

I’ve had Indian meals where everything tastes quite similar. I’ve also had Indians where the spice completely overpowered everything and all I could think about was how much my mouth was burning. At Haandi we had none of those issues. The tasty food was varied and though spicy, I didn’t feel the need to down a drink!

The Pastry Chef was keen to try some dessert, so we had Kulfi ($5). It’s a frozen dessert, similar to ice cream, topped with pistachios. It was a good way to finish off a top meal.

Everyone at the table really enjoyed their meals. It cost us about $65 a couple, so we thought that was pretty good value. That wasn’t including drinks as it’s BYO. Looks like we’ve found a new favourite local Indian.