After a craving for curry, Aangan unfortunately (not unexpectedly) didn't have any free Friday night bookings. Tandoori Times seemed relatively well rated and so ended up the opportunity to explore Yarraville a little more than just Monday night cheap-movie night.
The menu is quite extensive. I tried to avoid any dish that advertised a sauce that could be eaten with any meat/seafood/vegetable combination and focus on specific things.
- Paneer Pakora (paneer stuffed with tangy mint and green chilli chutney, chicken pea battered and golden fried. This is a treat from the New Delhi Railway Station that’s a real classic) $10.95 - I didn't try this near New Delhi Railway Station but this was a plain cheese (as paneer is) nicely fried and served with an exceptional chutney that was more impressive than the paneer itself;
- Tandoori Time platter $20.9 - two nice lamb chops (one thick, one quite thin, could have been more rare and heavier spice), lovely tandoori chicken and lastly some chicken topped in an oily heavily flavoured melted cheese sauce that was great mixed with rice;
- Hyderabad's Dhania Beef (a delicate mix of freshly pureed coriander, green chilli, and mint sauce, spiced with flavours of southern masalas) - a nice curry with tender meat and a thicker sauce that seemed to taste of cumin (maybe it was a lot of coriander seeds). Nonetheless I liked it;
- Garlic naan and masala kulcha (naan stuffed with a spicy mix of paneer, potatoes, onions and fresh coriander) were both nice chewy breads and tasty to eat alone or soak up the curry.
Mango lassi was a nice version and not too sweet with no sugar crystals and the zeera one was a cumin seeded savoury version similar to salted buttermilk (and similarly to that I can't take it as a straight drink).
There's a lot to like about this place, not withstanding the location, the friendly staff, the entertaining reading in the menu and of course great food. There's plenty of things to try for next time including the dum biryani, special regional lamb/chicken/goat recipes and otherwise more tandoori.