Maharani Restaurant 225 High Street phone 799-008

Press, 29 June 1983, Page 25

Maharani Restaurant 225 High Street phone 799-008

(By HANS PETROVIC) When in India, eat as the Indians eat. This is not as difficult as it sounds, for India is a huge country with a wide variety of foods — not necessarily just curry, which is automatically associated with that sub-contin-ent. The same applies to the Maharani Restaurant, which is Christchurch’s first Indian eating house, and claimed to be the first in the South Island. This restaurant certainly offers a big selection, some of which should appeal to any Kiwi palate. The Maharani seems to have been well patronised since it opened about four weeks ago, and seems to be becoming one of the “trendy” places to go. Its popularity, in fact, might be a downfall because it took 45 minutes before we were served our entrees. I have been told that on the restaurant’s opening night, some people had to wait up to 90 minutes before they received the first of their food. This seems to have improved slightly; however, I still receive criticism from hungry people who had to wait up

to an hour before they got their first morsel. The manager explained to me that this problem arose from the restaurant’s being much better patronised than expected; therefore, they were under-staffed; and that they took great care in cooking each meal correctly — and that this took time. To this last statement I can fully testify, for the food was exquisite — all of it had the right blend of spices and the right degree of hotness, although possibly somewhat toned down to cater to New Zealand tastes. Before I get to the good parts, I had better make a couple of other warnings: First, most of the menu is written in some Indian language, leaving most Westerners with that wonderful sense of discovery — not knowing what they are going to get. However, the Indian lady serving in the Maharini takes great delight in explaining each dish in detail. Second, some people may walk out still feeling slightly hungry because of the small amount of meat served with most dishes. Most of the main courses are served with a plate of plain savoury rice, and a small, metal bowl of whatever else you have ordered. Of course, going with this, you get various styles of

Indian bread, such as chapatis or papadams, plus assorted condiments, like pickles and chatni (chutney). So, make sure that you take along a good bottle of wine to keep an un-shrunken stomach happy. The bread and liquid will also go well with some of the hotter dishes. The four people in our party on that evening tried as many different dishes as we could. For starters, two had Seekh Kebab (minced lamb cooked on skewers), another had Boti Kebaß (marinated lamb cubes on skewers), while I opted for Chicken Tikka (spicy chicken cubes). They all tasted as they sound but I believe my chicken was the best of the lot. It was beautifully spiced and had that subtle kind of hotness which slowly creeps up in the back of your mouth. It was delightful. For the main course, two of my friends had the Chicken Kari (curry), with the savoury rice and chapatis ($12.45), while another tried the Dahi Chicken ($8.85), which all of them found pleasant, if lacking a little in quantity. I chose the Madrasi lamb with hot curry ($6.85). It certainly was delicious, although not quite as hot as I had expected. (The menu says, however, that “any of the curries can be made to the degree of hotness you desire.”) I have always been wary of Indian desserts for I find them much too sweet. The other three, however, were brave enough to order some kind of carrot cake and curdled milk. All three found these dishes too sweet to complete. The whole meal (including tea) cost $6O for the four of us. We considered the price a little bit steep but I will be back at the Maharani again purely because of the excellence of the cooking.