There are lots of Indian takeaways in Sydney. There are even areas that you can find them nearly around every corner of them. But for me I have not found a lot of them that I wanted to keep going back. Mena Tandoori is the one that I kept going back even after I moved out of Kensington.
I must admit that during the chaos of the Light Rail Construction I went there a lot less as it was impossible to find parking around there with road closures and detours. There were times that I was driving around for 10 to 15 minutes looking for parking only to decide to go, because it was too much. I am never much of a person waiting in lines for a table or driving around finding parking for food, so that fact that I was willing to do so indicated how much I missed it.
Started as Curry Beans initially, the place was renamed to Mena Tandoori at the suggestion of the kids of the owner to honour their mum, who still helps out at the shop all day long there. Yes, it is a family joint, hence I think that’s why it felt a lot less product line when it comes to the food. When it first opened up, a friend who just lived a block away from it was highly recommending it. I was sceptical, I had too much bad experience with Indian takeaways that I basically avoid them most of the time. For me a lot of them, the taste was standardised and occasionally quite bland that it doesn’t taste like Indian food at all. Perhaps I was spoilt because one of my good friends is a Kiwi Indian and her mum and dad cook great Indian food. They taught me how to make curries from scratch and my pantry is filled up with all the spices they told me to keep in the house. As such I rarely found generic Indian takeaways interesting.
That changed with Mena Tandoori. When I first ventured there with my friend (while it was still known as Curry Beans), the girl at the counter (she was the owner’s daughter) recommended Chicken Tikka Masala as a first choice, then I had Lamb Rrogonjosh as my second choice and Mushroom Bhaji as my third. She also tried to talk me into getting a Mango Lassi, which initially I was reluctant. I just had too many bad experiences with Mango Lassi in Sydney. But my friend helped talk me into it. For me Chicken Tikka Masala and Lamb Rrogonjosh are my tests for whether their food is authentic, as in a lot of places, they just taste like uninteresting bottled sauce for the local audience.
After I tasted the food, the rest is history.
It had been some time that I could really feel the explosion of spices in the food from an Indian takeaway. The flavour was rich and both the chicken and lamb were cooked to perfection. You can tell the Masala sauce was different from the Rrogonjosh, and even the bed of rice was cooked just the right texture. Then I tasted the Lassi, and that’s when I got my confidence of buying Lassi in Sydney. It was not like distilled yellow water like in a lot of places, of melted mango yogurt in others. The fragrance of the mango rushed out from the straw and reached my mouth in a texture that resonates in my oral cavity and lingered there for a while even long after it rushed pass it. For me that was one of the best Mango Lassi I ever had.
Eventually Mena Tandoori became one of my favourite joints in Kensington. I would wander down Anzac Parade for different reasons and excuses not to cook so I can try all the items on the menu. For me, they have the best fish curry, Allo Begonia (potatoes and egg plants) and Mango Chicken.
The joint might be a pretty small one, and they don’t really have much décor to talk about (though they did have updated their menu board over the years) but for me going there is not about the environment but the food. Also, the family running the joint are some of the nicest people around. There may be some other more convenient Indian joints that I can go to, but if I want to spoil myself with good Indian food, it will not be one of those joints or any fancy restaurants around the town (though I do have one or two I like) but the cosy and unpretentious Mena Tandoori.
Mena Tandoor locates at 130 Anzac Parade, Kensington, diagonally opposite to Peter’s of Kensington. And you can visit their website here.
