cassia restaurant

this cound be the bestindianrestaurant in auckland. i don't normally eatindiancuisine, but these are really yum. food presentation is 5/5, flavour is 5/5, service is good, but should be better. staff poured water on table but didn't came to wipe it, and there's no signal in restaurant, not convenient at all.

simply amazing! i love the bengali/ eastindianinspirations in some of the dishes, but i love the creativity, flair and innovation even more. helps that the food is insanely delicious and the cocktail menu is superb too. highly recommend for that special night out!

so glad to finally get the chance to dine here after seeing that gordon ramsay ate here too. big fan of sid sahrawat. service was great , food definitely met my expectations.the menu has been crafted really well with a nice selection while still maintaining the authenticity ofindiancuisine. we had the lamb kulcha, fish tandoori with lime, eggplant with goats cheese and caramelised duck. the duck was to die for, the skin nice and crispy and meat is so tender its like fish. im a happy girl.

we went to dinner as a four last night. it was a busy night and i was interested to see if cassia could live up to the hype. the dining room is inviting and relaxed, with the open kitchen we could see sid was in attendance on the pass. we ordered the $80 five course tasting menu and there were plenty of highlights. the food was generally classic food infused withindianflavours to give a seamlessly delicious result. the highlights for me were the surprisingly awesome slow roasted carrot with cashew cream, the lamb with eggplant puree and goats cheese foam, and the almond sponge dessert with the el bulli style dehydrated crisp. after consideration i would say cassia lived up to its billing. the chef wasn't going all out with bells and whistles purely to impress, which i liked; the technique was still there but what i got was beautifully executed beautifully flavoured plates of food where everything fit. this was a very satisfying memorable meal

my reservation when heading out for anindianmeal, is always the fear of being overwhelmed by curry sauce and poor cuts of meat. 

cassia's modern twist, has really captured my attention back toindiancuisine and my taste buds are still buzzing from the flavours. 

onion kulcha - a lovely  starter with sweet onions and a tasty coriander relish.

tandoori fish in dry korma and the chefs special quail was a great shared course between the three of us.

for mains, we shared the duck and the pork belly with some fresh naan and side of beans.

i thought everything was   d e l i c i o u s.

the service was fantastic, very attentive and friendly.  these guys know what they're doing, and seem to have a genuine interest to make your night enjoyable.  if you're unsure what to order, the staff will give you some sound advice.

amazing ambiance, uniqueindianflavours, excellent service, refreshingly different menu from typicalindianrestaurants. highly recommended.

the restaurant is one of the bestindianfood places in auckland right now. the ambience is minimalistic and very comfortable. the food has flavours that i never experienced before. however, the manager was one of the most unfriendly persons i've met in my 27 years within the hospitality industry. he had an aura of entitlement to himself and was completely unsuitable for food & beverage service. i'm guessing he is the owner. if so, he should step away and better leave the service professional hands. his attitude was a huge dampener in an otherwise memorable experience.

came here for a birthday dinner and it was an amazing experience. lovely staff, great food with an amazing ambience. definitely a go to place for special occasions if you loveindianfood and for some fine dining 😊😊

cassia’s take onindianfusion cuisine is phenomenal, i couldn’t forget about their amazing lambchops after i first tried them two years ago!

here are the dishes we ordered this time, i was 💯happy with every single one:
🍽scallop & scampi starter
very generous chunks of raw scallop and coated cooked scampi served with lentil crisps and white strawberries!
🍽goan lamb chops 🏆🏆🏆
aromatic, juicy and unforgettable!! standard portion comes with 3 chops, option to add $9 for an extra piece👌🏼 yes please
🍽market fish
🍽garlic naan
naan is a must when it comes toindianfood🤤 fairly priced at $6
🍽califlower bhaji
deep fried califlower balls, moist and surprisingly good, a good vegetable side dish to have
🍽chocolate, raspberry, hazelnut, honeycomb dessert

cassia is also located on fort lane, love how this laneway is populated with an array of good restaurants and bars!
be sure to make your reservation early, we booked ours almost a month in advance for their busy december season.

💲price ~$70/person
😋taste 5.5/5
📍cbd

this is by far my favouriteindianfine dining restaurant, second time coming here and still just as good. the lamb chops and coriander cream were a crowd favourite, and all the curry mains were falling off the bone and full of flavour. service is excellent, and i love the industrial vibes of the place. that said, it is quite a loud and busy restaurant with seats close together- so if you are in the mood for a very quiet intimate setting this may not be the place (they do have private dining areas though)...amazing!

technically 3 stars but it loses one because it's so expensive. i was very excited to try this restaurant because i loveindianfood and being metro top 50 and all. for a highly rated restaurant that you have to book 2 weeks and advance (which was actually half empty)and will set you back $200, i was expecting my mouth to be singing with flavour, but from the first mouthful i realised that would not be the case. the flavour profile of every dish i tried can only be described as unbalanced and lacking. ugghh so disappointing.

to start we got a potato and paneer fritter, kasundi and mushroom & truffle kulcha. the fritter tasted bland like a deep fried mushed potato ball but the sauce underneath was tasty. the mushroom kulcha was great. fresh bread stuffed with potato and mushrooms with a hint of truffle oil, however the chutney lacked spice and flavour. for starters we got pumpkin, goat’s curd, tamarind, spiced cabbage which was great. something different with unique sour notes of pickled cabbage,sweet pumpkin and crunchy seeds. we also ordered scallop, scampi, cultured cream, pickled onion which was sensational but only as far as nz produce goes, scallops were server raw and were amazing. scampi tails were tasty but quite dry. we then got our mains which were really disappointing i’m sorry to say. rajasthani beef short rib, cashew, daikon which was $40 tasted like burnt tomato and onion sauce with a very bitter sauce with a smoky aftertaste.
short rib was cooked really well but the whole dish lacked flavour, like no flavour at all. we also got a pork belly, vindaloo, apple dish which again was bland and very sour unbalanced flavour. pork was very good and free range so well done on that. got a side of naan bread which was a naan bread you can get at any decentindiantakeaway.
service and ambience was good, friendly staff, quick and knowledgeable. if you expect flavoursomeindianfood with a twist you will be disappointed. average european dishes with a hint ofindianflavour is more accurate. deserves a 3 but giving a 2 due to high prices and all the hype.

if you don't like spicy food, there is a good chance you won’t like cassia.

after seeing so many glowing reviews and knowing this restaurant is from the same family as sidart (which is absolutely amazing) my expectations were high.

i suppose going to anindianrestaurant comes with the implicit risk that some food will be spicy. however, as someone with a milder pallet and accustomed to either menus or waiters pointing out what food is spicy and what is not, we were caught off guard by the heat of half of our dishes — the tandori chicken main and seehk kebab entre were too hot for us! given the otherwise excellent service, if not the menu, we would expect the waiter to brief diners on the menu.

beyond the spicy food, highlights include the cocktails, an absolutely delicious carrot dish and our waiter (notwithstanding the spice issue). we note our waiter got the kitchen to make the main a little less spicy for us, which we appreciated, but cassia’s ‘ultra mild’ was still quite spicy.

the ambiance was also nice and cozy.

that modernindiandining 🇮🇳
✔️ we ticked cassia off my list to celebrate my birthday, and it was such an awesome experience. cassia is hidden underneath the fort lane, right next to the roxy. as we stepped inside and down the stairs, the warm, cozy and inviting atmosphere hit us. and they also have one of my favourite things for restaurants: an open kitchen. 😆
🇮🇳 we are not expert inindiancuisine, so we asked one of the waiters' recommendations. he explained each dishes well and passionately! followed his advice, i got pani puri, potato, chickpea, mint and celeriac tart, yoghurt, paneer to nibble. i love the pani puri, it's a popular street snack in india, but it was my first time to try it. put the whole thing in, one bite. the crispy crepe mixed with all the flavours, mint juice just exploded in my mouth and overwhelmed my taste buds. it was surprising and satisfying. 🤩
🍽 followed with caramelised duck, chettinad sauce, onions as my main. omg! i love it! the skin part is nice and crunchy, while the inside is tender and moist. it's also really soft, to a level it melts in my mouth. i would rate it my favourite out of all the curries i've tried. on the side we had garlic naan, soft, fluffy naan with the right amount of garlic taste, it's just perfect flavorful and also not greasy at all. 👌🏻💯
🍫 to finish, we chose chocolate, raspberry, hazelnut, honeycomb. speechless for this one as it was just bloody delicious!!!! 🤤
✨ great location, perfect atmosphere, awesome services and the best modernindianfood. i don't see why you still haven't added this one to your list.

i've had plenty ofindianfood in my life but nothing like this. if you want to try something youve never had before, get yourself here! everything was beautiful and the service was prompt.