gaja by sashi

i am a hugemastercheffan and loved sashi’s, or atleast watching, sashi’s creations! so when we came to adelaide i couldn’t miss out and coming and trying his restaurant and it did not disappoint. the dishes were all packed with flavour and well balanced! we tried a selection of the curries with the amazing house roti bread which was just so flaky and delicious. to finish off we had two desserts both a beautiful combination of textures and flavours. i can now imagine exactly what themasterchefjudges were tasting when trying sashi’s food! definitely worth a visit or two!

we visited gaja tonight the newly opened eatery from a formermasterchefcontestant. there were many things on the menu that appealed but being in a group i didn’t get too much control over the ordering process though the coconut beef shin dish was my choice and a tasty one at that.

we had to try themasterchefsignature lychee duck curry which had quite a bit of heat to it. i’m not a huge duck fan but the rest of the table thoroughly enjoyed it. i loved the atmosphere and fit out in this venue which is really vibrant and modern.

we tried both desserts today which were a nice light way to end the meal with enjoyable mango and coconut flavours.

we’ve always been intrigued by the food prepared bymasterchefaustralia winners and finally we have one that is opening up a restaurant in adelaide!

gaja by sashi was much anticipated by my group of friends who were all of south east asian descent. we took it with a pinch of salt though (not quite literally, as you will read in my comments below) as we heard mixed reviews about sashi’s pop up in melbourne.

the restaurant’s decor included an old school “ice kacang” machine, bringing back much nostalgia to people who grew up in malaysia and singapore.

food served was like a typical asian sharing menu. however, the food at gaja cost us twice as much as other places. one serve of white rice was $4! the waitress explained that every main served 2-3 people and it was in her words “big portions”. much to our dismay, when the food came, it wasn’t. we’re not sure if it was supposed to be big by asian standards.

the first thing to note when eating at gaja is to expect a wide array of food inspired by south east asian flavors.

we had the aloo chop which were stuffed potato dumplings with chilli, much like aranchini balls, except starchier and spicier.
the mahor were sticky pork and prawn in lime leaf chilli on pineapple.
and we also had the otak otak. it was $24 for a portion as large as my thumb. in malaysia, you could eat the same portion for less than $0.5.
their goan masala (mutton and eggplant) was their only dish that was well balanced.
their begun bhaja, grilled eggplant lacked flavor.

the mains made up for all the lack of flavor of the entrees. they were very salty. we had the (salty) kang ped pett yang; duck leg curry, the (salty) raan e khass; slow roasted lamb shoulder, ghobi masala; roast cauliflower, (extremely salty) daal saag, which was split pea dahl. being a hugemastercheffan, i was on #teamsashi the whole season, i looked forward to trying indian and south east asian food at his restaurant. but this experience left me with disappointment. this was fairly unanimous across the table of 12.

luckily though, their desserts were their saving grace. we tried all of it! but disappointed that there were no other tributes to malaysian/ singaporean food. these countries boast the most versatile, flavoursome food made from the abundant of spices available. there were just not enough to pay homage to his origins.

i think it’s safe to say we will find it hard going back and reliving the memory of what we just had. maybe someday we’ll muster the courage to try again..