malabar

visited this highly rated indian restaurant tonight (monday 13 may) for dinner. orderedchickenchettinadchickenmakhani, garlic naan, roti and steam rice with mango lassi.
chicken chettinad was very good, howeverchickenmakhani was sweet & diluted... could have been better if it was a thick gravy. chettinad was hot with good flavours.chickenpieces in both dishes were well cooked & succulent. ambience & service were excellent. being of indian origin we were not neglected by staff. chef mohammed was keen to pay us a visit & enquired about the meal.
ended the meal with an authentic strong madras coffee! overall 8/10. suggestions: butterchickencan be thicker; more south indian dishes can be added to menu such as idli, vada, veg avial, etc. thanks for a good service (coming all the way from perth, found the service courteous & good).

this rating is based purely on the food as the service was friendly and personable. the dal makhani was definitely not dal makhani (there was no butter or cream in sight) and the mix of lentils they used was odd. the butterchickentasted very tomatoey and bland. the tandoorichickenwasn't charred very well, and tasted more likechickencooked in a frying pan. considering the priciness of the meals and the ambience, i expected much more.

amazing! menu is different to the one posted i think, so i guess you have to go in an see it for yourself! service is superb, everyone is so attentive and friendly it makes the experience all the more better. i loved the signature dosai. it’s spicy and comforting and also pretty fulfilling for a starter. thechickentikka starter was mouthwatering and cooked to perfection, you have to try it !
the goan fish curry, beef curry and dal curry were all amazing. the only thing i can fault is that the curries are very small in serving size which is not worth the price you pay. i say this mainly because i’ve been to plenty of indian restaurants with lower prices and flavours that are richer. but i still loved every bit of it, so that didn’t bother me.

i love south indian food over north indian thanks to my own upbringing in malaysia, so i was pretty pleased to come across malabar back when i was based in darlinghurst. the owner and host is welcoming and helpful with recommendations; over two visits we tried everything from tandoorichicken(yes i know that's north indian but it's on the menu due to popular demand, along with other north indian dishes) to the unforgettable fried spinach crisps with date sauce (sorry, i don't know the exact name) which i highly recommend.

apparently, this place caters to the foreign crowd as i realised rightaway once i was seated and i was thinking to myself that they probably cook to appease this market, and so the variations would be quite mild and may be flat. which was expectedly the case to some extent.

there bangolori dosa is good as it has a different and flavoursome filling but there butterchickenis too sweeeet and yes it’s calledchickenmakhani instead i am not sure why, which is not worth trying. the portions are very small and the prices are high as you would expect in an up class potts point.

one thing i will mention here is as they seemed to enjoy a good fan base in the foreign crowd, they must be doing something right, so if you are an indian you may not like this place as much but in any other case you may give it a try.

food was really nice. we had spinach chaat and tandoorichickenas our entrée. very tasty.
mango lassi was thick and fresh, it's the best i've ever had.
tandoorichickenwas very juicy and full of flavoured.
the lamb dosai was amazing.
we also had goan fish curry. it was terrific and not as spicy as we thought. the butterchickencurry was very tasty.
the garlic naan however is less flavoured.
plus, staff were very friendly and know their food well.

this was my second visit to malabar. dined in by myself and enjoyed every course. i got the tandoorichickenas my starter, beef kerela with the parathas as my main with two desserts - gulkhand kulfi and rasmalai. everything was so amazing and on point! would highly recommend this place to anyone.

malabar is great for south indian treats while in sydney.

imagine getting kanjeepuram idlis and medu vada here. that's just what we had and they were good with tasty sambhar and chutney.

next we had meen peera uttapam- turmeric poached fish topped on caramelized onion mini uttapam. quite good

kozhi paneer dosai was unique. groundchickenmixed with paneer was the masala inside the crisp dosai.

duck moilee with malabar paratha was a treat which brought back memories of our houseboat stay on the backwaters of allepey! tender duck legs simmered in excellent coconut curry.

dessert platter with rasmalai, gajar halwa and pistachio kulfi was our happy ending!

i came here on a date, it was a saturday night at 7:45. it was so busy. the staff where very polite and friendly.

we ordered a bottle of wine, two garlic nan bread and one butter chick and one palak panner one serving of rice.

the waiter brough out our wine. poured our glasses then left. we had two sips then our meal arrived not even 2 mins after ordering it...

we both looked at each other and said this can’t be ours....

the waiter told us what it was as he placed our meals on our table... we both said omg that was so fat i can’t believe we order a bottle we should of just ordered a glass.

the food was so amazing my friend said the butterchickenwas so tender it fell apart in his mouth. and that the serving had lost of chucks ofchickenit wasn’t only sauce...

my palak panner was so yummy it had about 6 big chunks for cheese and the sauce had lots of spinach through it.

over all the food was amazing it was just quick service. it was a little too rushed. next time we will order a few entree to slow it down a little bit.

can’t wait to go back and try other things from the menu. i highly recommend this restaurant.

no room for dessert is my title for this review. family dinner, 2 regulars, 2 1st timers and 2nd visit for both of us. started with a number shared dosais, certainly got our appetite going. chef mohammed and owner appears at our table smiling and welcomes us. after some pleasant banner, he leaves us as the wet dishes arrive. goan fish(ling) curry in a light coconut sauce followed by lambshank roganjosh.chickenmakhani my favourite in creamy tomato based sauce, honey and fenugreek leaves is just so moreish. both servings are wiped clean of sauce with sweet peshwari naan. the other curries and accompaniments just round off a wonderfull dinner. chef mohammed returns to assess our progress and is complimented by our table. if you want great southern indian food this the place to enjoy your night, efficient friendly staff. great decor and outlook at the top of william st

we made a booking for sunday night at 6:00 and one of the first things we noticed was how busy it was despite it being early in the night.  it may have been due to the diwali festivities, which the waiter told us about - the restaurant had some special dishes they were serving for the night.  the restaurant is within walking distance to kings cross station.  alternatively, ticketed parking is available on nearby streets, although you will find that on sundays, the ticketing may not be applicable.

the restaurant had very lovely decor and despite it being very packed with diners, did not feel overly noisy.  the lighting of the room was quite dim, and this could make reading the menu difficult for those with poorer vision.  i asked the waiter whether or not the lighting could be adjusted, and they suggested to use the flash light on a smart phone.

for a group of 3, we ordered three dishes.  our starter was the bangalore dosai which was a rice and lentil crispy crepe with potato filling and served with a spicy sauce as well as a coconut sauce.  this dish was tasty, but in the past i had tried another dosai of theirs, with lamb mince and i found that one to be more flavourful.  we then had two main dishes and accompanying rice and naan bread.  our first main dish was a prawn curry (i do not recall the name) which was part of their diwali special menu.  the serving had 7 prawns, which were nicely cooked, and the sauce was described to be 'medium spicy', which to us (as we do not eat indian food often) was quite spicy.  the other dish we had was thechickenmakhani, which is more commonly known as butter chicken.  this dish was very tasty, and was not spicy but rather has a more sweet flavour.  i would recommend this dish if you are not too sure whether you are okay with spicy indian dishes.  i attempted to take photos of the dishes, but it was difficult due to the dim lighting.

service was very warm and attentive, however there was an issue with the bill, as the number of rice portions we ordered was inaccurately reflected on the bill.  despite this, the matter was quickly resolved after speaking with the staff, which made it relatively hassle free.

the total for our dining experience was just over $70, and we left feeling quite satisfied.  i still had room in my stomach, and in the future, would maybe have an extra starter.  overall, it was a really enjoyable dining experience and the menu had many interesting items so i'd definitely be interested to try more in the future. 

if you are looking to dine here on a good deal, i would suggest you use a combination of 25% off voucher with entertainment book, together with the occasional dimmi amex promotion (where if you spend $50+, you will receive a $20 cashback).

the food is undoubtedly exquisite. the ambience is there. being there in a busy sunday night is quite a pleasant experience, in theory.

unfortunately, the tables and chairs are badly arranged. it is very cramped with a near full house. the service is okay. the maitre d seems competent, but she is not exactly warm and welcoming, in fact, borderline rude. the waiting staff are okay but not very attentive (probably suffer from understaffed).

just minutes after finishing dessert, you are served with the bill without asking the waiting staff for it, which makes you feel terrible, "we have enough of you, now give us the money and get lost". also, very disappointing thatchickenbiryani is only available on sundays.

definitely better as a takeaway place. order delivery because of the good food, do not dine there unless you have to.

i was outstationed in bangalore for 6 months and had tried a lot of south indian food. i am sorry to inform that these food are the least authentic. the masala and tandoori were far cry from what you could find in those countries. furthermore, the tandoorichickenwas overcooked and tasted dry and tough.

service is excellent though.

the service was good. the food arrived quickly and was hot. we ordered garlic naan, paratha, the dish that was similar to butterchickenand the lamb roghanjosh. everything tasted good but the portions need some work. thechickencurry was just enough for two. the lamb shank roghanjosh had too much masala. it wa a overpowering the meat. not brilliant. there are other better indian restaurants to eat at. try thousand spices in homebush!

planned a last minute dinner with friends last week. we agreed to meet in darlinghurst and try our luck at getting a table at a particular restaurant but they were fully booked so we headed to malabar which was a few doors down after finding they could seat us immediately. upon walking into the restaurant we were hit with amazing aromas of spices which really made our tummies rumble!

we ended up ordering the bangalore dosai, prawn konkan, lamb kurumah,chickenmakhani, brown rice and paratha between 4 people. this was a perfect amount of food for us. all the dishes tasted amazing and despite the fact that the food was a little pricier than my local indian restaurants, i will definitely be back as it one of the best indian meals i've had in sydney.

i also strongly recommend the kadampuzha 'indian lemonade' it was such a unique and refreshing drink!