Most of what we eat in NZ Indian restaurants is just a taste of what’s available in India. It’s largely from the north …  korma and rogan josh curries, biryani and naan bread. It’s really good! But in the South Asian food hub of Sandringham there’s so much more…

Let’s start with chaat…

If you do one new thing in Sandringham, go out for chaat. These are snack-style dishes with a range of textures and flavours: tangy, spicy, sour, savoury and crunchy. Here’s more about them and what to choose.

Dosa 

Dosa is a rice and lentil flour based pancake from the south of India, thin and crunchy. It can come filled with potato curry, and/or served with chutneys and sambar. A meal in itself or as part of a shared meal, here’s where and how to do dosa.

Dal

Wholesome and delicious, dal are lentils served up anywhere between a soup and a stew (dal is also the word for lentils in Hindi). It’s the closest thing to an Indian national dish. Find out where to pick up dal, to take home or eat in.

Tandoor

The smells from the tandoor grill wafting through the streets of Sandringham draw me in like the Pied Piper. Carefully spiced meats grilled in a super hot wood-fired oven, see who presides over the tandoor…

Biryani and pulao

Elaborate rice dishes originating in Persia which have evolved like a culinary snowball. Lucknow in the north and Hyderabad in the south are now epicentres of biryani and here’s where to get the best of these in Sandringham.

Indian-Chinese

Featuring more and more on Indian restaurants menu here, these dishes originated when Chinese migrants to India added Indian spice to Chinese dishes. Here’s where to find them in Sandringham.

Sri Lankan

Sandringham is also home to great food from this island nation off the coast of south India. Try 7 Siri at 580 Sandringham Rd.

Curry

Still just fancy a curry? Mopped up with rice and naan? Here’s where to get excellent versions of old and new favourites in Sandringham.