ADELAIDE: Familiarity. That was the last thing on my ‘expected’ list in Adelaide. That is true about every new city – streets seem like black scratches criss-crossing whimsically, smiles are devoid of that predictable warmth, all tees are marl grey, all trenches black and all hotels without a mite.
As I stepped into Adelaide, familiarity seemed as far off as the home I had left seven seas behind. But in Adelaide, the home of Sir Donald Bradman, I could not have been more mistaken. "Oh! You are from India. Indian food is so good," the cabbie exulted. "Go to Tandoori Oven, the best Indian restaurant in all of Australia," he added in the same breath. That claim seemed a little exaggerated, for in Adelaide alone there are about 120 sit-down and take-away Indian eateries. But the cabbie was not the only one.
At the hotel, the reception recommended a hearty meal at Tandoori Oven. "Hyde Park", I directed the cabbie as I headed out for that ‘hearty meal.’ He looked flummoxed about the address. "Tandoori Oven," I specified. "Why say Hyde Park? Say Tandoori Oven, everyone knows it. I eat there often…," I stood corrected by the burly bearded cabbie.
Three recommendations in three hours… That sure said something more about the restaurant than the gilt tags of Best North Indian Restaurant (2002, 2004, 2007), Hall of Fame (2005), Advertiser Good Food Guide (2 Forks, 2006) and an enviable Best Indian Restaurant award seven times in nine years. The history – and the reputation - of Tandoori Oven goes back to 1983 but the real beginnings can be traced back to the early 1900s when a couple from an impoverished Punjab village packed bags and left for Malaya.
In the new land and amidst strangers, they were seeking prosperity. And they found it in abundance. Two generations later, the scions of the Sandhu family would move to Adelaide, amongst them being a tall, strapping Paremjeet (Pomi) Sandhu with an education and experience in the travel trade. Much before Pomi set foot in Adelaide, his parents had already migrated; their prized possession being the magic in Anant Sandhu’s hand.
So deft was she that she could rustle the most sumptuous of all dishes out of the blandest and barest of all ingredients and spices. The Sandhus began with a take away business that soon made way for Jasmin restaurant that Pomi’s mother still runs with his brother and sister. The aroma of Jasmin’s kitchen lured many including Donald Dustan, the premier of South Australia and cooking enthusiast who would often hop around from the Parliament House not just to dig his fork into the succulent kebabs and paranthas but also to exchange recipes with Anant sitting on a bag of rice stacked by the kitchen.
And Pomi who calls barbecue his specialty, fresh salads his forte and Indian/Italian food his love, owes it all to his mother, who at 78, can still put many an agile young cook to shame. Tandoori Oven has a long menu, an eclectic mix of entrees and mains carefully picked for variety – tikkas, kebabs, lamb shanks, korma, pakoras, rogan josh…Not for them the convenience of hurried cooking, food in Tandoori Oven is still cooked the old handi way with charcoal lending that exquisite flavor. The first things to fly off the hearth are butter chicken and vindaloo.
"The Australians are very adventurous about food and they would not settle for anything less than the authentic," says Pomi Sandhu who has sat on the Commission for Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs for four years. That adventurous streak certainly saves his chefs the heartburn of tweaking the original recipes to suit another palate. In the gallery-style dining hall that is adorned with paintings by Tom Gleghorn, Pomi Sandhu and his wife Jas know their regular customers whose names are etched in brass and nailed on the chairs’ leather head, a concept that has been much talked of. For Pomi and Jas, it has been a long journey from their moorings in Malaysia.
However, even with so many honors on their mantelpiece, they are not ready to rest on their laurels. The to-do list includes a club, bar, tapas-style eatery with Indian leanings. Pomi says his heart aches for India. "When in India I tend to question why the country India does not run the way it should, when I return to Australia I miss the chaos and drama.
I now realize that India will not wait or change for anyone." Pomi is waiting for his long overdue trip to India; he is not sure when he would actually pack his bags for a little drama and a little chaos. All I know is that when I was looking for familiarity in an alien land, I found it in Tandoori Oven. That it is the best North Indian restaurant in Australia goes without saying. www.deepblueink.com
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