TL;DR; Without hyperbole, some of the best Indian which I have ever had the pleasure of eating.
It has come to one of those times, one of those times where the most memorable meal comes right out of nowhere without any circumstances to set it all up. This was the case here, and it might well be some of the best fare in town - all this from somewhere that might not be given a second look if not known it is there. Even if I did not eat in here per se, from what I can remember going past here one day - by mere coincidence that time - is that with somewhere that is not as conspicuous as a lot of the other competition that is around, and would be driven and walked passed by numerous people aplenty, the pictures of the decor and how the vibe of it looks must be commended quite a bit. That is Indian eating in a nutshell, but the important matter at most here is how good their fare is. Well, we may well have reached perfection this time around.
Getting to it again with the PPV events on the WWE Network, no matter how many of them there are the ritual is still the same: when I get home from work, I put it on as soon as I can, fire up the delivery services and then place an order to eat in front of the show. With it being Battleground, and considering the what the main event was - Punjabi Prison (by the by, not their greatest) - it still made sense to go the Indian route. Regardless of what the stipulation was, Indian has often proven itself as one of the best takeaway options so just put that as the shorter version of the story. All that was needed was to plug the orders in, and then wait for it to arrive.
This was some of the best service yet from UberEats, arriving by a lightning quick motorbike. That is as good as it gets, everything was still pipping hot when it arrived at the house, and with it being the suburban streets at night, the biker could easily duck and weave more lithely thus saving a heap of time. If this is a bar that UberEats will start to set for their delivery services, then I say that they shall go for it - efficient, effective and everybody wins.
And before getting on to talking about the food they have here, they deserve to get the lip service necessary for their website which hosts a couple of recipes from their range of curries. As a fellow gourmand, this is definitely a touch that many other restaurant websites could integrate to expand the love of eating into loving cooking as well - both easily go hand-in-hand.
When it comes to their menu, what we have here to eat is the usual selection when it comes to an Indian place. That being said, it is still a substantial range and choice for the majority of palates, and it won't take too many returns to try the entire menu - especially when each return is with a few other people. The general selection is more or less as follows. They have a bunch of entrees, most of them being from the tandoor, along with some street snacks. Curries which are both vegetarian - mostly paneer - and non-vegetarian - the usual lamb and chicken, along with a goat curry, rice dishes of both biriyani and rice on the side, a range of breads for on the side, and some sweets including the drinks. It is everything basic that you could want from an Indian takeaway, plus a little bit more to fill in the gaps.
Looking towards a good night, a solid amount was ordered for this event. Firing up the rice cooker after the order was put in, it was for a couple of curries, a starter, some drinks, and bread. That is all it takes for a great meal here, and each component was tasty and the serving sizes were on the generous side of the scale. First off is with the onion bhajis, in which there must have been one big handful of them. They were quite crispy, had a nice touch of spiciness to them that was apparent without overpowering the flavour, and the onion filling was sweet, well caramalised and solid. This was off to a good start, and it only got better from there.
Both of the curries that I ordered were classics - it is hard to go wrong with a chicken tika marsala, and for something a bit more spicy the lamb vindaloo is hard to go by as well. These two curries had rich, wonderful, thick gravies which were well spiced with plenty of complex ingredients, coupled with bits of meat which were substantial in size, and some of the best quality that could be found - we are talking like thigh or something. What was especially good about these curries, in particular with the vindaloo, was the level of spice in them. This was nothing which had you break out in a complete sweat, but certainly managed to heat you up. Simply put, there is something about a high bar set here with such a seemingly simple composition.
Of course, none of that would be possible without some good old bread on the side. It was a panner paratha that I got, and this was about medium size with bread. It was pretty tasty, the dough was soft and spongy, and it had quite a bit of cheese melted into it which gave it a bitey flavour, and it did well to soak up all the sauce. It would have been pretty good there, but other details pushed it from being another good place - albeit getting up there as is - to something else.
Considering my house mate, when it came to getting a mango lassi the button was pressed on the app to get a second one, and that was definitely a treat there. In drinking the lassi, it was thick, ice cold, creamy and smooth - delicious all round. It more or less did what it intends to do, and what really stood out was that there were bits of mango skin within the drink; that is a good thing, mind you, since what that reiterated to me was that everything was done fresh.
Finally, where it ultimately has the linchpin to get that perfect score is when we get to the desserts. Regardless of whether it was from a small selection or not, one thing that is hard to deny is just how good a gulab jamun is at the end of a good Indian meal. That is precisely what I ordered. If anything, these were what signified that we had truly found a major winner in Himalaya Sagar. Often reliable, gulab jamun is often sweet, and quite moreish. The sugar syrup is like icing on the cake. Aside from the doughnut holes being substantially bigger than usual, why it exactly stood out to me so much is something I can't quite put my finger on. But ultimately, this was the sweet finish to a wholly enjoyable meal.
Without any question, and after even considering it, there is no way that I am able to give any legitimate demerits to Himalaya Sagar. Each component of food was at a really high level of quality, regarding both the taste and the texture, it was quite clear that they used fresh and good quality ingredients down to the tiniest detail, and the best of all was how balanced the curries were with both the spice levels and flavour. It was complex and satisfying. From the outside looking in, like many others around town, it may or may not look like one more of your local Indian takeaway - but when it comes to the crunch, I enjoyed all of it so much that I saw right past that and believe this to be very well at the top of the line with Indian dining in Brisbane. And this was merely deliver. And I have eaten at literally dozens of these places.
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