Shamianah Indian Gourmet

Very good quality Indian food with great service and ambiance. We enjoyed our time at this restaurant as it’s a hidden gem in south side, highly recommended.

Well priced curry with Kids special really appreciated and they can make mild or hot as per your taste.

TL;DR: From the name alone, it is apparent that Shamianah is aiming to be a cut above the competition around town, delivering high value, and high quality in their cooking. There are elements of that, and with it being a bit on the new side it does have a bit of way to go which is in reach for their mission statement. By all means, it is recommended - especially with the menu selection that they have. Service is astute, and aesthetics certainly help. Here's to a long reign within the neighbourhood.

For a special occasion, the WWE Network had an event that was streaming all the way over from Saudi Arabia with the intent to penetrate that market over the next decade. They took the long-running audience favourite, the Royal Rumble, and expanded it to even bigger proportions - calling it the Greatest Royal Rumble and making it one big-assed show. Well, no matter what the size of it is going to be, what is for certain is that I see an opportunity here: get some delivery to eat with the show.

It was within the couple of weeks leading up to it that I was trying to see what looked the best, which eventually it settled on the good old reliable Indian. Going through all the choices on the UberEats app, there were several that had been skipped over after so many times and it was high time to go back and chose one of them. After to-ing and fro-ing between a couple of the choices, Shamianah obviously ended up being the choice.

Giving it a few days advance, the order was plugged in and scheduled. From this, it gave a good indication about customer service. Not too long after the order was put through, the restaurant range through just making sure that all the details were right and that it was the right day and not for the morrow with the time given. Not really one that is necessary, yet when this aspect pops up it is always a point in their favour since it shows attention to detail, and provides some customer service at the same time. Waiting on the day, it was just putting some rice on in the rice cooker and awaiting the food to arrive.

And in that instance, upon the food being delivered, it was more or less efficient and arrived all piping hot, and ready to eat.

Now for the exciting part about this place, it has to be their menu. Ultimately, it is more or less structured with most Indian places - that is the usual lot of curries, biriyanis and whatnot. Though in saying that, each section of the menu has a good, generous selection that is mouth-watering with many of the choices being on the unusual side.

It begins with the starers, which has a range of all kinds of tandoori delights, and pakoras which come in chicken, red meat, seafood and vegetarian to enable satisfaction from all tastebuds dining here. Coming towards the mains, the range of curries contain many of the old favourites that are guaranteed to be there, plus a range of more unique restaurant dishes and going further along to bring in other varieties from across the globe such as baltis. What also can be noted with the big selection of curries is that the vegetarian section of the menu is just as deep and rich as the carnivourous counterpart - there are just as many mixed vegetable curries as there are paneer, and some mushroom ones, plus all kinds of potato-based curries, and the good old lentil-based curries to boot.

The variety of options does not end there either. With both the usual sides - breads and rice- options are aplenty. On the breads front, they don't just have a selection of naans with a couple of token other choices; rotis, bhatura and other kinds find themselves on the menu. As with the rice, all sorts are here. It goes from the simple such as basmati et al, all the way to a full meal like biryiani. Finalising the meal part of the menu, they go all-out with what condiments and accompaniments are available. They have several kinds of chutneys and raitas, along with the pickles and salads to behold.

When it comes to beverages, there is nothing here that has any alcohol so teetotalers have something to cheer a bit right here. The beverages are a range of lassis, punches, and teas, along with the usual lot of juices and sodas. All of it wraps up with a smaller selection, that is a few desserts to sweeten the deal. It sounds like a restaurant that would be fantastic with a big group out.

Not everything listed here was available through the app, however it is still good to have all avenues covered with all future potential clients.

For this big meal, I stared it off with three different nibbles all of which were pretty darn good in their own way. There was the prawn fritter, the classical onion bhaji, and some sheesh kebab. All three of these nibbles were tasty, and certainly satiated the appetite. There were about half a dozen prawns to the order, which were cooked in a light batter that was a deal heavier than tempura and that batter was lithe in texture, had a decent underlying spice mix, and the prawns themselves were sweet and delicious. As per usual, the onion bhaji did do well but could have definitely been better. Maybe a bit more cooking, or mixing some more spices into the batter might have made it tastier. However, as for the sheesh kebab it is simply always hard to go wrong with bits of long cooked meat, especially when infused with such a distinct marsala.

A good maxim that I have is when the chef specifically points out his specialty or signature dish, or it is mentioned in the menu, I will give more than a curious glance. This was the case with the Bombay Spices Curry, in which it is never the same on two separate nights. Best served with either lamb, chicken, or goat - I got the lamb meat by the way - this was definitely one tasty dish. Getting it a good hot from memory, it was fiery and had a thick, rich and smooth texture to the sauce. Also, the lamb meat was a good cut and there was not one bit of bad meat on it at all. If anything was the highlight of the meal, this would be it.

On top of that was a second curry, the Malai Kofta. This was bits of potato melded into tiny dumplings of sorts, and then cooked in a creamy gravy that was infused with saffron. This is definitely one that had a winning sound to it, and many of the aspects about the curry were good. I liked how thick the sauce was, and that it was infused nicely with the said ingredients. This is another case where a bit more cooking of the item would have really helped.

If there was something that needed a bit of work, food-wise, it might have been the naan that they were cooking. This was a bit of a pity, because of it being the house special and whatnot. It was their "Shaminah Special Naan", and they went all out with it.
Really, what it could have benefited from was having either a little more cooking, or perhaps up the use of butter or something to seal it all in. If this were cooked well enough, it would be an absolute seller. How could it not with a good lot of onion, cheese, coriander, capsicum, chilli and various herbs? There was nothing wrong flavour wise, as it was pretty delicious. However, it might have benefited from was a bit more cooking, due to it being a bit doughy and undercooked in parts, and even giving it a little more lard for the said cooking.

And as a bonus to it all, I got a couple of mango lassis. It is hard to go wrong with these at any time, and here was no exception. They were a bit smoother than lassis normally are, and the hints of mango were very apparent. To compliment the hot curries, these certainly cooled down the burn a little bit, and it worked well as always with the smooth texture, fruity taste and that they always go down a treat.

In most of the usual cases, Shamianah is more or less as good as most Indian options around town. On the plus side, they have a good range above the normal lot of curries which will in turn make them have a bit more allure, at the same time - and I am assuming they are new - some aforementioned areas do require a bit of attention. That is not to say that the food was bad, it was quite far from it. In fact, I bring these aspects to light because I do want to see this place do quite well, and if it has something a bit different to distinguish itself from the brunt of its competitors, it ought to really hone in on ways to improve so people come not just for something different, but for really good food as well.

Still, ultimately it is one more good addition not only for reliable old Indian, but as an expansion to the already rich and rising dining scene within Coorparoo. Places here go out of their way to be pretty good, and there is no reason that this one should be an exception. It has many of the makings, possibly has a good aesthetic to it and service that is commendable from the phone call alone. While Indian may come across as dime-a-dozen, it often does to its job until something exceptional comes along and it might well be here; with so many characteristic aspects that can make it a gold star, after ironing out the chinks in the armour Shamianah will definitely stand with the best.