Sankalp

Our group of 6 was satisfied with flavourful food, great portions, good prices, polite staff, lots of seatings, but only the bland cocktails let us down.

TL;DR: Personally, I am one that never gets sick of Indian food. It is always filling, always quite rich, and each component can make for a satisfying meal either in or out. There is a reason it has won its place as a cherish food among so many folks. One of those folks is me. That being said, new takes, regional specialties or often unexplored aspects of the rich cuisine will always perk my ears up. Dosas might not be a new invention per se, but to me until recently I have not had the privilege of trying them out. That is the biggest strength which Sankalp has, along with varieties of bites and curries not often found on the competitors menu. For that, a strong contender stands tall.

Who around here would not have even an inkling experience in trying out Indian cuisine out here? We can even agree to disagree if different opinions about it resonate, and that is all fine by me. For those who like it - or even love it - how much does it seem to be that almost each restaurant can have the same thing said about it? I won't get sick of it. That being said, when a different approach, or twist on it appears I will take notice, and doubly so I will take notice when an often uncovered aspect (by standards I am familiar with) comes my way. That is something which Sankalp knows how to do, and I can say that it is not like any kind of Indian that I have had the joy of trying out. This time around that is said with no back-hand intended.

It was onto the WWE Network again, and they were heading back into Saudi Arabia. Some wrestling fans have their thoughts about it; for me, it is still the wrestling and am I a dedicated fan by now. This is like any old PPV event, and like any old PPV event we all know the modus operandi by now - getting onto UberEats, the selecting some grub to have while watching the show. Choosing the place was mostly all up to random choice, though in the back of my head I figured that Indian hadn't been gotten in a while. That has often proven itself to be a reliable choice, hence being a fall back option almost every time. A few different choices for new places presented themselves, with it coming down to the wire with which got the limelight. A recent update with UberEats has had it that even when scheduling an order for down the line, the restaurant concerned needs to be open and available to take the order. Out of the two, one wasn't and this one was - simples.

This was delivery, hence only so much can be said with the customer service. Between choosing the lot of food to eat, and finally getting to eat it, the co-ordination between the restaurant, and the delivery driver was up to that acceptable level which had it all work out well. Nothing much out of the ordinary, yet with no complaints to be given. For what it is worth, that is as good as it could get.

The size of menus at Indian places really does seem to vary, and when it varies that seems to take the proportions of entrees, types of naan, the meats to put in curries, and practically everything else you can think of. When it comes to places that do dosas, from the range of dosas alone even the most extensive menu otherwise in an Indian restaurant ends up looking small by comparison. Without having descriptions of what the items are, upon reading this menu it is almost like a whole other language - where I could possibly recognise the odd, isolated word. To me, that makes me all the more excited.

It is only my second outing with trying dosas, and you can be that one was thrown into the order as a result - in case my house mate had not tried one yet. Indian restaurants can be great for vegetarian folks, and the range of dosas they got here help that case. They have all sorts here, with fillings going from simple to elaborate. A couple of meaty ones are there as well - it only gets more interesting from there. This time, with the curries they are not divided too much into their own little sections but just vegetarian and meat-based. These aren't the usual curries most are used to from their local take-away, with the occasional exception.

What also makes it interesting is the bits and pieces which are around both the main meals and the dosas - the starers and finger foods. I am still not really sure what most of them are, especially the idli and vadas - those often seem to get matches with dosas at the dosa huts. There's also ravas, and what appear to be specialty pizzas. Plus, the starters are their own unique design as well. Throw in a few kinds of naan, the general accompaniments, a few desserts to sweeten the deal, and the rice where an actual focus is given to biryiani. Like it was said, this is not the general Indian takeaway and I don't think I even understand half the things I just wrote down.

Getting to the order, a couple of starters kickstarted the festivities. Out of all the idli and vada options, for the uninitiated, they give the package combination of both in their original flavour - if that makes sense. There were about half a dozen of the idli, and four vadas. Idli I can best describe as being mere rice cakes. Nothing more, nothing less, and basically nothing without something to dip them in. The vada were better, looking quite a bit like doughnuts to the point of having the same texture. These weren't too bad, had a bit of salt in them, and made for a decent side to the curries.

What really stood out were the southern style fish fingers I got. From reading the item alone, it might conjure up a certain image. Let this much be known - this is far from being like the frozen isle staple, and is more akin to how someone might make a similar kind of bite at home. The fish they used was all real and fresh, going for one of the more mildly-flavoured varieties, that was soft as butter on the inside. Around it was a corn flake crumb, which made it light in texture and have a unique sort of gastronomy. I could have easily gotten another order of them if I knew they would be this good - definitely give this one a go, or consider it with the whole array of tantalising options that are on display.

As with any Indian order I seem to do, two curries were thrown in to gauge how good it was. It might be two different meats, or a meat and a vegetarian option, but the magic number appears to be two. That said magic number was in tact this time. A paneer balti, and the chicken mushroom were the choices. Portions here are generous, plus the meat of each one is plentiful. The chicken in its curry was tender, and juicy, and the paneer cheese in its curry squeaked between the teeth like it was butter. Both sauces were rich with plenty of spices, and the mushrooms in the chicken curry added well to the flavour. These were fiery in tone, and would warm a soul up on a cold night.

Yet now we get to the big attraction, which was the dosa. This was not something I went out of my way to order and eat, yet when perusing the menu and seeing all the options - plus the chance to shake things up a bit - the idea was "why not"? I went for one of the few meat-based dosas, opting for a marsala Chettinad express dosa. This sucker was default hot, and when it comes to that I bring in the A-game. It was possibly better than the first dosa I tried. The meat mixture was fantastic, one that I really would like to know how they made. It was one of those one you want to try and replicate at home. As for the pancake mixture surrounding it, that was just as good. Simultaneously light yet so robust in texture - when it is eaten in store, it becomes like the naan bread. I even think they topped it off with a dusting of the spice mixture.

Lastly, to drink with it all I went with the buttermilk lassi. This seemed like the normal sweet/salty lassi, except the texture was a tad thicker. Maybe a little bland for my tastes, it still had that smooth texture that goes down a treat and works a charm as a ceasefire for when the curries get too hot. Not that I need it ....

From the looks of things, an analogy can be put forth like this: Sankalp is a bit like that delicatessen or specialty butcher that has a range of goodies and esoteric items that has your eyes widen in wonderment. The selection right here is equivalent to the clerk standing out front having a tray with the chosen sampler for potential clients to have a taste and give their thoughts right there. That is the chosen analogy, since as good as each selected item was, it is chipping off a piece of the iceberg's tip in comparison to what is in store from looking at the menu. You would want the food to be good enough to satisfy, much less pique interest - and by that measure, it is already in the pipeline to return here.

Tonight, we tried something different, usually not a first choice. This would be our local, and it was a nice experience.

We turn up without making a booking, and luck would have it they made room for us. 7 adults and 2 kids, waiter staff drop off a few menus to browse.

We were there to try curries, and after a little look we went with 4 curries. 1 spinach, 1 butter chicken, 1 lamb roganjosh, 1 bbq curry, with 1 each of the nan breads and 4 servings of rice. So basically samples for all to try, with a bottle of Jacobs creek chardy.

Waiter staff were friendly and checked up regularly. After a little wait, as it was getting busy I noticed 2 other tables had received their meals before us. We were seated and ordered even before they arrived. Might have been overlooked.

When the food started to arrive, we all shared and we all enjoyed. There were 2 stand outs, the lamb and bbq curries were the better dishes, flavour, tender meats and just right amount of heat.

The spinach curry and butter chicken was a let down, average.

It was a nice dinning experience, very busy and we enjoyed the night.

The real deal - beautiful menu, you may need to ask questions, as lots of the dishes are not your every day 'Indian Restaurant' menu items. But worth a try.

Sankalp restaurant, located next to Jetts Gym on Ipswich Road in Annerley, Brisbane, is a large and generally busy restaurant offering a large variety of Indian and Pakistani choices. I ordered the chips with hot & spicy seasoning with tomato sauce as an entree, which was really good and the Paneer & Garlic Methi with Rice as my main meal. The Paneer garlic Methi was flavoursome, tasty and deliciously spicy. The food came out within 15mins. The restaurant was steadily filling up for a Monday evening, which is always great to see.
All in all, The service was friendly and diet considerations were strongly adhered too , the servings were generous and very tasty. And being of Indian cuisine, the vegetarian selection was huge and I will most certainly will be back to sample the rest. Thanks very much. SARDS

Best Indian I've had in a long time! I'll be going back here a lot. Authentic Indian and not just your standard run of the mill. Everything I tried was just awesome and the sauces they give you are delicious. During a busy time only took 6 minutes from ordering to meals being delivered. Fantastic!

Popular restaurant on a Monday night for both Indian and non-Indian diners. Service is good. Curries were tasty. No beef dishes. The Cheese Garlic Nann was disappointing.. Modern restaurant with dining inside or alfresco. Some traffic noise comes from Ipswich Rd 4 meters away.

Tried the spring vegetable dosa which came with a tasty brown sauce which was nice & spicy. Loved the entree Hara Bhara kebabs were a delight. Naan bread was good. Basmati rice fluffy & separate. Lamb pepper curry was a bit chewy. Not particularly welcoming service

Found this restaurant almost by accident. The regular Indian restaurant was closed and did some research to find Sankalp. It has great reviews over a lot of people that always bodes well. The food was really good, fresh and tasty. The staff were helpful and service was fast and efficient. The selection of regional Indian dishes was amazing. I'm looking forward to going back many times and trying many different options. The wine list was very reasonably priced with nice variety. The restaurant is very popular and I recommend booking ahead. The outside area is nice and a little quieter than the excitement of inside although the atmosphere had a really nice vibe.