Malabar South Indian Restaurant

I am super disappointed with this over priced low quality Indian food. The chef was obviously in a hurry and didn’t care because all of the curries were watery and tasteless. The butter chicken tasted like they have bought it from Aldi and added water to it. For $200 (one of the more expensive Indian deliveries) I would have hoped that some of it was good.

What a magnificent restaurant that I never knew about. I have driven past this restaurant 100 times or more and never thought to stop in. I was pleasantly surprised initially by the story that the chef had left at the front of the menu. It was a lovely Story about spices and the history of India and how it was during the peak of spice trading. As he noted in his prologue, an entire Empire, the greatest the world had ever seen was built off it. The food was exceptional and the only thing that perhaps let me down slightly was the butter chicken But overall each dish was exquisite and my experience was so positive that I can’t wait to go back. Highlights were the lamb with Pepper and palak paneer. And frankly the best samosa I have ever eaten. Was I having just a good night ? I’ll know soon enough when I return.

I recently had the chance to dine at a restaurant owned by a lovely gentleman from Chennai, India, who also happens to be the chef! It was a delightful experience, but there were a few surprises and mixed opinions on the food. This place is definitely one of the must-try Indian restaurants in Sydney. For starters, we were ordered masala dosa and lamb kheema dosa—an unexpected but it was a starter. The dosas were accompanied by chutneys that were flavorful. Next up were the Melagu prawns, which had a mild spice level—pleasant, but we were hoping for a bit more kick. The Somersby apple cider was a standout it was so fresh that it felt like drinking cider straight from the orchard. Our mains consisted of basmati rice (a generous portion) paired with railway chicken gravy. As an Indian, the gravy was on the blander side. We also had naan with chicken makhani (aka butter chicken), which was creamy and sweet. The star of our meal was the Chettinad chicken ~ packed with flavor and perfect when paired with basmati rice. That said, the gravy portions across dishes were small, so we found ourselves ordering extra bread and rice—a clever strategy by the restaurant! 😉 To wrap things up, we indulged in a few desserts and drinks. The Mango lassi was refreshing, and the Mango kulfi with mango boba was a unique treat. I enjoyed the burst of Mango pearls—it was a fun twist. However, the Madras coffee was a bit disappointing, it was watery and lacked a strong coffee flavor. Service was great, but the place was quite busy, so the dishes took time to arrive. Patience is key! One nice touch was the peppermint chocolate served with the bill. In the end, our meal for six people came to around $200 to $250. Overall, while some dishes could use a little more spice, it was a pleasant dining experience.

Enjoyed the wonderful Onam sadya at this restaurant. All the dishes were put together so well and were tasty, exactly like a sadya fare in Kerala. Since sadya was being served, other items on the menu were not available. Hope to visit again soon to try their regular menu.

Excellent ambience and welcoming staff create a pleasant dining experience. It's among the top Indian restaurants in Sydney. Starters are particularly delicious, but the curries (both veg and non-veg) could be improved in taste. Don't miss out on trying their dosa; they offer a diverse range of varieties.

And we are back again, enjoying ourselves. The best Indian food ever 04/08/24 A superb place for Indian food. The staff members are terrific. Spices for pure delight. I've been here a few times over the years, and it only gets better and better.

Although the food was decent, the portion sizes are incredibly small for what you are paying. We had butter chicken, a Lamb curry, rice and two naans. Both of us were still hungry by the end of it. Nonetheless, The meat was tender and the staff were nice.

Wow, the flavours of every dish are just out of this world! Works great as takeaway, but do yourself a favour and have a meal there dinning in. The staff are awesome and attentive, the drinks are great and cold, and they do BYO with a service fee. Highly recommend, it is our new favourite and we can’t wait to come back!

Utterly extraordinary Kerala Cuisine. Not to be missed! Incredibly complex mixes of flavors. Firey hot but yet suave at the same time. How often does that happen? Every dish the wife and I had was five star for whatever it was. Therefore you can probably order whatever you like. But if you want to replicate the Samuel C and the Missus experience a) A garlic rasam soup. (Absolutely positively add the papadam that comes with the soup as if it was oyster crackers for your chowder. The papadam totally balances the flavors.) To repeat a line from earlier in the review - but essential here - this was firey but suave. b) Cauliflower Bonda. The most traditional Indian appetizer we had. Standard fried spiced cauliflower but perfectly spherical. Don't ask me how they do that. c) Gongura Lamb. A special that probably won't be there when you get there - but the most complex lamb dish I have ever had in my life. There is lots of other lamb on the menu so you can swap in what they have on the day you go. d) Peshwari Naan. Naan meets raisin bread. They fall in love and are happily married for the rest of their life. Naan with sultanas, pistachios and coconut. Where has this been all my life? e) Pumpkin Kootu. Pumpkin stew Kerala style. There is no such thing as a bad pumpkin dish anywhere in the world. The same applies here. f) Vegan Mango Kulfi. Made with coconut milk. Hard as a rock because it was fresh out of the freezer, which is just where kulfi belongs before they serve it to you. Served with pearls filled with mango juice. You will remember those pearls a long time. g) Rasmalal. Technically a Bengal dish, but who's fussing? Paneer with saffron, pistachios and kheer. Minimally sweet. Complicated taste-wise. Each spoonful is different. I thought long and hard about each bite ... which you almost never do with a dessert. h) They give out nifty chocolate orange wafers at the end when you pay your bill. That is your decadent sweet sweet sweet end of the meal ... which rewards you for having studied hard while eating your rasmalal. * * * And just for the record - even the sparkly water - a brand I had never encountered but undoubtedly well known to Australians called Antipodes - and the house Tavalon tea were also first rate. * * * Absolutely a destination restaurant. If you are visiting Sydney, put it on your itinerary.

Hmmm... this used to be my favourite Indian in all of Sydney ... white table cloths .. good service .. and delicious food ... but a birthday dinner for my partner last weekend changed the views I've built up over about the past 10 years ... Food was good (prices higher than they used to be but that's everywhere) ... the service was a bit more rushed than the last few times. We both ordered the banquet dinner at about $70 each ... and a separate starter Mysore Chili Chops, which have long been a fave ... along with champers to start and a couple of glass of wine ... But we only managed to eat one of the banquet servings ... there were three other untouched curries that we couldn't get to ... we asked if we could please take the remaining curries home with us ... The server brought us three neatly stacked plastic containers, three neatly stacked disposable lids, and three, neatly stacked, little foil bags with a fresh spoon ... and walked away after handing us the bill for $230 .... $230 and scoop your take-home food up yourself on the way out the door ? Never ... Never ever ... in the world of dining that I know ... that'd be in Europe, Latin America, North America, Asia and here in Australia .... have I ever seen any serving staff do that to a customer.. Will I return ? Hmmm.. not sure I want to be treated in such an ignominious and rude fashion ever again ... William

I have never been to India, so I am not sure how authentic the food actually is, but I enjoyed my meal tremendously ! Came here for lunch on a Sunday at around 12.30pm, and it was fairly full (there was a private party on one end of the restaurant). Started off with a masala dosai and it was good, fluffy crepe with lots of potato fillings. The spice was done just right so it doesnt overpower the light crepe. It came with two sauces, that went really well together as well (not sure if it was meant to be separate but i just mixed them together anyways). For mains, we tried to Goan fish curry and eggplant & potato. The fish curry had more of a sour-spicy tone but the curry sauce went really well with a plain nan. Personally, i loved the eggplant & potato....it was a little spicy for me (low tolerance of spice!), but it was flavorsome, and was something that I would order again or recommend! Overall, an enjoyable meal. Despite there were only two servers , our waitress came by every so often to top up our water and check on us. Two thumbs up !

Back for a second time - it was late and I was very hungry - this time I had a delicious starter with cauliflower florettes mixed up with spicy potatos, fresh coriander and red onion. Light and very tasty. For my main, a pumpkin based Dahl with brown rice - again, nicely balanced flavour . Serving was attentive and respectful and importantly the food came fast - only downside the servings were possibly too modest for the price charged.

Great indian food! I'm a huge indian food fan being from London and this really satisfied my urge. Service was on point and the food was nothing but delicious. If you're looking for good food with good service and a nice ambience - this is the place!

So wonderful! We came in as a party of eight for dinner without a reservation on a Tuesday night during holiday season. We were seated right away and received excellent service. Our waiter was absolutely wonderful. The food was beyond. Some of the standout dishes were the beef vindaloo and the chicken tikka masala. Everything we had was absolutely divine.

Tiny place that is over crowded and over priced. Reservations required! But why do you want to pay $17 for a dosa. Just pass.

In Sydney for a high school reunion lunch so decided to try something close to my hotel in Bayswater Road for an early dinner. Settled on an Indian place just around the corner called Malabar whose goal is "to take you on a journey on India's famous Spice Trail from Goa down to the South Indian peninsula". Having spent many happy hours in Goa with my mad Welsh flat mate Ian, I had to give it a go! Very comfy space on the corner of Victoria Street with glass windows wrapped around the curved facade. It wasn't quite 7pm but the place was already full but they managed to find me a table for one on the proviso that I had to be out by 7.30. Love a challenge I remember eating seafood at Baga Beach that came straight off the little outrigger boats that trawled the waters of the Arabian Sea so deciding to stick with that theme for the evening I ordered the Prawn Konkan; king prawns with thinly sliced onion, ginger, cracked mustard seeds and turmeric, finished with green chilli and coconut milk. I wasn't that hungry so declined the offer of a side of rice. The main was served in a black lacquer bowl and comprised a generous serving of shelled prawns in a mild creamy sauce with chunks of tomato and lots of sautéed onion. Not spicy enough for my taste and the prawns were a little bland, but still quite tasty and well prepared. The service was fast, friendly and not rushed - despite the fact my table was earmarked for other guests - and for $40 (which included a cocktail) pretty good value for money.

Excellent indian restaurant, good staff . I definitely recommend the fish curry and of course the cheese naan. My friends have got the menu which is a good deal regarding the number of meals served. The chicken tandoori was really good!

Love this restaurant. Great atmosphere; service, menu and food. Prices on the high side of two$$ but great place. We loved the dosa which we shared plus two curry dishes. Delicious. We will be back.

Damn this is some of the best (south) Indian food I have ever had. Chilli cheese naan was outstanding. Doughy and cheesy in a good way, like no other naan I've ever had. Bangalore Dosai was an awesome starter paired with a couple great sauces, including a surprising green chilli sauce. Get the goat mapas. Beautifully cooked, tender goat with a sauce/gravy that must have taken all day. Matthanga Kootu had strong cumin flavour with pumpkin and chickpeas for the protein, and to no surprise, had a perfect sauce to sit in. Not a cross word to be had about this place. Only greatness. I am stingy and it gets 5 stars.

Very solid Indian restaurant in Kings Cross area. It's a little more upscale than other Indian restaurants I'm used to, but it still has that family owned feel to it. Pros: - Nice and clean restaurant - The Goat dish was very tasty and the meat was tender - Garlic naan Cons: - I wasn't a huge fan of the pictures on the wall. It's basically a big Indian family that's just staring at you haha. It gives you some culture though - Staffing could be better. It took them longer than normal to turn tables

Holy crap, this place was amazing, and served up some of the best Indian food I have ever had. I'm not kidding - as we were eating our meal, we were already discussing possibly going back again the following evening. (We didn't, but I wish we had!) After a long day of touring around, we were feeling cranky and in need of food, preferably GOOD food close to our hotel. Malabar certainly delivered. We arrived with our own bottle of wine, as the corkage fee is a more than reasonable $3 per person (!!!), and although the place was packed, we decided to wait. Good call on our part. We were quoted a 30+ minute wait, but I think we were seated in about 20 minutes, which was cool. We started with the prawn dosai, which was somewhat spicy and completely delicious. It came with two sauces, one was a coconut sauce and the other was a brown sauce that looked and tasted a bit like gravy. (I preferred the coconut sauce and think it went well with the prawns and spice of the dish). For our mains we ordered the goan fish curry, the lamb garutha, and a peshvari naan (and a side of rice). Both the fish curry and lamb were marked as hot on the menu, and the lamb was slightly hotter than the fish, but both dishes were amazingly flavorful and delicious. The spices and seasonings really came through, and the heat was more of a pleasant tingle that just complimented the flavors. The peshvari nann was a good choice and went well with both dishes. My husband also got a free mango lassi when he checked in on Yelp, which he enjoyed. Service was good even though the restaurant was so busy, and we saw the chef out and about, chatting with patrons, several times. If you like Indian food at all, go here. If you've never had Indian food, go here and you'll be a convert. Seriously, it's so good - I wish we could go back right now. If we lived in Sydney, Malabar would certainly be in our regular rotation.

The Food is really good: - Vegetarian dosai as an entree - Hard to share this one but delicious. - Butter chicken, a classic to die for. The Lamb dishes are also very flavoursom. - Naan are fresh from the oven - the garlic and cheese was my favourite The service was a bit long but very attentionate. The only malus is the atmosphere/ decor: grey carpet on the floor, white wall, the room itself feels quite cold for an Indian restaurant. The food thing is the tables are far apart enough so it is not too noisy.

Great Indian food. The lunch special was the perfect size, although I wouldn't complain if the curry portion was slightly larger. The star of the meal was the Dal, a little spice with tons of flavor. Service was efficient and prompt.

Have always walked past Malabar, noticing there was always a decent crowd inside, but hadn't ventured in before today. The wine list was very modestly priced, although we'd opted to bring our own bottle of red for a very reasonable corkage charge. We ordered a signature dish for starters and then one of the specials - a curry - along with a second curry, with basmati and garlic naan bread on the side. The naan was fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside and the two curries we ordered were really nice with just the right amount of spice. To top it off the staff were polite and attentive, making for a very enjoyable experience. The prices were reasonable for the quality of food and service. Will definitely return!

Some of the best Indian food I've ever had! Great for a group dinner

I'm a regular. Love the goat curry, okra and dosa. I usually request extra spicy curry - they have always maintained it's good flavour, unlike some places who just throw in raw chilli powder!

Good was insanely good and service was incredible. Showed up on a weekend night during prime time and they got is right in. We couldn't figure out what to order because it seemed there were so many good choices so we did the 5 course vegi meal plan for 2. I think it was 45 per person for 5 courses all with great quantity and flavor. Every dish was something new and a new range of spices, breads, vegetables and curry. If your looking for a great Indian / vegetarian option be sure to check out malabar

It was Friday night and we had no reservation, we walked in and the place was packed but we figured since we're here might as well ask, the hostess said it would be a couple of hours but before we left she asked that since we were only two, if we would mind taking a small table upfront? Since the reviews were good, we agreed and sure enough the food was excellent!!! We would definitely go back but would make sure to call ahead next time!

Really excellent curry takeout from here last night. Just wished they included utensils and napkins for people in hotels like myself. I ended up eating it with a teaspoon in-room. Five star curry though.

This was our first ever restaurant in Sydney. It was very close to our hotel in Potts-point. We went there for lunch. We had prawns konkani with cheese naan and also tried Bangalore and plain dosas. The food was very tasty and delicious in general.

Fabulous food and great service! It was a pleasure meeting the owner/chef as well. Will definitely be back!

This was the absolute best Indian food I have ever had! Every bite was like an explosion in your mouth. Too bad we live in the US and will probably not have an opportunity to eat there again. If I lived in Sydney I'd be there every week!

Delicious, spicy food in a comfortable room with excellent service, good prices and a cosy atmosphere. This is a great find - a place to return to regularly.

One of our favorite meals while visiting Australia. Naan order is a bit smaller than what we are used to in the US. Had to order 2 of them and the garlic naan didn't have much garlic in it. Pretty bland. Chicken tikka masala was good. Highlight of the night was the lambshank roganjosh. Literally licked my plate.

We saw this restaurant on Yelp, and decided to give it a try. My husband made reservation for dinner, when we got there, we were seated right away. Service is very attentive. Food is delightful. We would highly recommend this restaurant. Restaurant is very busy, reservation is recommended. Enjoy!

I just had their amazing prawn dosa. That's the stuff dreams are made of. Unforgettable.

Went there with three others and ordered the seafood and vegetarian banquets. The food was good and plenty, but at the price point I've had better. The banquet came with a few curries including lamb and fish. The butter chicken was delicious, as was the eggplant. It's all you can eat main course with the banquet, but don't try to take leftovers home if you ask for more than one! The masala dosas are great, and so are the chutneys. If you go there, I recommend ordering off the menu instead of having the banquet. It'll save you money since you can't eat all the food anyway.

I discovered this place through Dimmi (they are on the list of restaurants you can redeem your $50 vouchers at) and I wasn't disappointed. Have been back twice and it is probably my favourite Indian restaurant in Sydney now. I highly recommend the dosai masala uttappam, the tandoori chicken tikka and the spinach chaat as starters; and the chicken chettinad and lamb shank rogan josh curries as mains with rice. The cheese naan is also delicious.

What a wonderful way to experience Southern Indian food for the first time. We came with our new landlords and they are regulars - Michael and Lynne. The food was excellent and amazing. We met the owner/chef - Mohammad (?) and he was very nice. We got lucky and got to bring the leftovers home to our apartment. Several days later, the food was still amazing. I would highly recommend the prawn Dolsei, the lamb dish, and the outstanding butter chicken. We will return!

A la carte Indian - you'll have to tear your eyes away from the incredible image on the wall of old India, very distracting from the menu. I must admit after having grown up eating Indian food at home, I tend to go to for Indian take away, but I'm finding more and more Indian fine dining really surprises me. That is, I haven't been exposed to as much Indian food as I thought. It's so easy to think that the bay marie standards is all Indian cuisine has to offer, but lone and behold there is more, much much more. With fine dining even the samosas and naan bread is different. It is prepared with class and finesse and this really makes a difference especially to the well acquainted epicurian. Etiquette is a must, you wait to be seated and maintain an orderly noise level at your table, you can bring your own wine if you like and children are ok, as there is a bit of room around the tables. The dress is smart and staff polite and attentive.

Great place, great food and lovely owner. Best South Indian restaurant in Sydney hands down..

Delicious food but really pricey. $10 for bottles of water for the table when you're dropping so much per plate (which were fairly small portions). Lower the prices by 15-20% and you'd have a clear winner here. Worth it if you're trying to impress a date.

Great Indian food! Simple as that. Nice staff, good looking place - would definitely go there again, if we weren't just tourists in Sydney.

Food was delicious but I was disappointed to find out that the white rice and bread that the waiter said "comes with" the meals were actually extra cost. Had we known, we would have only ordered one order of rice as it's a large bowl.