Itihaas Indian Restaurant
325 Church St
Parramatta, Sydney
The name Itihaas comes from the history of Indian cuisine which existed in ancient times. It pays homage to the exotic ingredients and incredible flavours of unfamiliar dishes. Head chef Arshdeep Singh has certainly created unique, amazing and tantalising dishes here, as we found out!
We love our cocktails so it was an easy decision to each started with one. Mlady had a Raspberry Martini - complete with a raspberry bobbing on top of this vibrant red mix. This was so much like a Cosmopolitan - one of her favourites - and she loved this.
Sir had a Blushing Mimosa. This was resplendent like a tequila sunrise. It was so nice and colourful with its rainbow layers.
To start with we had an elegant green peas and cottage cheese patty sitting on a papadum. We were told this is served to everyone. It was a lovely taste experience to start our meal.
For our first entree we had the Nizami Beef kebabs. This is hand pounded kid goat mince infused with spices and then pan grilled. This looked great and tasted great. The dipping sauce complemented the beef kebabs perfectly.
Seafood, in all forms, is a favourite of ours so we eagerly ordered the Eral Poriyal as our next entree. These are tiger prawns, pepper curry leaf and tomato garlic chutney. Oh, and they were perfectly cooked, plump and juicy with an almost tempura-like batter - only lighter.
Next was Charcoal Kachori. This was such an impressive dish. This crispy charcoal puff filled with mung sprouts, potato, chickpeas and mint yogurt is served with mango ginger chutney and pomegranate. It was a cold entree that was packed with so much vibrancy and flavour. We really love pomegranate for its colour and crunch, and this added another dimension to the soft crispness of the charcoal.
Goan Fish was our first main. This was another colourful dish full of flavour and the fish literally broke away as you cut into it. It was Barramundi (a favourite of Mlady’s) infused with mustard and kokum in a coconut gravy.
Of course we had some naans. These were cheese and garlic and for something very different, we went with the venison naan. WOW - we are glad we ‘went outside the box’. Both naans were delicious but we have to say, the venison was absolutely amazing.
As we know, Sir, no surprises, gravitates to anything that’s duck. So, a duck dish was next.
Duck Mollie is a dish that is served on the bone, marinated in chilli and turmeric and cooked with coconut milk and poppyseeds. This was another dish cooked perfectly with amazing flavours and plenty of duck too.
The Chettinad Chicken is chicken thigh cooked in cassia and coconut pepper sauce. The chicken was nice and tender and the spices and sauce went so well with it.
No surprises, yes we just had to try the butter chicken - a favourite and staple for Mlady. Oh, how nice was this. It had great colour and this perfectly cooked chicken had amazing mouth-watering flavours. This really was a truly amazing butter chicken.
Rice is also a good staple when you have dishes with a gravy or sauce. So, rice we had and it bwas so good at soaking up those amazing sauces.
Sir had another beverage, a white wine this time. It was a Chardonnay from the Rothbury Estate Hunter Valley. Malady had a wine too but a red. She went with the Cape Schanck Pinot Noir from Mornington Victoria. Both turned out to be nice drops that went well with the food.
We managed to fit in two dessert - just. Both were very colourful, beautifully presented and scrumptious. The first was Pistachio and Raspberry Dome with gulab jamun, coconut biscuit, passion fruit, mango glaze dumpling, cardamom syrup. It tasted just as impressive as it looked.
Then we had the Falooda Rasmalai which is a milk dumpling, noodles (yes, noodles) and basil seeds with Java Indian plum. There was a lot going on with this dessert but it was so refreshing and a wonderful taste sensation.
The food at Itihaas is so full of wonderful flavours that all complement one another perfectly. There are so many delectable dishes to choose from. Every dish is visually and appetisingly presented. There is so much on the menu to choose from, so there will always be something for everyone.
Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Itihaas Indian Restaurant. Thanks to Jas for chatting with us and taking care of us so well on the night. A big thank you to also Chef Arshdeep and his team for indulging us with his incredible creations. Special thanks to Beyond Media for arranging this visit.