I Village Indian Kitchen & Bar (Auckland CBD, New Zealand)

When I first heard of this place I never knew what they offer or what they look like, I was not expecting much. The name just doesn’t make it for me, I feel it’s like an Apple product like iPhone, iPad, etc but after I paid this place a visit, it was a total opposite to what I expected, while I knew it was an Indian restaurant, I never knew it would be as nice as what it is.

It did not occur to me that I on I Village means Indian, well that is what I think now but is that the case? I am not sure, what I am sure of is that they serve amazing authentic Indian dishes of most are presented nicely.

The last time we were here it was a feast as we were celebrating something, instead of their business lunch offer which was already good we opted to pick and choose.

We started with some appetizers, first was what they call I Bullets (NZ$13.00), highly recommended by our server, we grabbed a couple and when it arrived we all laughed, why? Because of how it looks, it looks like dog S#!+!!!!, I thought we were going downhill from here but after one brave soul tried it, we were changed, now we know why its popular here and why it was highly recommended, it tasted really good, a very nice starter.

We also had the Tandoori Trio (NZ13.50), basically a trio of Chicken Botti Tikka, Hara Chicken and Chicken Malai served in a skewer over a smoking pot, very impressive presentation and nice colours, you can distinguish which chicken is which. The flavours once again was amazing, it was moist and delicious.

Then for our last appetizer it was the Gilafi Seekh Kabab (NZ13.50), a hand ground prime lamb mince on skewers mildly blended with coloured bell peppers, another champion starter.

While having starters we grabbed the best drink we can have for the occasion, a cold Kingfisher. WE had a couple of this until the mains started to flow.

Starting with Gosht Dum Biryani (NZ$25.00), a Lamb Biryani layered with saffron, almond and aromatic basmati rice, baked under a flaky crust served with Raita. This was again presented really well, baked on metal vessel covered with naan, like how pot pies are served. When it was placed our table, the server cut it open to release the steam out. It’s one tasty biryani and it’s not very oily.

Then we have Lamb Saagwala (NZ$21.00), like the I Bullet, it will not win the appearance awards. It looks like some mashed greens but don’t be fooled by its looks as this is made with boneless lamb slow cooked with spinach puree. Yet another tasty delicious dish.

Chilly Paneer (NZ19.50) was next, homemade paneer cubes tossed with red onion and green chilly cooked the Indo-Chinese way, with some nice heat to it with hints of sweetness, its perfect with basmati rice to cool it down together with the creamy paneer.

Finally, our last curry was Rogan Josh (NZ21.00), another all-time favourite this spicy lamb curry with Kashmiri chilies, ginger and roasted cumin powder will never fail you.

We grabbed some Garlic Naan (NZ$3.50) as well, an Indian feast won’t be complete without this.

I was surprised every dish was perfect, the place was really nice, cosy and clean and like I said the name was quite misleading. Staff were great as well, I highly recommend this, in fact some of my colleagues already did booked in their reservations, it is a perfect place to have an Indian feast like I did

I Village Indian Kitchen & Bar
Address: 210-218 Victoria St W, Auckland, 1010, New Zealand
Phone: +649 309 4009
Website: http://www.ivillageatvictoria.co.nz