Ghazal

Category: Lovely local

The bad news is that when you're asked to list your "best" restaurants you often forget about the haunt you often hang out at and where everybody knows your name.

So when two revered food critics (who will remain unnamed because they even scare me!) told me how lucky I was to have such a marvellous eatery less than five minutes from my home, I thought I'd missed the opening of a new establishment.

I was wrong. The place was none other than the unprepossessing suburban Ghazal North Indian restaurant where my family has feasted for the past two years and which has saved me in many a tight pickle thanks to their superb take-aways which (other restaurateurs take note) are also cheaper than the sit-down prices.

Ghazal happily straddles the gap between Jozi's cheap and cheerful (read plastic tablecloths) hole-in-the-walls and the swanky and high-priced top-end Indian restaurants housed in some of the city's most expensive real estate. The food at Ghazal is better than both.

The décor is attractive and welcoming with a number of booths for more privacy.

This is a place where you really should go in a group so that you can put the dishes in the middle of the table, mop up succulent gravies with some steaming bread and sample a host of the restaurant's delights. I can honestly say that I've never had a bad meal in all my time eating there and, like my children, it would be unfair to name a favourite.

I don't think that we've ever had a starter - there are the ubiquitous samoosas and bhajias - and you're given complimentary poppadoms, pickles and chutney to munch on while you are fretting over just what to have for your mains.

Order your preferred "heat" from the waiter - you can choose anything mild, medium and - for the foolhardy among you - the hot.

The food is authentic and beautifully prepared and presented. You can have juicy chunks of chicken tikka, the rishme kebab or dishes from the tandoor. However, I like my Indian food with a lot of sauce - oft-chosen items in our family include the gosht badami (tender and lean lamb in an almond and cream gravy), the paneer in a rich butter and tomato gravy, gorgeous kingklip curry in a spicy and fragrant paste, chicken Makhnie with melt-in-the-mouth pieces in a rich and spiced tomato sauce, and Aloo Palak, the potatoes cooked in a startlingly green spinach sauce which would have had Popeye coming back for seconds.

Rice accompanies the curries but you simply have to try the bread, particularly the steaming hot garlic naan. It's worth a visit all on its own.

The dessert list, like the starters, is small and comprises mainly ice cream (the almond is particularly good) and the traditional Indian yoghurt drink Lassi.

There's a small and reasonably priced winelist - the Durbanville Hills Sauvignon Blanc is R75 and the Guardian Peak Merlot R100 - but if you want your favourite Riesling, Gewürztraminer or even Pinotage, then take your own. There are those who say that Cobra beer is the perfect accompaniment.

No wonder the restaurant boasts so many happy, smiling people.

Average three-course meal costs R80.

 

By Janine Walker

Address: Shop 28/29 Coachman's Crossing, Peter Place, Sandton. Open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. BYO at R25 for whites and R30 for reds. Tel: 011 706 9412/9826.
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