Indian Restaurants in Wellington

13th April 2013
Nothing better than a tasty, authentic Indian food on a cold, wet, winter evening - well got 3 out of 6 right, as weather in Wellington is still summer-like, but the food in Chili's is Indian, and it is very, very tasty and most definitively authentic! Also it seems to us that every time we dine in Chili's, the food gets better and there is something new to try, but somehow Chili's still manage to retain the old favourites in their menus too. The plan we (me and my wife) had was to order a bit more than usual so we can take the rest of it with us and have some nice dinner on the next day too. So we started with some Chef's special Chili's sauce Chicken Tikka straight from their Tandoori oven together with traditional Onion Bhaji; Onion Bhaji was as good as always, but we had not had Chef's special before and it was absolutely beautiful (plus there was a lot of it). So unfortunately nothing was left for the next day ... For our main courses we had Lamb Balti, Prawn Masala and Chicken Dahiwala. Lamb Balti we have almost every time, as the way Chili's prepares it is superior to all other Indian restaurants in Wellington. My wife wanted some Prawn Masala and liked it even though she felt it was spicier than usual. I liked it and actually preferred a bit more spices. Chicken Dahiwala was a new one for us - it was an interesting dish quite different to anything else we've had previously in other Indian restaurants. To me it was an average dish (which with Chili's strandards makes it a good/great dish in other Indian restaurants in Wellington), but my wife really liked it; she does not like chicken dishes usually but this one was just spot on; it is creamy, but not sickly so as the creaminess comes from yoghurt, it is tasty, but not sweet nor salty - actually I would be surprised if it had any salt or sugar content in it. All the main courses were accompanied with a bread basket, which in Chili's is HUGE and has some five different varieties in it. As you can guess we had more than enough for the next day too! We also had a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc to go with it, in Chilies they believe in quality wines so the choice was the very affordable Tohu and it suited the dinner perfectly. The dessert then, I hear you asking, what did you have for dessert? Well, nothing in the restaurant as we were just too full, but Chili's do have a great Mango Kulfi available that you can take home with you, put it into freezer and cherish the next day. What a great way to spend an evening out it was (again), thanks Chili's.