LOCATION
At Harbourside, Darling Harbour, 5 minutes from the CBD.
PROFILED BY DEGROOTS MEDIA
While Sydney's profusion of Indian restaurants provide reliably tasty tucker, that feeling of sameness can eventually leave even the most dedicated curry connoisseur a little jaded. Luckily, Sydney has Zaaffran. This isn't your neighbourhood curry house and it isn't all about butter chicken and cheese naan. This is creative, modern food by cooks who treat Indian cuisine with reverence and respect. Head chef Vikrant Kapoor was formerly chef de cuisine at the Tiffin Room in Singapore's illustrious Raffles Hotel, so you know standards are high. Even better, this Indian restaurant comes with a view; a wide balcony has alfresco tables overlooking a sweep of the Harbour. Inside, the dining room is slick and modern, although the mood remains decidedly casual.
Carefully sourced, high-quality produce lifts Zaaffran to fine-dining heights. The fillet of salmon is perfectly cooked with a moist, translucent interior, cured in a yoghurt sauce laced with fenugreek and topped with a subtle prawn tartar. The famed biryani comes with a marvellous pastry topping, the tender spiced rice and chicken underneath revealed with a gentle crack of the fork. The perfect accompaniment to your meal is the mushroom naan with truffle butter. The truffle flavour is hard to detect, but the bread itself is divine, coupled with the earthily luxurious flavour of sliced mushrooms, generously swathed in butter. Dessert tends to be a non-event at Indian restaurants, but Zaaffran's homemade kulfis are some of the best we've found. The rose kulfi in particular blends fresh rose petals, milk and spices into a sublime dessert, elegant and perfumed like temple incense without being cloyingly sweet. The service generally is attentive, polite but informal. It all adds up to make Zaaffran one of Sydney's very best Indian dining experiences and certainly one of the most sophisticated venues in Darling Harbour.
Fiona Davies JULY 06
DETAILS
Zaaffran was founded in 1998 by two brothers from Bombay who decided that it was high time that Sydney had an authentic Indian restaurant. Their dream was to serve home-style cooking - the kind Indian mums would make.
PRIVATE ROOM
Zaaffren's restaurant is available for private functions - from 50 to 150 guests.
BANQUETS
Banquets can be created by making selections from the a la carte menu, starting at $27.50 per person for lunch and $32.90 per person for dinner.