Darbar, Glebe Pt Rd, Glebe

Darbar, Glebe Pt Rd, Glebe
Monday 5 June, 2006

I had heard this was the best Indian restaurant in Sydney so was pleasantly surprised when some friends suggested it for dinner. Darbar is located in the premises formally occupied by Darling Mills. For those who remember, Darling Mills was a lovely restaurant that was right at home in the stunning old sandstone building. As far as I'm concerned Darbar is distinctly out of place here - the tacky paintings hanging crooked on the walls and the flat screen TV playing Bollywood musicals are just wrong.

On arrival for a 7pm reservation, we walked into an empty restaurant with no staff in sight. We walked further inside and waited. Finally a staff member appeared and we were informed we could have any table we wanted. We were provided with menus and it was 15 minutes before a staff member came near us again. It's not like they were busy - where were they???

Fortunately for us our menu choice was easy - the Darbar Special Banquet which included 4 Entrées and 4 Mains plus an assortment of extras:

- Starters: Raitha, Cucumber Yoghurt Raitha and a basket of Papadums
- Entrees: Sheesh kebab, Chicken Tikka, Lamb Chops and Mysore Masala Dosa
- Mains: Butter Chicken, Darbar Sagwala, Beef Vindaloo and Aloo Gobi
- Extras: Naan & Rice

The food was absolutely fantastic and we all agreed that the Butter Chicken (we requested a second dish) and the Aloo Gobi (Potatoes and Cauliflower) were the standouts. We devoured each offering but found the service really amusing. For example, we polished off a bottle of wine and before asking us if we would like to order another bottle, our waitress informed us she would bring another bottle to the table, then when we had finished our main meals we had to pack up the plates ourselves and pass them to our waitress as she just stood there. At the time it felt like we were incredibly lucky to even have someone at our table as the service had been so lax.

Whilst the food was great, I'm not convinced this is the best Indian in Sydney but for $35 per person including food and wine it is great value.

Darbar - 134 Glebe Pt Rd, Glebe - (02) 9660 5666

http://www.darbar.com.au/about_us.html