Yashraj The Indian Restaurant

3 Reviews on “Yashraj The Indian Restaurant”

• Atreyu

  TL;DR: Essentially, this is another great Indian place that manages to do everything on the list right. The food was good, the location is right, it works at such a short notice. Early days are here yet, so it is a bit soon to tell but maybe this place will do well enough given the right circumstances. Down the quiets streets not too far from Garden City, there might be a great find to be discovered if the right directions are taken. Something unfortunately not so common place is the fairly middling restaurant, especially specified with cuisines, that is among all the various houses and apartment complexes, and they have a couple right here that are waiting a lot of clientele. One of them is Yashraj, which is the next Indian place in town. That more or less says it. One day in the working week, there was a guest coming over to the house. That was none other than my house mate’s daughter, who was up from Sydney with some business in mind and made some time to come around and see us (family first, y’know). With a small bit of planning in my head, I had a dinner in mind to cook – but she didn’t want too much of the effort to be specifically done as such. To put it another way, this led to dinner out in which the decision process itself took a bit of time with all the cuisines choices, through from memory Indian was strongly on the agenda since not much of it could be gotten down in Sydney at a high quality. Or perhaps it can just be chalked up to Indian always being a winner at short notice. What it really came down to when choosing a place was making sure it was in the nearby area, and then getting the choice of what looked good, and had a decent rating if possible. The only gripe with this place was it not having any indication just yet, mainly since it was pretty much a new place. So it was made with an executive decision that nothing was there to lose, and off to here it was. After much observation of successes and otherwise with places, one aspect that I have found apparent comes down to the location and the ergonomics surrounding it. Right here is a strange mixture, since it is hidden among the suburban streets yet that could work well to their advantage. Particularly being behind the major shopping junction, and at the base of an apartment complex. So ultimately, it comes down to an ideal spot if the cards are played right. And couple with that, the interior and amount of space inside the restaurant. The decor is fairly middling, due to the small touches here and there having each table covered with a colourful cloth, and flowers on top plus the places are already set which will always give a place extra marks. With the choice of hues, it gives off a fairly warm and inviting aesthetic – plus with the various sized tables being sectioned well there is good planning ahead for all the different party sizes due to come. Service here is fine, maybe in the need of fine-tuning if anything. The basic aspects about customer service do appear to be in order, with addressing clients the moment they walk in the door, and having a bit of knowledge with the menu. Heck, the waitress seemed fairly aware about the fare upon me requesting the curry to be hot – this was supposedly quite hot, so she suggested a medium instead. In advance, the medium here is still pretty fiery – though I can handle much hotter. A bit rough and direct is the manner, not in a mean way or anything, it is getting the job done more or less. As for how the food arrives to the table, the manner that it does is timely enough. It hits that sweet spot where a quick meal is possible, though with the vibe and everything going on people would definitely consider taking their time if there is no place else to be. Now we come to possibly the best draw of the restaurant, and that is the food on the menu. Call that a little redundant, but what is meant by that is the size and scope of what is on offer. Many places can benefit from this, especially when all is done at a high level of quality, ensuring that clients who enjoy the fare can and will arrive back many more times. And such a big menu they have here. You can easily get all the basic favourites from the menu here, but they have so many more than that to select from. The main meats here are chicken and lamb, along with a small lot of goat dishes for the adventurous palates, and a few seafood ones as well available in fish and prawn. This is also the kind of curry place that you take your vegetarian friends to because the vegetarian section of the menu is two pages long, with a separate section for paneer. Other curry types here of note include some dahl, and one lot of Jain diets, and there is certainly not any forgetting about biryianis. What also is good about here with the scope of the menu, is it caters for those not wanting much of a meal but a quick snack. That goes to show with all the starters, tandoori and otherwise, plus soups, chats, and the Indo-Chinese meals. Addressing the accompaniments that go along with curry meals – i.e. all the kinds of breads, the rice dishes, the sauces – they have a good lot of each of those, and a few drinks and sweets to tie it all together. Whether it be a couple of people, or a much bigger group, it can be rest assured that each individual can find something that tickles their fancy. Starting off the meal, somehow there will always be at least one or two nibbles to kick start the palate. The daughter went ahead and got some potato vorda for the entree, that being a kind of pakora – mashed potato in a chickpea batter, flavoured with a mixture of spices that also has ginger and garlic. There was also pappadams, which were on the house. Both of these items did well to satiate the appetite. The potato snacks were particularly good, especially with the spicy marsala used to flavour it up. That perk up the interest in this place, and it was apparent that it was going to be good. Also in getting stuff for starters, there were the drink orders. Essentially each time, the lassi is the choice to go. It was called a special lassi, and this was one made to be soothing and be able to ease people to sleep – no implications there, as it was made clear during the description. For one that was so colourful, and had all kinds of edible decorations, it was not so sweet. It had bits of the kahsmiri mixed in it, with a combination of slightly fruity tastes, and it was a bit nutty as well. A little thicker than normal as well, there was a good amount of yoghurt used to make it more viscous. The rest of the items ordered followed a fairly similar structure for all three, getting a choice of curry and the naan to go along with it. To share, a big lot of steamed rice was there by default. With each curry came a choice of naan, with the varieties being garlic, chilli-cheese, and kashmiri. The kashmiri naan was a tad disappointing, not having a whole lot of the aniseed inside it, making it a tad on the bland side. Both the garlic and chilli naans were good, with a big hit of the former and the latter having a decent kick to it. The bread itself was soft, ripped apart easily and was helped by a good lot of butter brushed over before cooking. Out of the three curries that were selected, two of them were distinct in memory. The first one was the woman’s choice, one that she always defaults to when going out for curries, and that one this time was a butter chicken. Scouring the menu for something that is a tad different to normal, and a few choices existed for that – the one I went with was kadai boonah gosht. This was in a mixture of onions and capsicum, fresh herbs aplenty. If memory serves me correct, the dining buddy went ahead and got the reliable rogan josh. All three of the dishes were quite tasty, with thick and rich sauces that were flavoured quite well. The amount of meat was pretty decent, and big chunks were put in throughout. This meat was tender, fell apart fairly well and even got a bit of the spice mix infused in at some points. Each one was also quite creamy, and very hot. Going well on the side was the steamed rice that soaked up the sauce effectively. After such a while of trying so many good Indian places, it has gotten to that point where really almost any one of them will do quite well at a short notice. The case is going to exist where some are better than others, with knock-outs that are delicious and innovative, and ones which are merely fine – rarely does it leave you feel flat, and ultimately the fare is satiating at the very least. It depends a lot on the style of the place, and when it comes to actual restaurants – especially ones with a decent amount of space to utilise – they are at an advantage. While Yashraj isn’t going to be at the level of the absolute best in town, it does way more things right than it does not, with several of the aspects done right being so to a solid degree. Hence, with the full acknowledgement that great efforts have been made, and the said efforts more or less are apparent, a good old 4.0 really settles the deal.

  June 4, 2020, 6:25 pm

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• Shannon W S Daly

  I have eaten from here three times and the food from here is just delicious. The Chicken Madras is particularly delicious and their Cheese and Chilli Naans are absolutely yummy.Service is great, price is very reasonable.Will be eating here regularly.

  September 16, 2017, 1:14 pm

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• Satyaki Bhowmik

  Ambience: Yashraj has a nice and subtle ambience with no overpowering themes. The resturant has a sense of warmth to where you can enjoy your meal with family and friends alike.Food: The range of Indian dishes available is extensive with each dish having distinct flavours. I would recommend the starters platter as it is a good value for money as you get to taste a range of different dishes. The ingredients are fresh and the curries are some of the nice flavoursome curries around Brisbane. Do try out their malai kofta and Yashraj Special Goat curry. That was something different and quite delicious. The Naan breads were not doughy at all and were freshly baked and served. Overall the food was well prepared with good quality and fresh ingredients. Oh and their Mango Lassi has a good semi-thick consistency and is a very nice accompaniment with the meals. Service: The hostess was quick to welcome us and seat us down. Every meal was served on time and the wait staff kept tabs on us throughout the night and ensured that all our questions were answered and provided a good service.

  August 12, 2017, 9:20 am

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