THE AJRAK RESTAURANT

As stated by another review the only thing left in the buffet when we arrived at 7pm on a Saturday night was sauce. Very unimpressed with the service and communication from staff members. Considering the sole purpose of a restaurant is to eat food, I was disappointed to be scraping the bottom of the pan for rice and eating it with cold sauce. Would not recommend you buy a scoopon. The food itself was alright but again it’s hard to say because I didn’t get to eat much.

Let me start this review by saying; I am not a picky eater but I also love my Indian. I bought a scoopon for the buffet for my husband and I after reading excellent reviews via Zomato and Trip Advisor. Do not read Zomato or Trip Advisor when buying this scoopon or dining here. The buffet was cold and sorry there is no excuse considering it was a Friday night and on the phone they told me they were «booked out». And the buffet was also EMPTY. We got there at 6:45pm for our booking and the only thing left in the buffet was the sauce from the dishes. The place was covered with flies, so feeling sick, I thought I would stick to the rice, Papadums and Naan bread. Well, have fun waiting for those three. The rice was pulled out of a Coles bag (so unauthentic), the Naan bread was cooked in a microwave (I physically witnessed it) and the Papadums, wait for it… never came out. I feel horrible writing such a negative review but I wish I had been warned. Feeling completely disgusted, I have left the place hungry and never wanting to return again.

***Quick update: This place now has the best curry’n’rice buffet in town! A ridiculous choice of curries, condiments and a few gulabjamms thrown in for good measure***
When you first look at this place, it may seem very similar to the standard Indian restaurants you see popping up around the place in Perth, one that caters well to the British expats throughout the suburbs. And admittedly, some of the menu here has similar kind of stuff. Your choice of chicken, beef or lamb, available in the usual range of curry-​styles: vindaloo, saag, korma, tikka, butter masarla, madras, rogan josh. You know, the usual stuff. There is the choice of chicken or lamb biryani and a range of naan-roti’s.
But don’t let that fool you, there is great stuff here, that you can’t get anywhere else in WA!
The most important thing about this place, was that the food TASTED GOOD. I was especially happy, that unlike some of these Indian restaurants opening lately, ALL THE CURRIES ACTUALLY TASTED DIFFERENT. I’m sorry I’m using capitals, but I have to emphasize that I really DID like the food here.
One of the things I noticed too, was that the rice wasn’t bland, the saffron rice actually had a nice flavour and I can only assume the rice was salted a little bit; which is a nice touch that a lazy cook usually wouldn’t bother with.
The only small gripe was that the food took a little longer than usual to arrive, but I won’t begrudge that in an Indian restaurant; usually this means that the food will taste good, and it did.
From what I could taste, no short cuts in the cooking. No insipid curries here, that you may find in the run-​of-​the-​mill Indian shop, where they all look and taste the same and only have a difference in colour.
Could it be, that because the new owners have experience in Hyderabad, one of the great centres of sub-​continental cuisine, that the food has a difference in taste? He has recently added a couple of old Pakistani favourites, haleem and nihari to the menu (you have to ask for them). It was great to have these dishes. Again, it was something different which sets this place apart from the usual fare. (And the nihari was nice and hot too)
(For any Anglo-​Indian readers, I also had the Malayi tikka kebab, different to the usual tikka kebab, and it tastes very much like the filling in a chicken khati roll.)
Anyway, I like this place, and the people who run it; it’s still early days yet, so maybe there’ll be more diverse things to come in the future!