Sangeet Indian Cuisine

Once again found we ourselves in Manukau needing lunch and craving a curry when we saw the well sign posted Sangreet on Great South Road.   Good parking in the little business area and we were on our way to one of the best curries we've had ( little did we know it then). The place is quite big and has a fabulously exotic feel with three neat huge brass elephants near the bar, deep red walls adorned with exotic Indian art, huge vases by the doors, leather couches for a pre-dinner drink and table cloth's of faux leopard skin which are really cool and add a really ethnic feel to the place.  Love the decor!! We ordered a popadoms & sauces and a special chicken to start.  They bought out the popadoms first which was nice so we could share them first.  Then the chicken like a 2nd entree.  Both were really good. We had a glass of the house red wine which was amazingly only $4.90 but not marvellous.  It was the only option on the menu other than bottles or BYO.  I suggest BYO if you go. Then (yes I know we are creatures of habit) we had a butter chicken & a lamb sagawalla.  Beautifully tender meats melted in your mouth.  The butter chicken was great but the sagawalla fantastic.. yep an omg thats good!!   We got garlic nanns which were amazingly good and rice. The service was excellent.  Exactly how it should be.  We finished off with the mango kulfi to share ( an ice cream like dessert) which was very very good also. This place is well worth the drive to Manukau and now in equal 1st position on my list of fav Indian restaurants in Auckland!!!  

Seeing as a bunch of us haven't had a good Indian cuisine for a while, we decided to head here to get our curry fix. Located near the Manukau shopping center, Sangeet Indian Cuisine sits in the middle of what seems like a small business park area. We walked inside to find a very tidy and appropriately decorated dining area, red painted walls and soft tones, various Indian-themed paintings and ornaments spread throughout. We were promptly greeted and seated down to our table, which was covered with a fake leopard-print cloth under the glass table top. This place certainly is aimed for the upper-class market, with fine-dining ambitions. After studying the menu, we noticed a lack of beef options. For those that wanted to get the classic beef vindaloo, one will have to make other arrangements. A mixed entree platter - tandoori sangam is ordered to share, while we all went for one of their house specialty curries - lamb malabari, mango chicken, and I got the chicken sangeet masala. Garlic naan and aloo paratha are also ordered to soak up all the curry sauces. The mixed platter arrived first on a sizzling hot plate, with pieces of tandoori chicken, vegetable samosas, and lamb and chicken "sausages" accompanied by a mint sauce. They were delicious and gone very quickly. Main course arrived a short while later, and it's an absolute feast. The chicken sangeet masala has very tender pieces of chicken thighs, the sauce with just the right amount of spicyness (medium was requested) that you can still taste the garam masala and the creamy finish in the background. Next to me, my friend shared some of the mango chicken with me, which has a subtle mango sweetness in the sauce, and balances out the spices well. Across the table the lamb malabari went down quickly as well. Their garlic naan is bursting with flavour with fine chunks of minced garlic visible on top, the aloo paratha is huge even after cut in half, the curried potato filling keeping the bread nice and moist. Overall their food is excellent. However, a tad pricey, and it's only when we settle our bill we discovered that rice wasn't included with any of the main curry dishes - it was a $2 extra charge per person. Considering that the mains were $19.50 each (with the vegetable option slightly cheaper and seafood option slightly more), one wasn't expecting any "extra" charges such as for rice. It was a nice night out with good food and nice ambience/atmosphere, however probabally best reserved as a once-in-a-month or once every other month treat.