Don’t sleep on Moonee Ponds. This northwestern suburb has the charms of Armadale and the palate of a MasterChef judge. The average-tasting suburban Chinese joints are disappearing and making way for flashy new cafés, apartment blocks and late-night diners.
One young gun on the scene is Indian restaurant Haldi, located on Moonee Ponds’ busiest shopping strip, Puckle Street. Think of Haldi as your traditional Indian restaurant complete with authentic flavours and traditional recipes, but with a decidedly Melbourne vibe.
The kitchen is run by internationally recognised chef Atar Singh, who was most recently head chef at Albert Park’s Atta restaurant. Singh brings with him a wealth of knowledge about Indian cuisine, having trained with some of India’s best chefs. The restaurant is also owned by Raj Singh, who was the general manager of one of Melbourne’s oldest Indian restaurants, Gaylord Indian, in Tattersalls Lane in the city.
Haldi has a one-page menu stacked with winners. As you’d expect, Haldi serves up a stand-out butter chicken, tender beef madras and a flavour-packed paneer tikka, plus dishes which use housemade marinated cottage cheese (you better believe that palak paneer is good) and tangy roasted tomato chutney. You’ll also want to try the chef’s special fish curry, which is a specialty made by Singh himself, and the paneer nuggets, which is a paneer sandwich of Tokyo onion rings, chana and tomato sauce.
Drinks-wise, you can choose to pair your meal with one of Haldi’s Indian-inspired cocktails like the Haldi Bloody Mary or a tamarind-spiced Margarita. The wine menu was collated by local sommelier and managing director of Winestock, Vince Pignatelli, but the restaurant also lets you BYO.
Got food intolerances? Vegan? Or just picky? Haldi’s menu is well-designed to cater to almost every dietary requirement – just let your waiter know. If you're dining with a group you can get amongst Haldi’s ‘winter warmers’ special which gets you three entrees, three curries with rice, naan, raita and dessert for $55 per person.