Own Masala Indian Restaurant and Takeaway
175 Eleventh Ave, Tauranga, ph (07) 571 8502
Open 7 days, 11am to 2.30pm, 4.30pm until late; lunch, dinner and takeaways
Tauranga has always been blessed with many ways to enjoy great Indian food.
New on the scene is Own Masala in the very convenient location of Eleventh Ave. Open only three months, Own Masala is already making its mark here after relocating from Auckland.
The restaurant has set itself up to cater for all markets with the lunchtime business crowd catered for with specials. Takeaways and deliveries are available for lunch and dinner, and the restaurant experience is also available twice a day.
With Indian food there is occasionally the risk of food being produced in a formulaic way, but not so at Own Masala.
The food coming out of the kitchen has obviously been cooked with creativity and passion and comes with the owner-chef's 15 years of experience satisfying Kiwi palates. He takes the herbs and spices he imports from India and we are the lucky recipients of his creative cooking.
I began my meal with prawn pakora ($12, king prawn cutlets deep fried in mildly spiced batter). I was off to great start with this choice with a large plate of juicy prawns to be dipped into mint sauce.
My vegetarian wife and daughter went with vegetable samosas ($6) and onion bhaji ($6, onion stirred in chickpea flour and deep fried). The starters were both tasty, crisp and plentiful with plenty of love and attention obvious.
Sipping our beautiful mango lassi drinks we contemplated the 80 items on the menu as we struggled to narrow down our mains choices.
Lamb rogan josh ($19) won my vote and the girls went with chana masala ($14, chickpeas cooked with capsicum, tomato and onion in a hot, thick gravy) and tarka daal ($15, yellow lentils cooked with garlic, ginger, onion, tomato and spices).
The lamb couldn't have been more tender and formed a wonderful treat when eaten with the delicate rice (with cumin seeds and coriander) we were served.
The vegetarian choices were presented beautifully, were generous servings and certainly satisfied the tastebuds.
We had a real feeling that we were eating something different - the sauces and food featured a wonderful array of spices that were super tasty without being too much.
If you wanted hot, it was available, but mild and medium options were available on all the curries.
Everything we tasted, from the poppadoms and naan bread at the beginning to the mango kulfi (Indian icecream, $6.50) at the end were full of taste. The level of attention to everything put on our table was admirable and enticing.
The staff at Own Masala were welcoming and attentive without being at our side every moment.
The restaurant featured a very clean, fresh decor with some simple Indian music playing in the background.
Own Masala is a gem in the Tauranga food scene and has cleverly positioned itself to capture a number of areas in the market and is sure to do well based on the meal enjoyed by my family.