Harvard Wang
Saavni Krishnan and Sriram Aditya Suresh have me at first bite, with one of the snacks that kick off the short, sharp menu at their modern Indian restaurant, Saadi. The bite in question is a sticky-textured fermented and steamed rice cake, an idli, that’s topped with fire-grilled carrots flavoured with milagai podi, a spice powder that has lentils, chilli, tamarind and coriander seeds in the mix. It’s a deftly balanced equation that hums with heat and fragrance, a lick of smokiness and a mouthful of texture. As opening gambits go, it’s hard to beat.
Saadi is Krishnan and Suresh’s first permanent restaurant after a few years of staging well-received pop-ups across Melbourne under the same name. Occupying the minimalist Kerstin Thompson-designed space that once housed Sunda, Saadi is part of a new wave of contemporary Indian restaurants that include Mischa Tropp’s Kolkata Cricket Club and Helly Raichura’s Enter Via Laundry, and which are turbo-charging local appreciation of regional Indian cooking right now.
The menu doesn’t stick to one region, though it does shy away from the butter chicken-esque staples that have traditionally defined Indian food in Australia. The chefs’ experience cooking European food also comes into play, making unexpected but thoroughly satisfying appearances in a mozzarella and parmesan spiked tapioca fritter that’s teamed with a punchy fermented persimmon chutney.
The same goes for salli boti, a beef carpaccio-like version of a western Indian dish that includes a curry-based, blackened lime dressing and a shower of crisp-fried potato straws. These fusion-leaning dishes are pure surprise and delight.
Don’t miss the plump oyster mushrooms, alive with well calibrated fieriness from a fermented green chilli dressing and sitting on a crisp-edged chickpea pancake. Similar consideration should also be given to the butterflied flathead that’s served with a simmered tamarind sauce (though the bone phobic may find the fish a challenge) and the apple and almond barfi, like a fudge cake, that’s teamed with a subtly sour buttermilk sorbet.
There are on-theme cocktails too (the Marsala-spiced Negroni is a good place to start) and a solid wine list that includes New and Old World labels and a couple of sakes.
It’s an exciting time for Indian food in Melbourne right now. Saadi is an excellent and original addition to the wave of restaurants making that excitement happen. More please.
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