“We’re going to dinner with Trissa and Dan” I tell Mr NQN one evening and then mumble “It’s Indian French” and then scamper off quickly before he can ask me to clarify. No such luck “Whaaat? Did you say Indian French?” he asks incredulously. *Gulp* “Yes” I answer. “Well I hope it ends better than the last fusion restaurant we went to” and I can’t help but agree.
Inside it’s vivid oranges as Dan points out as he’s wearing a bright orange shirt too. There are oranges in a bowl, orange lights and there’s also a touch of the Old Raj in one corner with gilt edged tables and chairs. The menu sounds tempting so we ask the waitress what she recommends and she decisively reels off 4 entrees and 4 mains.
Green pea cappucino
Our amuse bouche is a light green pea cappucino which is deliciously earthy with a light touch of Indian spices.
Cumin Infused Trout Confit $16
I love trout and this is a good start to the meal with the celeriac cappucino giving the salmon, shaved fennel and salmon roe and well rounded flavour. Without the cappucino, it just isn’t complete. We find we do have to ask for a spoon to get at the cappucino though.
Chicken Tikka $15
The chicken tikka is gloriously red and is tender and juicy. It comes with baby pimento, fried roti and a delectable saffron honey yogurt. At this point we need to flag down a waitress and ask for some Naan bread to mop up the lovely sauce.
Naan $3 each
King Prawn Soft Dossa $17
The soft dossa was more like a thick crepe rather than a traditional Indian dosai which is paper thin. I savoured each bite of this and the flavours of the Ginger carrot emulsion, lobster air (ok more foam) and beetroot soil just blended together gorgeously.
Pumpkin Mille Feuille $16
The paper thin layers of filo pastry, pumpkin cubes, rich goat cheese parfait, fried walnuts and cinnamon froth go well together in a mixture of soft, crispy, rich and foamy.
Mango Lassi foam
The Mango Lassi foam is tangy and delicious, and well just like the foam from the top of a frothy mango lassi!
Ricotta Kofta $22
This is more the proportions of an entree with the 3 kofta balls of palak paneer (Indian Cheese), smoked eggplant and champagne froth but each bite is delicate and light and flavoursome. Mr NQN’s only complaint? The size. Taste wise it’s gorgeous with the crispy kofta outer and soft ricotta inside.
Chai Tea Smoked duck breast $34
Trissa’s favourite was the Chai tea smoked duck breast which comes with a lovely distinct smoked chai flavour along with a rich foie gras khichir, blanket of madras curry emulsion and glace cumquat (although I don’t really taste much glace cumquat). The khichir is unusual, like a barley or rice although I tried to find our more about it on the internet to no avail with the closest thing being khichdi.
Garam Masala Lamb Fillet $34
The favourite main for most was the delectable lamb fillet which was spiced with garam masala and served with a gorgeous slick of borlotti bean dahl, pistachio crunch and makhani veloute. This was another course in which we were grateful for the naan bread.
Tandoori Chicken $28
After the creativity of the other mains, the Tandoori chicken pales by comparison. This is simply tandoori chicken served with micro rice which is not microwave rice but slightly smaller rice and peas with a butter chicken emulsion. The chicken is not as tender as the Chicken tikka and is slightly stringier.
Spice Poached Pear with blue cheese
We receive our pre dessert, a spice poached pear with blue cheese. It comes in a sweet syrup and the salty rich blue cheese goes gorgeously with the sweet pear tickling all of the tastebuds as it goes down the hatch.
Rose Petal Parfait $15
We were oohing and aahing over the desserts and when our waitress hears that she solves the problem by telling us that only 2 out of 4 desserts are available tonight. When the Rose Petal parfait arrives, his wife Julies comes over and tells us that this dessert was one that she insisted he put on the menu. It’s a rose water ice cream with a chilled strawberry consommé which comes with soused strawberries and spiced toffee – make sure you get a strawberry in each spoonful too.
Cardamom Chocolate Ganache $15
The Cardamom chocolate ganache comes with pistachio kulfi and chickpea dust which tastes like and resembles a halva shaved. Whilst this wasn’t bad I didn’t enjoy this as much as the rose petal parfait. The texture of the ganache was nice but it didn’t seem as harmonious as the parfait.
His wife Julie who features on the cover of his book Sex in the Kitchen tells us a little more about the history. Formerly Beluga, the economy and downturn in restaurant patronage forced a rebranding and reshuffle so that Beluga became Guru and focused more on the Indian food with French techniques. Chef Opel Khan trained in London with the Roux brothers and Marco Pierre White and in Guru he brings French techniques with Indian flavours and sometimes the other way around. His book Sex in the Kitchen won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award for ‘Best Photography’ and ‘Cover Design’
Chef Opel Khan
So tell me Dear Reader, what is your favourite fusion cuisine?
And very excitingly, I was in yesterday’s MX paper tweeting about Streetsmart with the lovely Trina from Foraging Otaku!
Guru
15/425 Bourke Street, Surry Hills, NSW
Tel: +61 (02) 8356 9433
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38 Comments | Add your own
I thought I was adventurous for getting a turkey burger.
Oooh, sucked in right from the trout confit. We don’t have a lot of good restaurants in Wagga. We have some, but not many and none that specialise in fusion food. This review certainly makes me want to give French Indian a go.
I really like Opel Khan’s food and Guru is a very good place. What a shame the location is not the greatest. The degustation is fab.
that’s a lot of foam action. and green pea cappucino? i’m delightfully intrigued!
Favorite for the moment is Indian French until I maybe try German Chinese! It was really a great meal – I love that restaurant. I can’t wait to go back.
Great post – and what an interesting fusion! Those pears look divine.
We used to go to a Turkish Thai house which I LOVED!!!
What a great fusion, I’ve never had it but it sounds incredible! Your pic of the chicken tikka has left me with a huge craving for it!
I’m always very weary of fusion cuisine. I’m not particularly a huge fan, but this Indian French combo sounds interesting. Especially intrigued by the soft dossa
I’m going to put this on my list, thank you!
been here before, it’s really nice, but i didn’t know it was fusion food..
meanwhile, you ladies look fierce!!!
I dont know about all the soil and foam. once or twice would have been fine but its in everything.
Food looks nice tho…
I loved Beluga and was so sorry to hear it closed. Its good to see that something has come from it though (and the the chickpea dust remains!)
Am definitely going to have to check this one out!
great food!! Do you notice that almost all dishes comes with some sort of foam sauce??!!
All of this food looks so good! Of course, the deserts (all of them!) are my pick, but the tikka and the pumpkin mille feuille also strike my fancy.
Favourtie fusion cusine is that great melting pot that we just call “Asian” – fab, light, bright flavours and surprising combinations.
Hi Lorraine,
Great post! I am really keen to try this restaurant out now
Thanks for sharing, and happy Christmas
Ladybird x
Food looks and sounds lovely…apart from the foam craze. What is with this madness for foam?! Apart from that it does sounds like a nice fusion – probably lifts standard Indian restaurant food up from the over cooked/over oily conformity into something with cleaner flavours and that is more elegant looking and tasting.
They really like their foam/froth/air, don’t they?! But what wonderful flavour combinations… I can almost smell the place from here, mmmmmm… And he trained with THE Marco Pierre White? Be still my beating heart!
Tetsuya’s?! Japanese/French. Enough said
Thanks for another in a brilliant line of posts. Couldn’t start the day any other way. Legend xx
omg, this is almost comical.
It makes me cringe looking at attempts to turn something that has never looked all that pretty or interesting on a plate (regardless of how fantastic it may taste) and make it look like fine dining cuisine. This, for me, is a prime example of how fusion cooking can go horribly wrong, at least from a presentation point of view.
In all fairness, I should applaude the chef for having the balls to try to elevate Indian cuisine to a new level. I just don’t think this is the way to do it.
Would you agree/disagree?
Yummy,,mouthwatering post! never heard of this restaurant,,, great tip!
Mr. NQN’s response makes me think of my husband’s awhile back when we were walking in a cute downtown area near our house, where every other restaurant is Indian or Chinese. We saw a sign go up for a new eatery under construction. My husband asked eagerly, “Oh, is it Chinese or Indian?” I laughed, “It’s CHINESE-INDIAN — both!” Yup, a fusion. Have not tried it yet, so don’t know if it succeeds in marrying the two cuisines.
The Rose Petal Parfait looks amazing. The food is so colourful.
Italian Chinese! Also loved your lap-rap cover which was emailed to me as I’m a customer of theirs too!
That is a lot of foam, and under so many different names! Sounds like it tasted good though.
I’ve never encountered Indian-French fusion cuisine before, but it sounds so interesting.
The ingredients of the pumpkin millefeuille are almost the same as the roasted pumpkin wrap I recently had; sheer goodness!
Oh, and I have to admit that the rose petal parfait practically stopped me in my tracks.
I’m a huge fan of this place. He’s doing something really unique with flavours and textures and the end result is fantastic. The deconstructed samosa was amazing.
Opel is a great host too. Always being friendly with the diners.
Well, I need to take my Indian husband to Guru as I think he would find the fusion interesting. I like the idea of presenting the Indian dishes in a ‘lighter’ way as sometimes the meals are quite heavy through the abundant use of spices. Thanks Lorraine, I hadn’t heard of this restaurant before today. Nice pic of you as well
That dessert looks real nice!
Enjoy!
I usually don’t go foe fusion because the food ends up being a hodge-podge of this and that and not very flavorful. This however is great because the chef did not forget his roots and uses the techniques he learned with restraint.
Wow this fusion restaurant is actually fusing the two together! La Porte Des Indes in London tries to do the same but I feel it fails when it comes to fusion as it’s heavily dependent on the Indian side of the equation and there’s not much originality (nor is it very good. I’d choose Chutney Mary over this one anyday).
Do you reckon you’d go back once you’ve tasted the novelty though?
Hmmmm…looks interesting. Indian ( to put it broadly) is one of my favourite foods, however sometimes the classics are classics for a reason.
I think the pics look splendid and your descriptions evocative.
You can’t doubt the che’s pedigree having been under MPW’s wing either.
I’ll put this on my ‘interesting & possible’ list!
hi lorraine
thanks for this sharing ! I love the peas capuccino ! cheers from Sunny Paris PIerre
I think I’ll stick with my un-foamy Indian
Oh wow indian and french fusion :S I don’t know how I feel about this haha. Been craving Indian for a while now… so I guess I should check this out!
Oh oh oh I have wanted to go here for ages! Have heard things about both the regular/vegustation so it would be great for my boyfriend and I, and the food looks great! Definitely not the sort of thing you’d have every day
Beautiful post as always. Great photos. I love all of those main course dishes and am really intrigued by that pear and cheese.
that lamb fillet looks amazing just sounded this out to the office but no one is taking me seriously! but when i said u gave this place a pretty sterling review, everyone went from ‘Indian French?!!!?’ to “Indian French…mm” haha
Hi Blond Duck-Haha you’re funny Duckie!
Hi Amy-I think this is the first Indian fusion place I’ve come across! I think they’ve hit the right balance here
Hi joey-Oh cool! Yes it’s a funny location that whole complex!
Hi grace-Hehe you’re right there is a lot of foam!
Hi Trissa-haha thanks for being such great company!
How about a triple fusion like we discussed? 
HI Lisa-Thankyou! Ooh Turkish Thai is so intriguing!
Hi Faith-It was great!
Hehe sorry! 
Hi Betty-Yes it can sometimes go horribly wrong can’t it!
You’re welcome! 
Hi chinesechic-Well it’s mostly Indian but with some French touches
Hi alan-Aww thankyou!
Hi Vita-It is omnipresent but it didn’t seem so bad!
Hi Jo-yes it closed before I even had a chance to try it! Ahhh so they’ve kept some thing! Cool
Hi Dorcas-Hehe they did but it wasn’t so bad!
Hi Cakelaw-I love that strawberry rose dessert!
Yes the fresh, bright flavours are great in Asian cuisine 
Hi Ladybird-Thankyou so much! Merry Christmas to you too! x
Hi spice and more-Hehe yes it’s so foamy!
Despite that it was very elegant 
Hi Angela-they sure do
Yes he did, rather good company huh? 
Hi Annmaree-Haha true true. Thanks so much! xxx
Hi Simon-Did you read the review at all?
Seriously you should read it.
Hi Beau-You’re welcome!
Hi Carolyn-Chinese Indian, now that would be an interesting one!
I’d love to know if you do try it!
Hi Katherine-yes it was! I love colour in food
Hi Moya-Ooh how cool! Aww that’s so sweet!
Hi Arwen-Hehe very true!
It was good despite the foam!
Hi Midge-Yes it works so well doesn’t it!
It was a fantastic dessert, I’d love to recreate it again.
Hi Jobe-Yes it’s great despite the apprehension of Indian French fusion. It works!
Hi Matilda-I’d love to know what you think of it! Thankyou!
Hi Pam-thanks!
Hi tasteofbeirut-Yes I think he just took bits of French cuisine which is good
Hi Shmii-yes absolutely, we were talking about going back to try the other things
Hi Highlands Foodie-The funny thing is he hasn’t really messed with a lot of them. to me, he found the right balance
Hi pierre-Cool! Thanks so much
Hi Fiona-Ha! Look past the foam
Hi FFichiban-You should totally go!
Hi Alex-definitely isn’t! I’d love to know what you think of it!
Hi Lea Ann-Thankyou so much!
I’d love to make that myself one day 
Hi Mei-Aww that’s so sweet! hehe I hope you guys enjoy it!
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