Subcontinental

Call it the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel effect, but India is weaving its magic over our inner suburbs, just as it did over those grumpy English senior citizens in Jaipur. It's hooray for Bollywood, as samosas, chapatis and curries are rescued from the local Indian fast food diner and brought back to life by a new breed of modern Indian restaurant.

Restaurateur Sam Christie of the Apollo has no Indian heritage, but that hasn't stopped him from opening the new Subcontinental. (Just as not being Thai didn't stop him from opening Longrain; or not being Japanese, Cho Cho San.)

It's a clever use of the subcontinental-sized basement under Longrain, given also that Longrain head chef Victor Chung, who oversees the menu, hails from Kolkata.

The semi-industrial space, with its brick walls, poured concrete floor and bare bulb lighting, high and low tables, cosy booths and counter stools has its own back-street charm.

So does the menu, as it roams all over the Indian subcontinent, from the traditional tandoori dishes of the Punjab to a Hyderabadi vegetable biryani, Bengali prawn curry and South Indian-inspired fish grilled in banana leaves.

While it's great to see things such as crisp pani puri street food snacks, an early visit wasn't convincing, with uneven cooking and dull brown flavours, but a return visit shows good progress, more confidence and better balance.

Samosas, I've had a few. But what is great street food in India has somehow sunk to the level of fast food for bleary-eyed, late-night drunks in Australia. At $5 each, these raise the bar, the ghee-based pastry strong and dry, the filling well-spiced and satisfyingly mushy with potato and peas, the construction solid.

A generous Sri Lankan curry pork belly and pickled eggplant in a glossy black curry sauce ($32) has good roasted-spice flavour but quite chewy pork, as if tenderness had been sacrificed for the crackling top. Nor have I had great tandoor here yet. A long-boned lamb cutlet ($10 each) and half spatchcock ($16) are fun to eat, but the marinades are still sludgy, rather than being fused by sufficiently intense heat.

But the test of a good Indian restaurant isn't in the star dishes, it's in the simple things. You should be able to eat just rice, daal and raita and go home happy. And you can.

A small bowl of comforting, soupy black lentils with fenugreek and cinnamon ($8) goes with everything on the table, as does a lively side dish of pineapple-spiked raita ($4). The beautifully separated rice grains in a chockers vegetable biryani ($14) comes with chunks of cauliflower, sweet potato, potato and cashew nuts, as if someone has turned leftovers from the Sunday roast into a brilliant Sunday night tea.

An exotic-sounding treacle and curds ($9) is more your firm goat's curd panna cotta topped with fruit, like something from a flash (not The Exotic Marigold) hotel breakfast buffet. The bar is a highlight, with whole shelves of gins and whiskies, pukka cocktails named for Imran, Miandad and Murali and a Euro-leaning wine list with a few road-less-travelled Australians such as a perfumed 2013 Thick as Thieves sylvaner from the King Valley ($58).

Subcon is not as together an offering as Christie's other collaborations, but the hallmark package of good produce, good talent and a contemporary attitude are all there. It's a strange cross-breed of plonk-on-a-plate canteen and nicely engaged service, for prices that are a long way from fast food Indian. But then, so are the samosas.

THE LOW-DOWN
Best bit: Indian goes mod
Worst bit: Bookings taken only for groups
Go-to dish: Vegetable samosa, sweet and sour chutney, $5 each

Terry Durack is chief restaurant critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and senior reviewer for the Good Food Guide. This rating is based on the Good Food Guide scoring system.