Cocktails and spices and all things nice at Foreign Return

"When Australians think of India, they connect us with teas, spices, cricket," says Gaurang Gahoi, co-owner of Surry Hills' Foreign Return. 

Such stereotyping sometimes has a little truth in it: his restaurant's chef Siddharth Kalyanaraman cooked for Australia's cricket team during two Indian tours.

And spices are sprinkled throughout the menu, from the masala fries to the kathirikai kurma eggplant curry, which has bright hints of cardamom throughout.

But Gahoi wants to show a fuller picture of India through the restaurant he runs with co-owners Javed Khan and Kunal Patel. 

So Foreign Return zooms out from the northern food (butter chicken, naan) often seen at Indian diners, or dishes from the south (dosa, idli). "We wanted to represent India as a whole, not just one region or two regions," says Gahoi.

This makes sense as the owners' own roots stretch across India: Gahoi grew up in Gujarat, on the western coast, while his parents are from Uttar Pradesh, on the other side of the country. 

At Foreign Return, every detail in the restaurant helps build a hypercolourful map of India. The Marigold Sour cocktail, for instance, is decorated with pretty petals inspired by the 4000 florists who work at Mullik Ghat, the largest flower market in Kolkata.

The marigold-infused gin cocktail is served in a brass goblet custom-made in Moradabad, known as India's "Brass City", and located by the Ramganga river, in Uttar Pradesh.

The upstairs level of the restaurant features a custom pendant shaped from fishing nets: a representation of Mumbai's Koliwada fishing district.

For full transporting effect, Foreign Return offers a fried prawn dish (prawns Koliwada) on its menu. Order it and staff will deliver its history with your serve. 

The restaurant also wants to revive India's "lost" recipes, dishes that are menu rarities. Its laal maas curry originates from Rajasthan's royal kitchens, with the intense heat dialled up to suit the then king. Centuries ago, it was made with deer that royals slaughtered while hunting.

Today, in India, it's served with lamb because of a ban on catching wild game. So Foreign Return's version, made with venison, reflects a truly lost recipe.

The Nimona ground-pea curry with fritters might not have such a dramatic story, but it's a "lost" recipe worth ordering, and it reflects the part of Lucknow and Kanpur that Gahoi is from. "This is a dish that's no longer easily found on menus anymore," he says. 

Chef Kalyanaraman is very aware of local tastes: he stockpiled Vegemite jars to ensure Australian cricketers didn't miss out on the salty breakfast spread when touring India.

And even though he wants Foreign Return's menu to be regionally specific, he's adding Indigenous twists where he thinks they're apt, such as Tasmanian mountain pepper to spice the tandoori chicken, or bush tomato for a spiced chutney that runs over a burrata and pumpkin and wattleseed naan appetiser. 

Along one wall of Foreign Return, you'll see the restaurant's mascot – a pigeon called Aakesh (Hindi for "lord of the sky") – travelling across India's regions to Surry Hills.

It's a journey that reflects what you'll experience at the restaurant: the route takes such surprising turns (and a few are more successful and transporting than others).

But as your meal passes through many of India's state lines, with a few detours to Australia, you'll be glad you boarded. Foreign Return is quite a trip. 

The low-down

Foreign Return

Main attraction A diverse line-up of regional Indian dishes, with "lost" recipes rarely seen elsewhere, occasionally seasoned with Australian native ingredients.

Must-try dish You can taste every fresh shred of grated coconut throughout the kathirikai kurma eggplant curry. It reflects the abundance of coconut trees Kalyanaraman remembers from his childhood and this dish is a long-time favourite and something his grandmother would cook for him. 

Insta-worthy dish The Raj khachori is a Delhi street dish that's been reinterpreted as sunset-pink semolina domes (crowded with chickpeas, yoghurt, pomegranate, tamarind and mint chutney) and served alongside colourful beetroot and plum stripes. This photogenic dish aids a good cause: $2 from each order is donated to the McGrath Foundation to assist people with breast cancer. 

Drinks From $10 for a bottle of Rocks Brewing Co's Alexandria Lager to $250 for a bottle of Louis Roederer Brut Premier Champagne. Consider ordering the cocktails, which all have colourful inspirations – such as a negroni that reflects an early Mughal emperor (Babur) and his love of roses.