For exhaust pipe chasers, or just a meal with a view

NO TRIP to Durban is ever complete without a decent curry. Forget the beach, the sand sculptures, the stadium tours and the colourful rickshaws. It’s the spiciness of the mutton and the fluffiness of the naan I’m visiting for.

But which restaurant to choose in a city that’s home to so many Indian eateries? I usually head for the Indian enclave around Musgrave Road, one of the few streets in the city that’s retained its name when all around are losing theirs.

But a trawl of several websites kept leading me back to Indian Connection (pictured above), once on Windermere Road and now on Lilian Ngoyi Road, without moving an inch.

The last time I was in this area of Morningside I was taken to a strip club further up the road by a couple of reprobates with a dodgy idea of how to impress women from out of town. The club was pretty hot and steamy, but the meat really wasn’t to my liking. It’s far more tender at the Indian Connection.

The restaurant is a little different from the average curry palace. Mostly because it’s based in a quaint old house, where you walk up the steps and ring the doorbell, wondering if you should have brought flowers or a bottle of wine for your host.

Actually, taking your own wine might be a good idea as the wine list spans precisely four reds and one white. My glass of red at R18 was thin and forgettable. Cider or a beer would have been a better choice.

The restaurant is an airy and simple affair, with wooden floors and mostly bare white walls with a few Indian prints. The best part of the décor is the view, with big windows. There are practical but unpretty plastic

It’s in an old house, where you ring the bell, wondering if you should have brought flowers

covers protecting the black table cloths, and the tables are a little too close if your neighbouring diners chat loudly.

The menu is North Indian with the usual offerings, and a maître d’ who described the choice of heat as mild, medium, hot or exhaust pipe. He was much more jolly and knowledgeable than the shy young man who was our main waiter, earning a few rand by helping out rather than really training for the job, methinks.

The food was good, and the prices are certainly a big attraction to anyone used to the Gauteng variety.

My chicken jalfrezi at R60 was tasty and tender, not too oily and with a slightly tingling fieriness that made me wonder if I should have ordered hot instead of medium. More unusual choices include Afghan chops and dishes just called “Durban curry” with lamb or chicken cooked with potatoes in a spicy sauce.

My partner’s rogan josh at R80 was equally generous, with tender meat and a good flavour, but without the complexity that has you analysing the blend of spices in admiration at the deep and rich results.

Naan breads at R13 were decent without achieving that fluffy decadence I crave, and a bowl of rice proved useful for blending with the generous sauces. Overall, if I lived in Durban, no doubt I’d be back.

Indian Connection (031) 312-1440 www.indian-connection.co.za