Indian street food isn’t something with which we’re familiar, but T’s penchant for Indian food often exposes us to these cuisines. And Chatkazz in Harris Park is a restaurant that celebrates ‘delicious Indian street food’. We (D especially) are not fond vegetarians, so we left picking items from the menu to N and T.

First up, we have the Sabudana Vada ($7.90 for 4) which are flat patties of deep-fried tapioca pearls mixed with potato and spices served with various chutneys. A cross-section of one appears at the top of this post. These were immensely crunchy and studded with all sorts of nuts.

These were the Samosa Chaat ($8.90 for 2) served with chilled sweet yoghurt and various chutneys. The flavour of peas is prominent in the innards, which have a medium heat that’s well soothed by the accompanying yoghurt. Overall, the samosa lacked the moreish qualities of curry puffs that contain meat.

We ordered takeaway so the various chutneys for all the dishes were consolidated into one. The mint yoghurt (above, left) provided some much-needed relief from the spicy heat, in stark contrast to the green chutney (above, right, top) that seemed to be literally blitzed green peppers. The brown-red chutney (above, right, bottom) tasted like an unpleasantly watery barbeque sauce.

This is the first and our favourite of three curries, the Daal Tadka ($9.90) with ‘yellow lentils tempered with green chillies, garlic, onion, tomato and garnish with coriander’. The level of spiciness was most pleasant – there’s an evident kick but doesn’t detract from our enjoyment of the flavours. N appreciated its slight sweetness from the onion, the residual texture of the unblended lentils and the restrained use of oil, making it perfect for soaking up with carbs.

This second one is the Pav-Bhaji ($10.90), a ‘spicy vegetable curry served with a toasted buttered bread roll, onion salad & papadam’.

This curry was the spiciest of the three with a strong tomato flavour. It was too spicy for my cat’s tongue, but N describes it as being the lightest and smoothest on the palate despite being very filling. It’s a vegetarian curry, but we’d have appreciated some protein in the form of chicken.

The papadam was crispy, although there were only a few pieces compared to the size of the curry. We’re not particular fans of bread rolls, either, and would have preferred rice to go with this dish.

Finally, this is the Chhole Tikki ($8.90), ‘spiced potato patties served with spicy chickpeas curry and potato with onions, coriander and various chutneys’.

The potato patties were studded with star anise, that added flavour but we felt should’ve been removed prior to serving as they added an unpleasant texture and jarring sharpness to the potato. We felt potato chunks would’ve worked better. Otherwise, N found the chickpeas in the curry were satisfying and moreish.

This is the Masala Dosa ($9.90), a South Indian crepe made with rice flour and urad flour stuffed with spiced potatoes and served with lentil soup, coconut and tomato chutney.

There’s not much to this dosa – the potatoes were tender and gently spicy, but the crepe itself was quite stiff and not light and fluffy.

These are the Chilli Chips ($6.40), ‘golden deep-fried potato chips mixed with special herbs and spices’. These were visibly seasoned with a moderate heat, but they could’ve used longer in the frier to take on a crispy skin and fluffy innards.

To dip into the curry, we have Garlic Naan ($3.50 each). These were so-so – we’ve had more fragrant ones pretty much everywhere else.

And for the final carb fix, we have Tandoori Roti ($2.90). These were unremarkable and rather dry.

Perhaps we’re just not fans of Indian street food. It would seem so, as there are many respectable reviews of them online. It’s just not for us.

Chatkazz is located at 4-6/14-20 Station St E, Harris Park NSW 2150.