Bollywood Chinese - Halal, Fairfield (Secret Sydney)

Did a double-take when I saw the sign Bollywood Chinese Kitchen, upon closer inspection I read that it was also halal.  Apparently, Indian-Chinese as this cuisine is known is Chinese food that has been adapted to Indian tastes.  This means additional Indian spices like cumin and turmeric.  Previously in Liverpool, Bollywood Chinese Kitchen has recently moved to Fairfield - wedged between an Iraqi restaurant and the Assyrian resource centre.  We had to try it.



Inside the place looks like any suburban Chinese takeaway; the plain layout, simple table and chairs, a small slot to pass through food that's covered with a curtain.  And there's the plain menu, printed in on computer and slotted under the glass table top; chop suey, wanton (sic) soup, Mongolian chicken, beef in black bean sauce... you get my drift.

But look carefully and there's some hidden surprises; butter chicken, sambal chicken.  And so we did try the butter chicken.  It's much spicier than the sweet and yellow/red versions I'm used to.  This one is almost brown and strongly flavoured with turmeric and cumin.

The Sichuan chicken was a collision of hot Indian spices and Sichuan chilli hotness making it one of the hottest dishes in a local Chinese I've tasted.  Again the Indian spices delivered a strange mix of tastes.

The fried noodles with beef, a version of char kway teow was much plainer than the original, much of the Asian flavouring including soy has been toned down.

Prices were on the high end of suburban Chinese but in their defence, the servings are very, very large.

Secret Sydney is a new noodlies Sydney food blog project to uncover authentic, diverse food and culture all around Sydney.

Bollywood Chinese Kitchen
11 The Crescent, Fairfield NSW
02 9755 5821