3 min read

Why We Cook in a Tandoor

In the Red Bridge kitchen, the tandoor is where dinner begins, and it is worth a closer look.

From Wednesday to Sunday, our Indian restaurant opens at 5pm, and the tandoor is at the heart of the kitchen. It is a deep clay oven, and it asks for a steady hand and a healthy respect for heat.

Tandoori meats are what this oven is for, and here is how a skewer makes its way from the bench to your table.

Nothing here is hurried. The heat does a lot of the work, but the cooks are watching every skewer, because timing matters in a tandoor.

Skewers, Lowered by Hand

It starts with the marinade. Chicken is marinated, then threaded onto long metal skewers. When the time comes, a chef lowers the skewer into the hot tandoor by hand, steady and unhurried, and the oven takes over.

Chicken tikka and seekh kebabs cook side by side on their skewers inside the clay. A skewer held over the opening gives a good look at how the colour is coming along.

We like that it is a hands-on way to cook. There are no shortcuts between the marinade and the plate, only people, skewers and heat.

From Chicken Tikka to Tandoori Prawns

Not everything on the skewer is chicken. Marinated prawns are threaded on by hand, one after another, before they meet the heat.

Tandoori chicken, seekh kebabs, chicken tikka, prawns: each has its own look when it comes out of the oven, and its own flavour, shaped by the marinade and the heat.

Put it all together and you get a tandoori mixed grill: seekh kebabs, tandoori chicken, prawns and fish tikka, served on a black platter for the table to share.

Garlic Naan to Go With It

A tandoori night calls for bread. Our naan is freshly baked, and the garlic naan arrives in a basket, ready to tear and share, and good for chasing the last of the sauce.

Tear a piece, scoop up a little of whatever is on the table, and pass the basket along. That is how we like dinner to go.

That is the whole story, really: good marinades, a hot clay oven, careful hands and a table of people ready to eat. We hope you will pull up a chair. Come hungry, and bring someone who likes to share.

Dinner at Red Bridge

The Indian restaurant is open Wednesday to Sunday, 5pm to 10pm, with last dine-in order at 9:15pm. You will find us at 37 Macquarie Street, Windsor NSW 2756. Browse the dinner menu, then book a table so we can have a place ready for you. Call +61 2 4572 6465 or follow @redbridge_indian on Instagram. Whether it is a quiet dinner for two or a table of friends, we would love to have you.

By day, the cafe is open daily from 7am to 2:30pm.