Four-Square(d)

Four years have lapsed since our last visit to the cougar infested concrete jungles of Merivale. A late venue change through a rare act of benevolence by HRH Maharaja, saw us kick things off at Sprig + Fern where the focus is more on fermentable tastiness and less on fake tan. The Maharaja also dished out further favours to his loyal curryistas with a fresh shipment of RCCC merch, with the absent members’ garments anointed with his special scent for their olfactory pleasure. Adorned in the new gear the throng of 16 made their way to Indian Zaika for more mayhem and merriment.

For the record, Indian Zaika now has a booze licence. While this means wall-to-wall Kingfisher was the order of the day for our latest visitation, it was kind of fun on our previous visit having to trudge to the local supermarket and choose your own. This did lead to five-finger discount allegations for one member – not true by the way – it was just a misunderstanding but it was a source of much mirth and ribbing for quite a while.

Four dishes from our latest visit were particularly noteworthy: Matter Mushroom, great but could do with less peas and more mushrooms. Cheese and Garlic naan, very good. Prawn Malabari, unusual menu item but well worth trying something different. Aloo Parantha, stuffed full of goodness. There were a couple mentions about portion size being a bit on the small size but the heat factor was universally agreed to be on the hot side – which is excellent.

For future reference, the service was a bit haphazard, and a great game of curry lottery ensued when the food did arrive. No-one really minded as fresh beers kept appearing on the table and eventually everyone got their correct curry…probably. KS got the CoTM award failing to pitch up due to a RWC related affliction for while SC received the FOMO trophy for something that is lost to the mists of time. Always a great outing to Merivale and Indian Zaike – we’ll be back!

Service: 3.4/5

Food: 4.4/5

Total: 7.8/10

Indian Zaika, 178A Papanui Rd