As “unauthentic” Indian restaurant that sadly falls short on execution.
Food ★★☆☆☆
Service ★★☆☆☆
Environment ★★☆☆☆
Cost $$---
On my weekend getaway to Adelaide I was excited to visit some of the unique restaurants that the city has to offer. I love a quirky places and takes on traditional cuisine, so when I stumbled across Daughter in Law I thought I'd hit the jackpot as it ticked both boxes.
The restaurant is a crazy mix of colours that you can stare at for hours and still find something to feast your eyes on. It makes me feel like I'm staring at a kaleidoscope - but I'm not upset about this.
They've paired it with booming ’90s tracks that would make anyone want to get up and move, which admittedly gives the place a confused environment.
The staff were friendly, but you could definitely tell there were two camps; those who were switched on and the space cadets (i.e. those whose minds were floating out in space). At one point during our dinning experience we had been waiting a while for our next course, we notified a space cadet only to see our concern float into the deep black hole behind his eyes. Needless to say we sort out another staff member who had a more immediate hustle. I would rate the service as generally flustered and disorganized.
We opted for the Tasting Menu which gave us a total of 5 courses.
Course 1: Balls of Happiness
In my research around what restaurants to tick off in Adelaide I saw these spoke highly of, advertised as the best thing on the menu. Naturally, I was exciting to try something so heavenly myself. Presented beautifully, we’re told to make sure we eat them in one bite so the filling doesn’t explode. This was definitely one of those #ChallengeAccepted moments as they are a little bit big for one bite. Personally, I'm not sure if I'd rave about them to anyone.
Course 2: Hiramasa Kingfish Ceviche
Once again beautifully presented is their take on kingfish ceviche in a lime coconut sauce with pickled jalapeno and slices of radish for crunch. The sauce itself is similar to a thick soup consistency and comes at room temperature. It was nice, although I'd opt for the more traditional citrus kingfish ceviche based on flavour profiles as I found it lacking.
Course 3: Colonel Tso's Cauliflower
There's definitely a theme of on point presentations. Whilst many would think cauliflower is boring and hard to work with, they shined with this dish. I would almost rate it as the winning dish on the set menu. Don't be fooled though, it's not deep friend crunchy. Instead it is covered in an amazing spicy sauce which is to die for.
Course 4: Tandoori Chicken
This is a stock standard dish in Indian cuisine. The flavour was as expected, no surprise there thankfully. I am particular about how my chicken is cooked, as it's a chore to eat if dry. I would dare to say that the chicken was a bit on the dry side. The sauces go a long way to help with this.
Course 5: Shared Curries platter served with rice and naan
When I was looking through their instagram page this is the dish that really got my attention and made me pull the trigger with booking a table. On our platter we had butter chicken, lamb rogan josh, vegan yellow dhal, aunty dhal, raita and rice. The curries all tasted individually different and packed their own punch, which is an under rated win. Out of all the options the lamb rogan josh had a delectable spice that lit my fire and the aunty dhal a deep rich earthy flavour which filled me in happiness. The vegan yellow dhal, meh. The naan had no shortage of garlic so be ready to brush your teeth multiple times before bed.... or may your partner enjoy the morning after breath!
Final conclusions
Unauthentic Indian is the self-declared motto of this chef and restaurant - I agree and I'm not sure it works. I'd suggest finding a traditional and authentic Indian restaurant that isn't trying to be the cool hip child as every dish will hit hard.
Address: 290 Rundle Street, Adelaide, 5000
Opening hours: 7 days from 5 pm
Contact: https://www.daughterinlaw.com.au/
Also, their booking policy is that if your party is six people or more you have to have the 'Feed Me' menu option. At $65 per person that us quite steep. And although the food was nice, it certainly was not exceptional and certainly did not warrant the high price tag.