Video
Introduction
設有酒吧及酒廊的高級印度菜餐廳，樓上陽台亦可供露天用餐，菜單靈感來自印度街頭美食，包括小吃(Tapas)及卡巴(Kebabs)，配以沙律、米飯、麵包。
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Opening Hours
Dinner: 18:30 - 23:00；Bar：12:00 - 15:00；17:30 - 23:30；Terrace：18:00 - 23:00
Above information is for reference only. Please check details with the restaurant.
Signature Dishes
Have not written food reviews for quite a while, but Ista really made me feel that I should say something for it as what I got that day was totally beyond my expectations.It's my first time there and I went there for the restaurant week menu. Since it's lunch, it came with a buffet. I did not expect much as firstly I am not a keen buffet eater, secondly Ista does not charge high for the lunch buffet. I read the menu before I made the reservations, the menu said it's a simple Indian buffet with a few vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. And I checked the reviews on Openrice, most of them are positive, so I gave it a try.When I got there, it's around 12:30. There was only one table occupied in the restaurant. It's very spacious with modern decor. We were greeted and led to a window-seated table overlooking Wyndham Road. Then the waiter asked if we wanted mango lassi or soft drinks which were included in the buffet price. Both my husband and I chose to have lassi. A few minutes later, the lassi came and it tasted really good. We then went out to check at the buffet tables. All the foods were arranged nicely in different tables along the windows in the other side of the room. They did not offer a big variety, but it was more than enough for lunch. At the salad table, there were Aloo Chaat, fresh salad, Papadum, 6 dishes of indian condiments and some mini lassi-like drinks. For hot dishes, there were Spinach Pakora, Pahaari Tikka, Veggi Spring Rolls, Lamb Rogan Josh, Fish Fry, Aloo Mutter, Kadai Chicken, Dal Panchrangi, Paneer Butter Masala, Corn Palak, and have Saffron Rice and Basmati Rice to go with them. A basket of freshly baked naans was served at the table and could be refilled if needed. For Dessert, there were nicely arranged fruit platter, Gulab Jamun and Kesari Raas Malaai.I am quite a picky person, but the foods overall were good and yummy. I don't fancy Indian desserts usually, but the one I tried that day, the Kesari Raas Malaai that is cottage cheese dumplings in saffron infused milk & cream was delicious, not too sweet.Overall I am happy with the whole buffet lunch from table settings, food presentation and arrangement, and envirnoment. One thing I have to say is, the service there was excellent. The waiters and waitresses there were nice and helpful, and most importantly they were wearing sincere smiles. It made me feel that we were really welcome.
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Hong Kong isn't short of Indian Cuisine for dining options. LKF and Soho have countless Indian Cuisine dining options, all with well priced lunch options.I've been to Ista a few times now but I'd thought I'd write a review based on the following recent piece of news:- The management has changed hands. The new manager in there previously worked at Jashan and has pledged to his customers (or at least he was trying to sell me) that they are investing funds to upgrade the lighting and the are increasing the variety of options in the lunch buffet.Review:Lunch Buffet: $118 HKD + 10% = 129.80 = $130 HKD all inPrice to performance on this buffet is good. There are a few cold options such as a simple green salad, Indian Condiments, pickles, raita, and a daily cold appetizer dish. Next they offer two hot appetizers which usually rotates between, some lamb kebab meat, some grilled chicken meat, some form of crispy deep fried white fish, crispy battered vegetables or onions.Moving on to the curries, they usually have two meat curries, two to three vegetable options, a creamy lentil curry, basmati/saffron rice, and last but not least a milky dessert + fruit platter.They bring both plain and garlic Naan bread to the table along with a drink of your choice. Lime soda, regular soda, mango lassi, ice tea...are just a few of the options available.In short, the variety and quality is very decent for lunch and the quality is apparant.The Environment:I was concerned to note that rarely anyone was in the dining room during lunch. This suggests their promotion/marketing tactics are poor and they aren't getting customers through the door. I would have expected them to send some poor lackie down the street to push clients up for lunch....The interior is very clean and the table settings are all linen and white cloth with proper porcelin plates and glassware. The Taste:The taste is good. I quite enjoy all their dishes with the exception of the mixed green salad. The salad is rather standard fare but they have two dressing options. One being asian based and another being olive oil and lemon juice + herbs. The mix ratio is pretty bad on this as it is majority olive oil.The hot food items are all very delicious but I do suspect that they prepare the food with monosodium glutamate. I found my mouth very parched after, along with a sore neck. Later in the afternoon, I had a hard time staying awake at work due to the food comma induced by MSG. The fruit platter could be improved as they generally always have 3 types of fruit. Papaya, Grapes, and Watermelon. The fruit itself isn't chilled as it sits out on a regular platter near the end. I do suggest that they should improve this by at least chilling the platter or even just mixing it up into a bowl to form a fruit salad type option.Conclusion:Would I come back? yes, absolutely as I have already. I am concerned by amounts of MSG they use in the food, I do realize that this is an unfounded claim; however, body reactions and symptomps tend not to lie.If you want a high quality lunch in a nice environment AND you dont need to concentrate much in the afternoon, definetly Ista is worth a go.
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I had been to this restaurant before when they had a set lunch and thought it was very tasty. Now I saw that it had a lunch buffet for $118 so I thought I would try it again.The space is big and each table is quite spread out, not like your typical indian place which packs in as many tables as possible.There were a few other tables but the restaurant was not full, which is odd since the other indian places on Wyndham/Hollywood are packed for lunch. I was hoping it was because people didn't know about the buffet rather than it was bad or had limited selection. My hopes were answered by the food and then some. The selection was pretty standard with a variety of lamb, chicken, and vegetarian mains. However they also had dahi puri (a delicious veg. street food) and a crispy fried prawn dish. I have never had prawn in another indian buffet so I was very pleasantly surprised.More than the variety though was the taste. The taste was definitely a cut above the other indian buffet restaurants in the area. Usually I only find 1 or maybe 2 dishes out of the selection worth going back for but so many of the items here were so good I completely over ate. Of special mention were the crispy fried prawns and the paneer makhani, a rich tomato based curry with cheese curds. Every restaurant makes this but the Ista one was excellent.In comparing Ista to similar offerings, it was the same price, but better quality & taste. This will definitely become my go to indian lunch buffet.
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不少人聽到食正宗印度菜都曬手擰頭,因為大部份人第一反應是印度餐要用手食嘅,咪喇!一唔係就話印度菜咪就係食咖喱,唔喇!再唔係正宗印度菜要去比較複雜的重慶大厦,唔好攪我!其實食正宗印度菜唔洗用手食喇,而且印度菜除了咖喱還有不少菜色啊!最重要係正宗印度菜唔一定要去重慶啦 Smile今日小懶貓來到中環雲咸街29号東方有色大廈2樓ista Bar & Grillista Bar & Grill 榮獲2012年香港及澳門最佳食府設計及裝橫相當高級時尚有氣派唔講係印度餐廳真的以為去了西餐廳假如想跟三五知己把酒談心,這個小小角落是不錯的選擇也可以試下加入不同口味印度水煙喔!酒廊裝修設計雖然了帶點西化,但伴着最新的Bollywood music非比較大聲的India dance music,充滿着印度氣氛走到餐廳的左手面.可見華麗的用餐處完全沒有一貫印度餐廳的濃烈香料味LASSI 是北印度非常有名的乳酪飲料而這杯正宗的Mango & Ginger Lassi ,甜甜酸酸的,亦帶有一點點咸味和薑味淡淡的芒果味夾着香滑奶酸味,真的百感交集,頗有特式的一杯!以下落黎小懶貓會介紹三款素食頭盤第一味 Paani PooriPanni Poori 外型十分可愛,圓圓的香脆空心薄壁,內配薯仔蓉和黑豆子食法也十分好玩,將酸甜醬汁和特殊香料水倒進洞裡,再一口品嚐它 ! 超好味Vegetable Samosa 印度蔬菜咖喱角圓鼓鼓的咖喱角鬆脆可口,完全不油膩~用刀义切開已感到一股熱氣湧出,熱騰騰的薯仔,胡椒及雜菜餡料加上濃濃咖喱咪充斥整個口腔!實在回味再回味~Chaman Seekh Kebab茅屋芝士配切粒青椒,最佳配搭要說是薄荷醬了香港人大部份人都無肉不歡接下來介紹兩款肉食前菜小食~Lassoni Chicken Tikka傳統的印度烤雞胸豐富的印度香料汁帶出雞胸的味道.雖然是雞胸肉但卻沒有絲毫"鞋"口感Boti Kebab用印度香料醃製成的去骨羊肉羊羶味不重,小懶貓喜歡 Smile嚐過咁多款前菜小食,係時候讓3款主菜上場了Dal makhani牛油,香料,鮮忌廉,蕃茄,蒜蓉及黑扁豆用慢炭火炆,香料味强並散發濃濃的豆香,豆不會太腍還保留咬口配印度烤餅(naan)簡直一流!Murg Makhani即係印度非常有名的Butter Chicken !!叫得做Butter Chicken,材料當然有牛油啦加入tandoori paste去煮蕃茄,酸奶,洋蔥和紅糖最後不少得咖喱啦 Smile鮮橙紅色的汁比較杰,雞塊十分嫩滑,咖喱汁不太辣甜甜的也不太重口味Saag Paneer Adraakhi茅屋芝士加幼滑菠菜肉汁煮成,一向抗拒食菠菜的小懶貓也覺得非常之好味除了配烤餅,胡椒脆餅也不錯吃假如食到好飽但又想試甜品?ista 實在很周到,設有Dessert Platter!Kulfi雖然是雪糕但無蛋無忌廉,用極濃縮的牛奶雪凍而成帶有複雜的香料香味以及甜甜的Gajjar Ka Halwa 薄荷甘筍用紅蘿蔔鮮忌廉及奶製成的甜品十分特別,不太甜,無試過的話不妨試試Kesari Raas Malai用藏紅花,麵粉及奶調配而成就有點點煉奶味道Gulab Jamun印度語是玫瑰果子,用白糖豈蔻改瑰水再加奶和麵粉,搓成球狀再炸至金黄色,配改瑰糖水,軟糯甜甜的!假如喜歡甜姐兒的話,你必定愛 XD
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http://www.ista.com.hk/index.html <- click for website and promoshttp://www.ista.com.hk/pdf/ista_food_menu.pdf <- a la carte menu.I am developing an queer affinity towards Indian food. After Noble Spice, I've been much more willing and eager to try Indian restos in HK. I'm not a big fan of spicy foods but not all Indian food is spicy. Spiced, yes, but not all spicy. Some of the spices, like cumin and tamarind, actually taste quite nice. Training my tastebuds to accept more flavours. Environment:Serene and quiet. I guess the ambiance causes diners to talk in low voices. We got a nice seat by the windows(at the far end of the photo). Loved the lighting. Service:Excellent service - hallmark of indian hospitality. In fact I enjoyed the service at every Indian resto I visited recently - Jashan, Noble Spice, Central Indian, and Ista. We got a complimentary mango lassi! Food:Fair-priced set lunch. Not cheap but a fair Central price. Would pay that much for the nice environment! Complimentary mango lassiNot very fragrant and a bit too watery - personally like the one at Noble Spice more. It was thicker and more fragrant. Soup and saladThe vegetable soup was also, neither here nor there. Not watery like Chinese soups, but not as thick as a good borsch soup can be. Somewhere in between. Bleargh. It was slightly sour and I suspect a bit of tomato in it. I'm not even sure if its' a tomato soup because it's got some other flavour. Wouldn't have ordered this. Chicken tikka kathi roll with papadaum and salad $98 I quite enjoyed the roll. I love carbs and this roll was more doughy and substantial than naan. The yoghurt coriander dressing used to bring everything together slightly put me off (only coz i don't like coriander). Normally I would've taken pains to flick out each and every strand of coriander but I tried to eat it today. I managed to swallow. Chicken curry with basmati rice, dal, naan, kachumber salad, papadaum, raita $118J ordered this. I remember trying a bit of chicken curry and finding it quite pleasant. The chicken wasn't undercooked (which happens quite easily) and the curry was quite intense despite being quite thin. I was used to thicker curries such as the Japanese type but am discovering the merits of a thinner curry - which you could easily drizzle over rice, and provide a dipping sauce for naan. I like the thin coating of flavour over the carb - doesn't have to be thick! Conclusion:Really nice environment for lunch, as mentioned. The food is alright but you can get a better deal elsewhere in the vicinity - buffet lunches at around the same price. But of course it is unnecessary to gorge on food - just saying, guys might be happier having buffet elsewhere. So...probably won't be back soon, because there are better choices nearby. But this place really is not bad. Come for the environment, quietness and space.
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