Some kids grow up so fast. Little Cassia, Sid and Chand Sahrawat’s wunderkind modern Indian restaurant, has just turned 10 but has already moved out of home and got all sophisticated.

Cassia’s newish digs are a far cry from its previous home in the contemporary grunge of Fort Lane in downtown Auckland. It has moved up in the world – and gone up the hill – to find a new residency at SkyCity on Federal Street. 

So, on the occasion of its 10th birthday, I take a journey through India at a restaurant that has redefined Auckland’s idea of fine dining and modern non-Euro food. 

Cassia is regarded as one of the city's best restaurants. I carry a special affinity for Cassia, and its old location on Fort Lane, because the late Brian Gaynor used to occasionally shout the BusinessDesk team dinner there. He loved the place.  

 A roast cauliflower in makhani sauce with fried almond and fenugreek.

It’s the perfect spot to impress a date, which is unfortunate because I am here dining with BusinessDesk sales supremo Neil Jackson, who is a top bloke but also a frightening prospect for a snog at the end of an evening.

We’re shown to a cosy corner booth, which is magnificent because the half-enclosed space makes it easy to hear my friends.

At some stage, I make wistful googly eyes at Mr Jackson and he squirms uncomfortably, probably making a mental note to avoid future dinners.

We are offered the choice of two set menus or à la carte. We opt for the Journey through India menu, at $105 each, plus wine match at $85.

This ends up being a wise choice as there’s too much food and I am sure the larger Sid’s Voyage menu would have been cause for me to explode.

First up is a delightful pani puri – a deep-fried cup with chickpeas and potato. At the table, our waiter fills the pani puri with a refreshing mint sauce and instructs us to eat it in one bite. It is like a minty flavour explosion. Delicious.

 The wine matches included a glass of W&J Graham's 10-year-old tawny port poured from a five-litre bottle.  

This is helped along with the first drink – a Fragola Spritz, which has house-made strawberry shrub, prosecco, soda water and the liqueur Italicus.

This is followed by square cubes of deep-fried beef described as a lamb fritter with a green chilli and curry leaf emulsion. It is an Indian version of a beef croquette. The emulsion, complete with a dainty leaf on top, is a perfect counterbalance to the fattiness of the beef. 

Then three more dishes — tandoori hapuku with makrut lime, relish and saffron, a Hawke’s Bay lamb chop with leek ash and cream cheese, and a carrot. But not just any carrot. 

Neil says, “I don’t like carrot. But I would order this carrot.” 

It is topped with macadamia and cashew and you get the feeling someone started working on this carrot at 6 o’clock this morning, basting it exactly every 11 minutes with a specific mixture, and then slow-cooking it for 4 hours and 7 minutes exactly, etc, etc. It is so good it can’t just be a carrot. 

Just as I am starting to feel full, the mains arrive. A roast cauliflower in makhani sauce with fried almond and fenugreek is another vegetable revelation and a good reminder that curries do not need meat. 

A lamb seekh in Madras sauce is a little rich, and then crowd-pleasing tandoori chicken is presented in a Chettinad sauce with curry leaf.

But (sadly?) it is the naan that is the subject of conversation. It is fine, smothered in garlic butter and herbs. But here is the thing – there’s lots and lots of it. No skimping here.
 

Everyone hates it when you order pâté at a French restaurant and it arrives as a massive slab of mincemeat with only a few sliced baguette pieces. Cassia won’t do that to you. Cassia understands.

Before we even finish, the waitress offers more naan.

Dessert is a lot. The first course is a simple (pleasingly small) cone topped with a ball of glutinous ghulab jamun and pistachio. But then the coup de glace is a massive European-style mix of chocolate, honeycomb and other deliciousness that does me in.

It is accompanied by a glass of W&J Graham's 10-year-old tawny port effusively poured from a five-litre bottle. 

I think I might need a little rest. I think I’m going to fall over. 

I really like Cassia's vibe on a Wednesday night. The table near us – a mix of Indian and Pākehā – are celebrating a birthday, complete with a cupcake and the song. Other tables mostly seem to be friends catching up, and a couple of business dinners. It is relaxed, happy and well fed.

This new iteration of Cassia is slicker and less grungy than the old one. That basement on Fort Lane gave Cassia a lot of its personality, but it was also massively loud and, as we know now, it was prone to filling up with water and destroying itself. 

I’m glad Cassia is now atop a hill, and it remains near the top of Auckland’s fine-dining establishments. 

Even after 10 years, it is still fresh and delicious.

Cassia
SkyCity
90 Federal Street
Auckland CBD
Ph 09 379 9702
skycityauckland.co.nz/restaurants/cassia/
Lunch Friday noon to 2.30pm
Dinner Tuesday to Saturday 5pm to 9.30pm 

* All images: Matt Martel