To much shock and dismay, Dorothy Lee and Jarrod Walsh closed their inner west institution, Hartsyard, in August this year. Now, for the good news. The dynamic duo has teamed up with chef Neville Dsouza (Yellow, Cirrus, Gowings at QT) to launch a modern Indian-inspired restaurant in the iconic Enmore space.

The new venue is named after Dsouza’s aunt Irene. “My aunt was the most influential person in my family in terms of cooking,” Dsouza tells delicious. “She would make these incredible family dinners. We would go back to her place after church and she would cook a whole meal for 20 of us, and she would do it all herself.”

The menu takes its inspiration from Dsouza’s Indian heritage and the dishes that he used to eat growing up. “At first, I just wanted to cook the food I like to eat, but the more I started developing the menu, the more Indian it became. It’s the food I grew up eating – flavourful, tasty, with lots of tamarind and spice.”

Diners can expect to find some pretty surprising subcontinental snacks on the menu, like the zucchini a la Bombay, a dish inspired by one of India’s most popular snack foods – vada pav. It’s recreated here using zucchini flowers stuffed with kipfler potato, black mustard seeds and curry leaves, served with a cooling mint and coriander mayo. 

For a taste of Irene’s home cooking, you’ll want to order the goat curry. “It comes from a handwritten recipe that Irene gave my mum and my mum gave to me. I haven’t touched it at all, it’s her exact recipe,” Dsouza says.  

A whole goat from Whole Beast Butchery will be broken down each week to make the family recipe, alongside other dishes like goat sausages and goat charcuterie.

Related news: Inner West institution Hartsyard closes its doors

To finish, you’ll want to order the falooda. The fragrant Indian dessert is traditionally made from a mix of nigella seeds, ice cream and fresh fruits, with Dsouza adding nutmeg custard, strawberry jelly and candied fennel to the mix. “I think everyone, no matter where you come from, had a version of this they ate growing up.”

Pair it with a wine or beer or try the boozy mango lassi spiked with yoghurt-washed rum.

Irene’s Enmore
33 Enmore Road, Newtown
Sun – Mon 6pm – 10pm, Thu – Sun 5pm – late
irenes.au

Related news: 10 of the best restaurants in Sydney’s Inner West