Cassia restaurant is on the move. Kim Knight finds out where you\u2019ll need to go for your next Mughlai lamb chop fix.<\/p>\n
Sid Sahrawat is taking his tandoor oven to the suburbs.<\/p>\n
\n Cassia \u2013 the restaurant that introduced modern Indian dining to Auckland \u2013 is shifting from SkyCity to a
\n temporary home in Grey Lynn.\n <\/p>\n
Sahrawat will run the restaurant as a Tuesday to Saturday night residency at Ozone Coffee from June 17, until a move back into the city later this year, in a new site currently under development on the corner of Albert and Wyndham streets.<\/p>\n
The chef, who owns Cassia and The French Cafe with his wife, Chand, is embracing his stint in the suburbs \u2013 and the highly visible central cooking station that is a feature of the Ozone layout.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis kitchen is probably the most open we\u2019ve ever worked in,\u201d Sahrawat told Viva.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really embracing it. We\u2019re installing a traditional tandoor oven into the space … guests will be able to see the team working the tandoor, finishing dishes over grills and plating in real time. There\u2019s a real sense of theatre to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndian cooking is incredibly sensory, and we think the smell of spices, smoke and the tandoor will instantly create an atmosphere that draws people in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sahrawat says the Grey Lynn space is large enough to accommodate the scale of Cassia, and the open-plan layout lends itself to the style of food and service he wants to deliver.<\/p>\n
Cassia’s Auckland-famous Mughlai lamb chops will be on the menu when the restaurant moves from SkyCity to a temporary residency at Ozone Coffee in Grey Lynn.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe residency at Ozone gives us the opportunity to keep creating and stay connected with diners while we build towards our forever home in the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re excited to bring Cassia into a neighbourhood setting, and become part of the local rhythm for the area, even if only for a short time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cassia regulars won\u2019t notice menu changes (the lamb chops and mushroom stir fry remain), but two crossover dishes have been created \u2013 a daytime kebab featuring Cassia naan and tandoor chicken and Ozone\u2019s preserved lemon coconut dressing, and a house-made feta using milk that would otherwise go to waste. From 5pm, when Cassia takes over, there will be a chocolate kulfi dessert incorporating an Ozone Coffee ganache.<\/p>\n
Cassia co-owner and executive chef Sid Sahrawat flanked by his head chef Ketan Joshi (right) and Ozone’s head chef Karol Troncoso. <\/p>\n
Sahrawat says there are some \u201clovely existing connections\u201d between the cafe and restaurant \u2013 Ozone\u2019s head chef Karol Troncoso and chef de partie Vai Kapoa have previously worked with the Cassia team.<\/p>\n
Cassia opened in a basement space in Fort Lane in 2014, relocating to SkyCity after the 2023 Auckland Anniversary weekend floods.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for SkyCity said there were no confirmed plans for the space Cassia would vacate after its final Federal St service on June 5. Last month it was reported that the building housing the restaurant \u2013 and the 312-room The Grand by SkyCity hotel \u2013 was for sale.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Sahrawat promises the new, purpose-built Albert St restaurant, due to open later this year, will be Cassia\u2019s \u201cmost ambitious chapter to date\u201d.<\/p>\n
More Auckland food and drink<\/p>\n
Where to eat, what to drink and how to take the perfect picture of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cassia restaurant is on the move. Kim Knight finds out where you\u2019ll need to go for your next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[165145,90267,17379,11424,3597,71,52088,13635,44405,232487,2683,8599,232488,5971,111,43,139,1536,69,25276,2539,168163,168161,8529,61,540,15411,1959],"class_list":["post-457604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-cassia","tag-chop","tag-coffee","tag-finds","tag-fix","tag-from","tag-grey","tag-knight","tag-lamb","tag-lynns","tag-move","tag-moves","tag-mughlai","tag-need","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-next","tag-nz","tag-ozone","tag-restaurant","tag-sahrawat","tag-sid","tag-skycity","tag-to","tag-where","tag-youll","tag-your"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}