Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Kings Indian, Parramatta

Well, if I thought I was a bad photographer after my recent dinner at East Ocean our visit to Kings Indian in Parramatta cemented this thought in my head once and for all.

After my East Ocean post, where I told a sob story of my photography woes,  I received great comments and helpful photography tips from readers and fellow bloggers on how to fall back in love with my poxy, stupid, evil, betraying Nikon D3000.

Armed with these tips & tricks I was feeling very chipper when The Boy and I settled into our seats at Kings Indian - ready to redeem YET ANOTHER meal deal voucher.  As an aside from my camera whinging (just for a second mind you), The Boy has decreed that I shall not be allowed to be in possession of any more than four meal deal vouchers at any one time - ah, never going to happen my friend?  Just saying!

This photo was taken at f/2.8, ISO 1600 and Shutter Speed of 1/15

We'd all established that I'd had the F Stop set too low at East Ocean (f/1.8), so I upped it a bit on this night, which did something wacky to the shutter speed - making it too slow for my shaky hands to hold. I turned up the ISO and "thought" I was getting great photos, but nearly 90% of those I took were too dark, blurry or just plain B.A.D!  To make matters worse Kings Indian was much much darker than East Ocean was. Argh!  Once again, I've try to adjust the colour of the photos in Picasa and crop them a little - they do look better than their original state...but not by much.

This photo was taken at f/1.8, ISO 1600 and Shutter Speed of 1/40
Our meal deal voucher included either a glass each of the house red or white wine.  Neither The Boy and I felt much like drinking wine, but were told we couldn't substitute the wine for soft drinks - interesting, as most other voucher deals don't mind this at all.  The wine was actually quite nice - crisp and dry, and I enjoyed drinking it.

This photo was taken at f/1.8, ISO 1600 and Shutter Speed of 1/30

The voucher allowed us to choose anything we liked from the menu - two entrees and two mains.  We had free reign of the menu and it took us AGES to decide what to order as everything sounded so nice. In the end we settled on two of our favourite entrees - Chicken Tikka and Tandoori Barah (Lamb) Kebab.  

We were impressed to see that the Chicken Tikka was free range (happy chickens - yay). The chicken had been marinated in yoghurt, "exotic spices", ginger and garlic then roasted in the tandoor oven. The meat was slightly charred in places and really flavoursome.  The Tandoori Barah Kebab, also marinated in spices and cooked in the tandoor, was amazingly juicy and tender - I adored these lamb cutlets and wish that we had received more than just one each.

This photo was taken at f/3.2, ISO 1600 and Shutter Speed of 1/5
The Boy was fixated on ordering his favourite Butter Chicken as one of the mains - until I pointed out we had the option of trying Butter Prawns - something which neither of us had ever sampled before.

This photo was taken at f/3.2, ISO 1600 and Shutter Speed of 1/10
I decided to go the vegetarian option as I really love Malai Kofta - a mild curry of cottage cheese croquettes mixed with potato, cashew nuts and spices.  We even spotted the odd raisin in the croquette which gave it a lovely sweet taste. The sauce is a smooth and luscious mix of cream, almond meal and crushed tomatoes. 

This photo was taken at f/2.8, ISO 1600 and Shutter Speed of 1/25
The meal also came with rice, as well as our choice of Garlic Naan or Plain Naan.  We decided to order one of each type of naan bread - just because we could. I really loved the way the Naan bread was slightly crisp, which made it perfect for dipping into the left over curry sauces.

This photo was taken at f/2.8, ISO 1600 and Shutter Speed of 1/25
This photo was taken at f/2.8, ISO 1600 and Shutter Speed of 1/25
Despite its dim light and my terrible photography, I really loved the food at Kings Indian. The restaurant is really just a 15 minute walk from our house and The Boy and I both agreed we'd be back sample more of their dishes...as soon as I've used up all my meal deal vouchers that is.

This photo was taken at f/2.8, ISO 1000 and Shutter Speed of 1/15 - in the rain, brrr.
Kings Indian is at 40 Phillip Street, Parramatta. Phone them on 9635 9677.

Kings Indian on Urbanspoon

18 comments:

  1. Hey Mel, loving your photos and slightly kicking myself for not getting the DSLR when it arrived at the store and going for my little Lumix. You just can't get the same depth of field with a non-changable lens. You are doing great! The action blur of the 3 girls in the last photo is fantastic too!

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  2. Sorry Mel -- I don't see what's wrong w/ them considering it's restaurant lighting. Just more post production work I would think!

    Let's get Raff & go to Mars Hill & I'll bring my laptop and we can look at some things if you want! heh.

    Yummy lookin food btw!! I like the photo of the wine.

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  3. I don't think those are terrible photos at all. Great dish choices, food looks tasty (although I prefer soft naan). How much did you pay, BTW?

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  4. I think the photos are great - don't beat yourself up over them!!!!

    Did you like the butter prawns?? I love them!

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  5. You're definitely being hard on yourself. It's always so hard to photograph in restaurants at night. I can't wait until Summer! :D

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  6. the photos look fantastic! you'll just get better and better over time :) and 4 vouchers at a time? your boy needs a slap!

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  7. Mel, your photos are great... Yummy Indian too! Hey, how come I am not on your blog roll? Teeheehee

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  8. hey your photos turned out great mel! ive never heard of butter prawns but sounds delish

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  9. I don't think these are bad photos either! They might not be the most ideal photo, but it always takes practice. Have you ever wondered why suddenly, after having an SLR for a couple weeks, all your photos seem not as nice the ones you used to take with your digital camera? That happened to me! I think when I got my SLR, I became a little lazier in thinking about all aspects of my photos, resting on the fact that, no matter what, the photos should turn out decent because of my awesome camera. Am slowly working to change that myself.

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  10. Awww, I really think you made the curries look good. I find curries very hard to make photogenic, and yours look excellent.

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  11. butter prawn omg... that like a dream come true.. im a big fan of butter chicken mmhh

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  12. hey miss piggy! i think your photos turned out great, it is always hard to shoot at night! i think you are being too hard on yourself :)

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  13. Photos look fine Mel! As Shaun said, it also has something to do with the available lighting.

    I am up for Mars Hill with you and Shaun on a Sat. We can share photography tips!

    Oh, and butter prawns sounds good!

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  14. I think you're being too hard on yourself :) some are a little blurry but others are really good! The curries look delish!

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  15. what are you talking about? your fotos look gre3at missy!

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  16. shuuussshhh! These photos are great. you are silly!

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