Walk up past the revelry in Lan Kwai Fong along the brick and stucco Fringe Club to get to Ista, a restaurant with a mosaic bar and an alfresco terrace for shisha sessions. I went to this restaurant on a Thursday night by bringing a good Indian friend from primary school to test it out.
Ista offers an assortment of Indian food that includes soups, salads, appetizers, tapas (chicken, seafood, lamb, vegetarian), and a whole lot more. I find their menu very comprehensive and also indicates the spiciness of the dish and if it's suitable for vegetarians. The majority of the food is Indian but with touches from other Asian cuisines.
Ista has a spacious modern interior which surprisingly, doesn't feel Indian, except for the Bollywood house music. Tables are well-spaced, seats are plush, and there's a certain bit of intimacy to be said with the dim lights. We started with a traditional Indian lamb soup, the gosht goli shorba. It was hearty and savory and the lamb was really tender. I skipped the samosas, rotis and naans as I had plenty of that back in high school. The next dish was the murgh tikka chaat, which tasted similar to tandoori chicken and was very aromatic, enhanced by the chaat.
For the mains, we spared no expense and went with the classic full tandoori chicken. My friend noted that authentic tandoori chicken has to be marinated for at least 8 hours. The chicken was succulent and smoky and falls right off the bone. If I had to order only one dish from Ista, it would be this.
Overall, Ista is a great Indian restaurant and an authentic one at that. For those who want to come only for the shisha, the alfresco terrace is open everyday except Sunday from 5:30 in the afternoon until 11 in the evening. read more