Pinky Ji- Sydney CBD

89 York Street, Sydney 2000

Seeing another side to Indian casual dining!

I must admit, since Covid and a change in dynamics in our team at work, has definitely expanded my horizons of Indian culture. Before Covid, you go to work, you have some ‘water-cooler’ style conversations, but you rarely stop everything and just check-in on one another. But since Covid and working from home, we’ve been more intentional in checking in on each other, and since we have, I’ve gotten to know a lot more about my colleagues. As in the end, twice weekly we’ve been invited into each other’s homes, which in-turn results in people opening up about their lives. And in the past 2 years, our team dynamics have changed some-what, with 5 of our team of 9, now being guys & gals who grew-up in India.

So, over the past 24 months, I’ve learnt a lot more about the Indian culture, and what comes with culture is food! Yum! And on Wednesday, on our monthly day in our CBD office, we went out for a team lunch at Pinky Ji, which according to their website, is the latest venture of Jessi Singh.

Tucked away on York Street, is their basement restaurant- we literally walked right passed it and had to double back. Serving lunch only on Wed, Thurs and Fri, between 12noon-2pm, this did explain the long line waiting to be seated. And once we entered their premises and descended into the basement restaurant area, the smells of food made us all smile, and there were definitely some audible sounds of appreciation as well. *Smile*.

The décor was nothing like I’d ever experienced from an Indian restaurant. As the walls, hanging decorations and plush seating were all in pink, hence the name of the restaurant. We sat in a little knot of chairs, I had a plush corner chair, which felt more like chilling at home, than eating at an Indian restaurant.

My colleague always laughs at my inability to pronounce Indian names/words, or my general lack of knowledge of her culture, so I allowed her to order for me. But it wasn’t a difficult decision for the table, as we all went with their $20 Express lunch Thali, the only difficult choice to make was, did we want meat, vegetarian or vegan. But since more than half of us leaned towards the vegetarian option, I too followed and decided to go meat-less this afternoon.

So, as we waited for our food to arrive, we took in the ambiance of the restaurant. And as I mentioned before, this was like nothing I’d ever experienced from an Indian restaurant, and this time it was the music which set it apart from the rest. Throughout our time there, they were playing a 70s playlist, featuring artists like the Bee Gees, and other disco style music from my parent’s era. Which wasn’t a good or bad thing, but it was certainly different though. And on the walls, were old film posters, depicting heroes and heroines from famous Bollywood films from the 50s (according to one colleague). But as soon as our food arrived the table went silent as we dug in.

The Vegetarian Thali came with a piece of naan bread, 3 curries (Chana Masala (Chickpea curry), Dal (lentil curry), and Palak Paneer (spinach curry with cheese)), a small bowl of rice, and  a tub of Raita (yogurt). And with fingers, I tore up my narn and dipped it into my selection of curries. Yum! I usually have a habit of working in a clockwise manor around my food, if my food came in compartments. But as two of the curries had solids in them, and the Dal was a smooth solid-less curry, so I focused on dipping my naan into that one, intending to finish it first with all of my naan  before I cleaned my fingers and used a spoon to eat the other 2 curries with solids in them. As after all I was dressed in a suit jacket and could picture myself dropping chunks of food all over myself if I attempted to scoop up those curries with my naan. But my colleagues around me were unaware of my strategy to finish my naan first, before with clean fingers I would progress to the rest of my meal. So, when I finished my last bight of naan, they ordered a basket of additional naan for the table, while my colleague leaned in and told me:

“We noticed how you’ve already finished all of your naan and you still have so much curry to go, so we’ve ordered more naan for the table.”

Oops! They thought I was a glutton and needed more carbs to quench my bottomless hunger. And as they waited for the fresh basket of naan, I was also reminded that I still had a small bowl of rice, and then I ended up eating my rice plain, as I also envisioned myself making an embarrassing mess if I attempted to mix in my curries with my rice. Probably again, that looked weird to my Indian colleagues. Oh! How embarrassing.

So, we all had seconds of naan, I still wasn’t game enough to try scoop up the chickpeas or cheese with it, but I managed to consume it all, separate from one another, with minimal mess…. So I thought. Until my colleague leaned in towards the end, and told me that I’d better give my sleeves a clean when I got home, as I was dragging them through my curries each time I was reaching for my naan. O-God! Swallow me up! Save me from this embarrassment!

So, yeah, a nice lunch with my colleagues. A bit bittersweet though, as with all things at work, nothing stays the same forever. And one of them (or potentially a few of them) are finishing up with our team this month, so it was a bit of a farewell lunch, celebrating friendships which had developed over a strange time in all our lives, during Covid lock-down and now years of limited human interaction due to WFH. So, here’s to the good times, while they lasted!

My end verdict for the experience? 4.0 from 5! 2.5 from 3 for the food (everything was tasty, but the naan portion was a bit small, considering it had to soke-up all the curries); 0.5 from 0.5 for Service (all of the staff were efficient and polite and they even allowed split bills!); 0.5 from 0.5 for Atmosphere (the whole vibe was very cool and very Sydney CBD!); and 0.5 from 1.0 for Value for money (I think until inflation is under-control, I’ll keep giving the 0.5 score, as $22 for lunch without drinks is a bit steep).

Pinky Ji – Wednesday 2 August 2023.

https://www.pinkyji.com.au/

The Basement, 89 York Street, Sydney 2000

0291888848

EMAIL:

Lunch: Wed – Fri 12noon – 2pm

Dinner: Mon – Sun 5pm onwards.