Dominion Road boasts a huge variety of ethnic restaurants, and Santhiya's waves the flag for South Indian & Malaysian cuisine. If one of you wants nasi goreng and the other is craving butter chicken, you've found the right place. But step outside of the usual fare & you'll find some real gems on this menu.
Santhiya's is not a pretty thing to behold, much like many of the ramshackle boxes which offer every possible Asian cuisine imaginable along this road. On Dominion Road, you never can be sure of what you are going to get in terms of hygiene quality, so it's always good to see Auckland Council's been and done their job and provided Santhiya's an A grading. The interior decor (if you can call it that!) doesn't rate so highly. The tables look more suited to being high school desks than something you'd eat off.
Luckily the food will take your mind off the walls. Delicious & authentic curries, light fluffy roti & the traditional array of accompaniments are served in decent portions. The goat curry is out of this world great. And on Sundays they do a Banana Leaf all you can eat deal for less than $20. BYO a nice bottle of wine & you've got yourself a damn cheap tasty feed.
There's a good range of light meals on the menu, and like any good Indian restaurant, vegetarians are well catered for. The staff are happy to explain more about any menu item, and my recommendation would be to take a punt & try something new. But order ahead of time if that "something new" is the Fish Head Curry.