Madam Ji Grand Opening

Overview

An unusually high number of hospitality venues have been shutting up shop in Sydney of late, which is all the more reason to celebrate the opening of a new one. The team at Madam Ji, Darlinghurst's colourful new contemporary Indian diner, is getting the party started on the restaurant's opening night with $5 cocktails, from 5pm until close on Friday, July 5.

Eight marvellous mingles are on Madam Ji's signature cocktail list, including some theatrical showstoppers like the Smokin' Banana, which combines rum, banana liquor and cardamom and is served under a smoke-filled glass cloche, and the Miss Rebellious, which features a fruity mix of banana rum, mango purée and coconut cream, served in a mist-filled coconut shell.

If you're peckish, you can also get your fill of delicious pani puri bombs — crispy shells of fried semolina with a spicy filling — for just $2 each all night. But if you can't make it for this debut shindig, you can also book a table for Madam Ji's bottomless brunch, which pairs a multi-course menu of the restaurant's top dishes with free-flowing house wines for two hours for $79 per person, or with free-flowing cocktails for $99 per person.

Madam Ji is the passion project of lifelong friends and hospo veterans Rakshit Sondhi and Maninder Singh, who were born in India but learned the tricks of their trade in top Sydney venues and hotels. The restaurant's a la carte menu mixes tried-and-true favourites and radical fusions, ranging from classics like butter chicken and biryani to inventive riffs like creamy burrata spiked with spicy tadka and kingfish ceviche dressed with curry leaf oil.

Images: Katje Ford