Mushkaan K Indian Gourmet, Huntingdale by Big Fil

It has a bit of a mixed reputation, and you can't take everything said on it as gospel, but if you're in an unfamiliar part of town and looking for somewhere to eat consulting Urbanspoon is a good place to start.  In particular it can put you onto those little neighbourhood gems that all the locals know but no one outside of the area has ever heard of.  That's how we found out about Muskaan K, a basic but tasty place at the end of Huntingdale shops. 

Visually everything about Muskaan K shouts generic suburban Indian restaurant.  It's ordinary looking on the outside, and very plain on the inside.  While service was friendly and attentive, based on first impressions I did wonder if this was one of those rare occasions when Urbanspoon was going to lead me astray.

Given that there were only two of us we were a bit limited on what we could order, two mains (one meat one veg), an entrée, some rice and a couple of naan.  Given Snooze's predilection for lentils, and that I'm also a fan of daal, in what was the dish of the day it was a creamy daal makhani for us.  Nothing particularly complex but nicely flavoured and well textured, filling and comforting.


From the specials on the wall we went for the goat curry.  It's a bit uncommon to see goat on the menu, and when done well I absolutely love it.  While the curry looked very similar to the daal in colour and texture, the herbs used (coriander I think) gave it a very different flavour.  I didn't think it was quite as good as the daal though, mainly because the meat wasn't as tender as it could have been.
To go with our curries we ordered a serve of the saffron rice, with fluffy and well separated grains of rice but not as fragrant as I would have preferred, good rather than great. 


The accompanying naan was nice when used to scoop up the rice and curry, although crisper and thinner than my preferred large and fluffy flat bread.


To finish on a good note, our chicken tikka arrived sizzling at the table.  Punchy with spices and not just chilli heat, the meat was tender and moist.  Snooze though had a few issues with this, as with the uncertainties of visiting somewhere new I'd ordered this as 'medium spicy'.  Medium spicy in this case meant exactly that and mild may have been more appropriate.





Overall
Nothing fancy, just a classic friendly family run suburban Indian restaurant serving better food than most at a good price.  Exactly the sort of place you want just down the road.

Verdict
Food - 7.5
Service - 7.5
Ambience - 5.5
Price - 7.5

Address
3/273 Huntingdale Road
Huntingdale VIC 3166
Tel: (03) 9544 9005