Digress, Civic

The concept of 'fusion' food makes me a little nervous at the best of times and it's hard to conjure up two cuisines less likely to 'fuse' successfully than those of India and Italy. So it was a sense of morbid curiosity and foreboding that I descended the carpeted stairs into the underground dining room of 'Digress', an Indian/Italian-fusion restaurant and tapas/cocktail bar in Civic.

The website boasts that the Indian-Italian concept is "something never before Australia wide" which will  produce "unimaginable flavours" and will "take you in a new direction". Hmmm, so I guess it could go either way. 
In a weird way, I kind of like the stone lions and glass chilli chandelier that greet you at the entrance, but the rest of the decor doesn't do a lot to ease the mind. 

Downstairs, the purple neon lights from the adjoining tapas/cocktail bar flicker through into the also purple-themed restaurant, where fake flowers and a TV playing Bollywood movies grace the walls. Still, we can't helped be taken by the warm greeting at the door, and the charm and genuine enthusiasm of the floor staff doesn't waiver all night.
The menu offers dishes with varying degrees of fusion - some, like aloo tikki and garlic naan, are straight Indian, while others, like penne arrabbiatta, would be at home on any Italian restaurant menu. But it's the third type - the true fusion dishes - that we're here (we think, for Canberra standards, rather courageously) to try.

So on that note, we start with paneer and mozzarella fritters, which are served with a jalapeño aioli. Shaped like logs and crumbed, they're more like croquettes than fritters. Their flavour is mild, and I can't detect the roasted cumin or coriander mentioned on the menu, so the spicy aioli provides a welcome and hefty kick. The filling has a pleasantly smooth, oozing texture - more mozzarella than paneer - though the crusts could be a little more crunchy and golden.

Paneer and mozzarella croquettes

Next comes sun-dried tomato naan, which is soft and pillowy, but the tomatoes seem to be there more for the sake of adding something different than improving it, and I can't help thinking that India got it right long ago with the garlic version.

Sun-dried tomato naan

Our first main is a Digress speciality - tandoori chicken penne. Tandoori chicken has been re-invented as an ultra-creamy pasta sauce, with chicken pieces, shallots and capsicum strips. It has a rich, but balanced flavour, however it's ladled a little too heavily onto the pasta, which can't soak it up properly and is left drowning. I guess - trying to be open-minded - there's nothing inherently wrong with the concept of an Indian-style sauce on pasta, but I can't help thinking it would have been better served on plain old rice.

Tandoori chicken penne

Finally, there's the Khadai paneer pizza, which sees a traditional Indian dish de-constructed as a pizza topping - a brightly coloured combination of paprika-coated paneer, capsicum, onion, tomato and coriander. The base is good - thin and crisp with the right amount of give, and the topping is enjoyable enough, though despite what the colour of the paneer suggests, it doesn't taste particularly 'Indian'. I'd eat it again, but I wouldn't seek it out.

Khadai paneer pizza

It's easy to be cynical of a concept like Digress, and for full disclosure, I was leading the charge. I tried it because we need restaurants which are willing to try new things (who, other than Roy Choi, would have thought Korean tacos would be a winner). However, the point of fusion cooking is to take the best elements of different cuisines and create something that's even better than the sum of its parts, and with that in mind, Indian/Italian-fusion has a way to go.


Digress
11 Akuna Street, Canberra City, 2601
Ph: (02) 6248 6952