Curry Time is an Indian restaurant and takeaway on Main North Road in Redwood, Christchurch, open seven days a week across two services — lunch from 11.30am to 2pm and dinner from 4.30pm to 9pm. It's a place built around the rhythm of its suburb: a sit-down dining room for unhurried evenings, a busy lunch takeaway window, and online ordering for both.
The menu runs the full length of a classic Indian restaurant list. Appetisers like vege samosas and onion bhaji lead into the mains, with a dedicated seafood section, rice dishes, a corner of the menu marked 'For Veggie Lovers', breads, side dishes, desserts and drinks. The tandoor does heavy lifting, turning out chicken tikka, boti kebab and tandoori chicken, and there's a Kids Specials section for younger diners.
For groups, the banquet menu takes the guesswork out of ordering: a shared appetiser spread, a main of choice, naan, basmati rice and a dessert, all served with raita and mango chutney, with a minimum of two people. Tables can be booked through the website, and the team can be reached by phone or email for anything else.
On a stretch of Main North Road in Redwood, Curry Time goes about the steady business of being a proper neighbourhood Indian restaurant. The doors open every day of the week, in two familiar waves: lunch from 11.30am to 2pm, and dinner from 4.30pm to 9pm. Whether you're pulling up a chair in the dining room or collecting a bag from the takeaway counter, the rhythm is simple — the kitchen is on when you need it, midday to mid-afternoon and again into the evening.
The restaurant also keeps a full online ordering system on its website, so the whole menu — from the dine-in list to the dedicated lunch takeaway — can be built from the couch and simply collected in person.
Curry Time's menu is arranged the way regulars like to read it: appetisers first, then the mains, a seafood section of its own, rice dishes, a corner of the menu marked 'For Veggie Lovers', and then the supporting cast — breads, side dishes, desserts and drinks. There's a dedicated Kids Specials section too, which tells you a lot about the sort of tables the restaurant sets: family ones.
The appetiser list is where most meals here begin. Vege samosas and onion bhaji are the classics, while the tandoor turns out chicken tikka, boti kebab and tandoori chicken — that charred-edged, spice-marinated cooking that anchors a good Indian menu. From there the mains take over, with the breads and rice dishes on hand to soak everything up, and desserts and drinks to round the table off properly.
For tables that would rather not do the arithmetic, the banquet menu does the deciding for you. Each diner gets the appetiser spread — two vege samosas apiece plus onion bhaji, chicken tikka, boti kebab and tandoori chicken to share — then chooses any main from the menu, seafood excepted. Plain or garlic naan and basmati rice come alongside, and any dessert from the menu finishes things off. Every banquet meal is served with raita and mango chutney, and the format asks for a minimum of two people.
It's a genuinely practical setup for family dinners, work shout-outs and birthdays alike: everyone eats well and nobody has to negotiate over the last naan.
The split service suits the suburb. The midday window feeds the lunch takeaway crowd — order online, swing by, get back to the day — while the evening service stretches to 9pm for a more unhurried sit-down. If you'd rather lock in a table, there's a booking page on the website, and the gallery offers a look at the plates and the room, from mixed platters to the bar and the dining space set for a booking.
Vegetarians get a whole section of their own rather than a token dish or two — 'For Veggie Lovers' sits alongside the seafood list, which gives fish and seafood fans something beyond the standard curry rotation. And because the banquet format insists on a dessert course, the sweet end of the menu is treated as part of the plan rather than an afterthought.
Curry Time sits at 284A Main North Road in Redwood, Christchurch, with the phone on 03 3545485 and an inbox at [email protected]. The restaurant keeps a presence on Facebook and Instagram and collects reviews on TripAdvisor.
Open seven days, lunch and dinner, dine-in and takeaway, banquets and kids' specials — it covers the ground a neighbourhood asks of its local curry house, on a schedule that's easy to remember. Just note the afternoon gap between services, and book ahead if you're bringing a crowd.