Royal Tandoor's Sydenham restaurant at 134 Colombo Street is the southern outpost of a Christchurch Indian restaurant family that has been cooking since 2008. It is led by proprietor Sudesh Kumar, who brings more than three decades of multi-national fine dining experience, and its kitchen of 5-star professional chefs works with fresh, quality ingredients and carefully sourced spices, with dishes customised to each guest's taste.
The menu covers the classics diners hope for — butter chicken, madras lamb, rogan josh, korma, khadai chicken and vegetarian staples like palak paneer — alongside starters such as onion bhajees, chicken tikka and lamb samosas, and fresh naans including a famously generous cheese and garlic version. Guests reviewing the branch repeatedly describe the food as truly authentic, with generous portions and friendly, attentive service.
Dine-in and takeaway are available seven nights a week from 4:30 pm to 9:30 pm, and the team also caters for parties, private events, weddings and corporate functions across Christchurch. A second branch operates in Shirley for those in the north of the city.
On Colombo Street in Christchurch's south, Royal Tandoor's Sydenham dining room turns out the kind of Indian food that prompts reviewers to write things like 'truly authentic — like India-India, not the India-NZ-customised type'. It's a bold standard, and one the restaurant has been holding itself to across two locations since 2008.
The person behind Royal Tandoor is proprietor Sudesh Kumar, whose culinary career began in the 1990s in fine dining, mastering traditional Indian cooking across multiple countries and cultures. When he opened the first Royal Tandoor in Christchurch in 2008, his vision was simple but ambitious: bring the authentic flavours of India to New Zealand without compromise. Spices are carefully sourced, recipes have been refined over decades, and the kitchen's 5-star professional chefs cook with fresh, quality ingredients.
Demand grew quickly enough that a second location was established in 2015, and today Sydenham and the Shirley branch in the city's north share the same philosophy. The restaurant's stated pillars are authenticity, excellence and community — the last of which shows up in how guests describe the service: welcoming, attentive, and quick to treat first-timers like regulars.
The butter chicken is the dish that appears again and again in guest reviews. One Sydenham diner admitted it 'blew my mind even though I'm not usually a fan' — high praise from a convert. The madras lamb has its own following for tender meat in a rich sauce with an incredible blend of spices, and the khadai chicken earns consistent mention for being perfectly spiced, with large chunks of chicken in every serve.
Vegetarians are well served here too. The palak paneer is repeatedly named a highlight, and among the starters, onion bhajees, chicken tikka and lamb samosas are the ones regulars keep ordering. Then there are the breads: garlic naan is described simply as divine, while the cheese and garlic naan is famously huge and flavourful — built for scooping up the last of a curry.
If your tastes sit outside the standard recipe, say so. The chefs customise each dish to your liking, heat tolerance and dietary preferences, which makes the menu genuinely flexible. The name itself nods to the tandoor, the traditional clay oven at the heart of much Indian cooking, and that spirit runs through the curries, breads and grills alike.
The Sydenham branch is open every evening of the week, from 4:30 pm to 9:30 pm, for both dine-in and takeaway. Ordering online or calling 03-982-2860 ahead means your food is ready fresh and piping hot. Guests ordering for groups consistently mention generous portions and great value combo deals, so a family feast is well within the kitchen's comfort zone.
Beyond the restaurant's four walls, the team caters for parties, private events, weddings and corporate functions, building menus around the same tandoor-and-curry repertoire. Reviews from larger orders note the kitchen handled a 'massive family feast' brilliantly, with consistent quality throughout.
Royal Tandoor Sydenham sits at 134 Colombo Street, Sydenham, Christchurch 8023, with the Shirley sibling at Shop 3, 137 Warrington Street for those further north. Walk-ins are welcome during opening hours, and first-time visitors would do well to follow the crowd: start with the bhajees or tikka, order the butter chicken or madras lamb with a cheese and garlic naan, and ask the kitchen to tune the spice to your taste. That, according to the regulars, is the way this place is meant to be eaten.