The last ten years of Australian dining have been quietly shaped by Indian food. Indian takeaway has replaced Chinese takeaway in most Australian households. Butter chicken has become the lasagne of the suburbs. A proper biryani shows up at Saturday dinner parties next to a roast chicken and no one blinks.
And yet we are still pouring the wrong things.
The automatic Australian reaction to Indian food is to grab a lager, which is fine, or a Shiraz, which is a tragedy. Red wine and curry is mostly a fight. The tannin clashes with the cream, the alcohol amplifies the chilli, and the whole thing ends up tasting metallic. Try it tonight and trust me the next day when you promise never to do it again.
The correct answers are a gin and tonic, an off-dry Riesling, or a cold Indian lager. None of them are fancy. All of them are right. Here is why.
The drinks that go with this food
Forget the Shiraz. Indian food wants botanicals, bubbles, or off-dry acid. These three are the working backbone of any Indian dinner at home.
Cocktail · Gin
The gin and tonic
The greatest curry pairing of all time, and the one that started in India 200 years ago. Botanicals echo the spice rack.
Wine · Off-dry white
Off-dry Riesling
The sommelier’s answer to chilli. A touch of residual sugar and bracing acid tame heat the way water and beer simply can’t.
Beer · Pale lager
Cold Indian lager
Kingfisher or Cobra, cold, clean, faintly malty. Not clever, but always correct. The Tuesday-night answer to butter chicken.
The food on the table
Our Indian-leaning recipe shelf is still being built. Butter chicken is live; Thai green curry is close enough in the flavour map to pour the same drinks next to it.
Recipe · Curry
Butter chicken
The Australian default Indian dinner, done right. Cream, tomato, ginger, fenugreek. Pour a G&T while you cook.
Recipe · Curry
Thai green curry
Technically Thai, practically the same drink map. Coconut, lemongrass, chilli, fish sauce. Off-dry Riesling or a cold lager.
Coming soon
More Indian recipes on the way
Dal tadka, biryani, rogan josh and a proper tandoori chicken are drafted and publishing in the next batches.
The bottles worth buying
Gin and tonic is the Indian-food pairing that refuses to be dethroned. Here’s the shelf we trust.
Gin
Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin
Yarra Valley gin with pepperberry and lemon myrtle. The best in the country for G&Ts.
Gin
Archie Rose Signature Dry Gin
Aniseed myrtle, blood lime, dorrigo pepper. Australian in every sense.
Gin
Tanqueray London Dry Gin
The reliable classic. Juniper-forward and never gets boring.
Gin
Plymouth Gin
Softer and earthier than London Dry. Great with a peppery tonic.
Tonic
Fever-Tree Indian Tonic Water
The tonic that does the heavy lifting. Bitter quinine, cane sugar, no corn syrup.
The Australian connection
Indian food arrived in Australia early (there were curries on the goldfields in the 1850s) and we have been uneven about honouring it ever since. The good news is the current generation of Indian restaurants in Melbourne and Sydney (Enter Via Laundry, Don’s, Manjit’s, the Indian bistro boom in Surry Hills) is pushing the pairing conversation forward. Sommeliers are putting Riesling and Grüner on wine lists next to curry. Bars are making better G&Ts. We are catching up.
At home, the move is simple: G&T before, Riesling or Kingfisher with, and a cup of chai at the end. You don’t need a wine matching app. You need gin, lime, and good tonic. And the butter chicken on the stove.