Tandoor Specialties in Turramurra — Clay Oven Cooking the Way It Should Be

The tandoor is the heart of a North Indian kitchen. It’s a vertical clay oven that reaches temperatures conventional ovens can’t match — and that heat is what creates the char, the smokiness, and the texture that makes tandoori food distinctive. Jai Ho in Turramurra runs a real clay tandoor, and every piece of tikka, every kebab, and every naan that leaves our kitchen carries that difference.

Tandoor cooking uses a cylindrical clay oven heated to extremely high temperatures. Meats and vegetables are marinated in yoghurt and spice blends, then cooked on skewers inside the oven. The intense heat sears the outside quickly while keeping the inside tender and juicy. Breads are slapped onto the inside wall of the tandoor and bake in seconds — puffing up with crisp edges and a soft, chewy centre.

Not many restaurants invest in a real tandoor because it requires skill, maintenance, and a kitchen designed to handle the heat. Many use conventional ovens and call it “tandoori-style.” That’s not the same thing — and you can taste the difference immediately.

Our tandoor dishes include chicken tikka, lamb seekh kebab, paneer tikka, tandoori mushrooms, and tandoori prawns — all marinated in traditional spice-yoghurt blends and cooked to order in the clay oven.

Our breads are all baked in the tandoor: plain naan, garlic naan, Peshawari naan (stuffed with nuts and coconut), roti, and paratha. Every bread is baked fresh when you order it — not pulled from a warmer.

Tandoor dishes are available at every service — dinner 7 nights, plus Saturday and Sunday lunch. They’re also a highlight of our banquet packages for functions.

Not every Indian restaurant on the North Shore has a tandoor oven. Some use conventional ovens or grills and approximate the result. At Jai Ho in Turramurra, tandoor cooking is central to our kitchen — and it’s one of the reasons our regulars from Pymble, Killara, Wahroonga, Gordon, St Ives, and Lindfield keep coming back. The char on the tikka and the texture of the naan are things you can’t replicate without the right equipment.

A real clay tandoor oven. Traditional marinades. Breads baked to order. Fifteen years of tandoor cooking in Turramurra. BYO welcome. 425 Google reviews.