First Look: K' Road's Satya Chai Lounge Has Been Transformed Into Pop-Up XO Mangal, and It’s Big on Fun and Flavour

Since it opened on Karangahape Road in 2017, Satya Chai Lounge has been a reliable go-to for its low-fi den-like feel, hefty craft beer list (over 200 of them) and tasty Indian street food.

Now, it’s been given a refresh with a new pop-up named XO Mangal – run by Chai Lounge owner Sammy Akuthota and chef Alfie Ingham.

With a menu that reads “yum things we like to eat”, the concept can’t really be put in a box. “We both just want to have fun with the menu,” Akuthota tells Broadsheet. [We wanted there to be] no fuss, and also to not play by any rules. Alfie’s an amazing chef, as everyone knows, so it made sense to do high-impact, full-flavoured dishes.”

Originally from Lancashire, UK, Ingham has worked in several high-profile Auckland restaurants – most recently, as head chef at Hugo’s Bistro in the CBD. Longtime friends, the duo has often enjoyed meals together around Auckland, and both wanted to do something new.

“I’ve always wanted to open a kebab shop,” says Ingham. “[So] we played around with the Silk Road idea – ranging from Turkey and the Middle East to Northern India and China.”

XO Mangal’s menu will change every week, posted on opening day (Thursday). Today, there will be tuatua clams with XO sauce and bacon. Plus kebabs: slow-proved flatbreads cooked over charcoal, with toppings like lamb kofta, crispy eggplant or octopus with hot chilli sauce and garlic yoghurt.

There'll also be plenty of vegetable dishes, like paneer tikka masala, and one dish will remain on the menu week-to-week: hot and numbing chicken wings, stir-fried with Sichuan pepper and ginger.

The idea is that it’ll be a broad range of casual, tasty food – and everything has big flavours. “Everything’s spicy, salty, sour, crunchy,” says Ingham. “There’s no delicate little filler dishes.”

“From my side, I really like over-flavoured food,” adds Akuthota. “In-your-face flavours that you can’t escape from.”

The beer offering has been scaled down to a still-respectable 40 to 50, and there'll be a concise list of quenching cocktails to offset the food. “They’ll be long, fresh, juicy and acidic,” says Ingham. You might order a cucumber and sherry highball or a peach and bourbon cocktail.

They’ve given the fit-out a makeover too, covering the tables with patterned fabrics that are coated with wipe-clean acrylic – inspired by “trashy” English takeaway shops.

This pop-up isn’t the only thing the pair is cooking up. “We’ve got a couple of other projects in the works,” says Ingham. “This is just the beginning – and there will be plenty more to come.”

XO Mangal is running for at least the next six weeks at 271 Karangahape Road, Auckland.

Hours
Thurs to Mon 5:30pm-10pm

@xo.mangal