Indian food and beer are one of nature’s perfect matches – just ask any drunken Londoner cosying up to a bowl of teary-eyed vindaloo. But, for once, rather than simply reaching for the butter chicken and an Indian pale ale, Aussie beer blogger Mark Chipperfield has something more refined in store for us.

Next week, Chipperfield is joining forces with Kumar Mahadevan – maybe the only Indian chef to have appeared on MasterChef Australia – and Micheal Capaldo of Sydney’s Schwartz Brewery to hold two Spice & Hop beer and curry dinners at each of Mahadevan’s two restaurants: Aki’s in Woolloomooloo on Monday, June 6, and Abhi’s in North Strathfield on Tuesday, June 7.

The night will pair six beers with edible counterparts, first kicking off with beer cocktails using Schwartz brews, then delving into the featured boutique bottlings. As one would expect from the Beer Airways blogger, it’s an informed, diverse selection: Viking pilsner (Iceland), White Rabbit dark ale (Victoria), Redoak organic pale ale (Sydney), Schwartz dark lager (Sydney), Adnams Southwold bitter (England), and Chimay Blue (Belgium).

The beers vary in style and flavour, and Chipperfield says the goal is to push the envelope of people’s preconceptions about beer. Hmmm, we think you’d have to serve absinthe with our chicken masalas to change our preconceptions, but we’re excited to see how Chipperfield complements or contrasts beer flavours and textures with Mahadevan’s contemporary Indian cuisine.

At $85 a seat, it’s not a bad wicket for several rounds of good grog and grub. Plus, it’s great to enjoy good Indian meal while hitting the turps, rather than the faint memories from that post-potable stagger into the local North Indian diner.

Where: Aki’s, 1/6 Cowper Wharf Rd, Woolloomooloo | Abhi’s, 163 Concord Rd, North Strathfield
When: Mon 6 Jun | Tue 7 Jun
Phone: (02) 9332 4600 | (02) 9743 3061
Details: akisindian.com.au | abhisindian.com.au