24/7 curry

Red Pepper

14 Bourke Street

City

Ph: 9654 5714

21 days ago I declared, via a Facebook status update, that I would abstain from eating McDonalds for a month. Coming home from a big night out, when I'm cold and tired and need to get food quickly, Macca's has always been a regular Saturday night pit stop. But this Saturday I found myself in Bourke Street right outside Red Pepper, a 24 hour, 7 days a week Indian restaurant that J had been to previously and really enjoyed.

Apart from one guy who worked at the club next door, J and I were the only westerners; always a good sign. We ordered and paid at the front counter; the menu offers a long list of curries under $10, with most actually falling around the $8 mark. This year's Cheap Eats states that the "small, rich servings wont leave you overstuffed" and suggests you may need to come back for more; J and I found that the huge pieces of naan bread that came with our meals left us more than satisfied.

J's dish: Paalak Paneer with naan - 'Indian cottage cheese cooked with spinach in a cream gravy' ($8)

Mine: Daal Tadka with naan - 'a full flavoured yellow lentil dish' ($6)

So J's dish looks like sludge, but it was really delicious and for the price and convenience of 24/7 trading, who's complaining?