For the curry-loving recessionista

Funky Curry

164 Bourke Street

City

Ph: 03 9662 2299

I picked up the director of the Curry King Group, Ramit Thadani's business card when I visited the Bourke Street outlet of Funky Curry for takeaway lunch. "Where quality and service ends", reads the slogan on the bottom of the card. The language barrier is a factor at Funky Curry; when I was asking the names of some of the dishes there was much confusion as the staff thought I was asking to buy them. Despite any flaws in service or communication, the quality of the food is not lacking. The dishes are ladled out from a bain marie but you wont find hours-old, crusty or congealing curries here.

I heard about Funky Curry quite a while ago when their Recession special was advertised in a weekend paper and, a few days before pay day, I thought it was time to check it out.

Clockwise from left: naan bread, baingan dapyaza, paneer makhani ($6.50)

The bread was warm, fresh, thick and chewy; the soft paneer was coated in a sweet, buttery tomato sauce, but it was the baingan dapyaza that was the highlight - big chunks of eggplant and onion in a sauce that was oily and rich but not greasy or overpowering.





I was looking for a place that served up low cost, high quality Indian food, and simply observing the patrons of Funky Curry suggested that the food would be both those things, as the majority of the customers were students, Indians, or Indian students.
The small, crowded dining room and walls decorated with fluro signs means the Bourke Street outlet is not somewhere I'd probably sit down for a meal; the vibe is more suited to quick takeaway pick up. I am interested, however, in dining in at the Curry King Group's latest venture, Curry King on Bridge Road - stay tuned for that review.

Curry King Group has seven locations across Melbourne city, Richmond, South Melbourne, Docklands, Malvern and Hawthorn.

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?