Based in
Cooroy at the Cooroy Village Shopping Centre is
Deepak Indian Restaurant. There were two outstanding moments about my visit. This was my first few minutes in Cooroy (so not as a train passenger), but I was a bit misguided initially because when I first saw the place, I wasn't sure about it, but that's because I'm not from Cooroy, so I didn't realise at the time, that in fact, I was about to get a pretty good Indian meal, or, a product regarded as the best of its kind in its area.
In fact, the rainy weather got me to step inside to at least look at the menu. I then found out they had a very nicely priced daal makhni, which is a black lentil, kidney beans, tomato and cream curry, and, the rain was getting worse. The restaurant wasn't even officially open (it was due to open in 20 minutes at midday) but the decency of the two men in the kitchen to let me sit in the restaurant out of the rain was country town hospitality, yet my stance was they didn't have to let me wait indoors and yet they did. I don't even think they needed my patronage, if I had to make a quick decision, I'd say they did this for me out of decency and goodwill, and hence, my urge to send a goodwilled review back in their favour. Just to confirm though, they don't open before midday and in the photo at the foot of the article, there were rainclouds at Cooroy Village Shopping Centre.
Interior of Deepak Indian Restaurant
Daal Makhni at Deepak Indian Restaurant, Cooroy.
Now for the next outstanding moment, I've ordered the daal makhni and rice (it's also commonly spelled as daal makhani for the at-home recipe book reference) for dietary reasons -
black lentils are very nutritious, but, it's also a dish I know very well, so it was my way of giving them some encouragement. Yet, they didn't need any, I've walked in, in the rain, in an unfamiliar town, ordered a meal at this Indian diner, only to pass the time on my mobile phone checking out their online reviews to see the most amazing reviews for a restaurant. They are very good at Indian cooking, I think the chef has five-star hotel experience in top hotels in India, and appears to have designed a comprehensive menu with all the old favorites done to perfection. Just something I read in my searching.
Deepak Restaurant serves perfect basmati rice.
How the curry looks when you put it onto a plate with the rice.
Perfect it was, as my daal makhni didn't last long - a wry smile from chef as he saw yet another satisfied customer and empty dishes, and I was off to explore Cooroy.
A great chance to thank the guys at Deepak for their decency and for making a great meal and story. It was the best daal makhni I'd ever tried, the texture, the flavour, and the rice was steamy and fluffy but it's fairly trivial, they had the hospitable nature required, any culinary ability was always going to be a bonus after that. Hopefully, they get to see and appreciate my enthusiastic writings about the lunch.
The official takeout menu front cover of Deepak Indian Restaurant Cooroy.
Deepak Indian Restaurant is located opposite the rail station at Cooroy Village Shopping Centre
