Some days, all you want is a good, spicy, pungent, steaming curry with rice and a poppadom or naan bread. When such a craving hits, first instinct is to buy a pre-prepared Indian meal from Safeway or Coles....but that is hardly authentic!
Of course, the food courts at major shopping centers often have an Indian booth, but who wants to eat greasy Indian which has been sitting there since first thing in the morning, often in questionable food storage conditions? Recently, an expose was held by one of the television programs into the dodgy food handling and storage facilities at the major food courts. In particular, it was determined that most food outlets are not keeping the cooked food in a sufficiently heated environment that kills the bacteria. As a result, as the program pointed out, we're often taking our health in our hands by eating at such outlets.
Another option, is always to go to your local cafe and order their version of an Indian dish. But let's be honest, it's not the same as the real thing. What you get in your local cafe is a pale imitation of the good hearty delicious bowls of curry that can be ordered from an Indian restaurant. Furthermore, a lot of the general cafes believe that cooking a poppadom involves microwaving it - BIG error. All the patron is left with is the raw taste of poppadom in their mouth, and the item itself is a lot smaller than it should be. No...microwaving a poppadom does not cook it properly, so avoid at all costs.
A couple of good suggestions include
Haveli Indian Restaurant in East Doncaster,
Paradise Indian Restaurant at the Wheelers Hill Shopping Centre, or
Bhoj Indian Restaurant in Templestowe and the Docklands.
So...when such a craving attacks, where do you go to satisfy it?
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
