We started off with:

• Spinach and Paneer Samosas w/ tamarind and date chutney
• Crispy Spinach Chaat - Battered spinach leaves w/ tamarind yoghurt

The crispy battered spinach leaves were a hit and delicious. We found the pastry on the samosas a bit thick and brittle and flavour somewhat muted.

We ordered 3 main dishes and a side of cauliflower for our main courses along with naan and rice. We needed another serve of rice but otherwise, the quantity was about right.

• ​Bathak Peri Peri - Goan spiced roast duck
• Gobhi Korma - Charcoal roast cauliflower w/ almonds, raisins, honey and yoghurt​
• Balichao Do Porco - Goan slow cooked pork w/ shrimp sauce and tamarind​
• Kolhapuri Tambda Rassa - Rich red lamb neck curry from Maharashtra

I thought the curries looked quite vibrant and attractive although the small tin pot of pork curry was more canteen food presentation than restaurant.

Surprisingly it was the cauliflower that seemed to work the best and that was because the sauce was thicker. And that was really our main concern about the food. We found the curries to be less Bhang and more a whimper...a bit weak and watery really. The duck curry had some mashed vegetables so that with the sauce thickened it up a bit but if you just had the sauce it was too watery.

The pork curry tasted like a Chinese pork stew - not bad but not really the spicy, Indian cuisine we had in mind.

We had hoped for some spicy whallop but really found it much more muted than we'd hoped. It wasn't distasteful but just lacked richness and depth so I'm still searching for somewhere to match that UK curry benchmark.

Don't get me wrong; I have enjoyed the "modern Indian" food that Melbourne offers at Tonka and Mukka and whilst it's delicious, it's just not the same and it's pricier. And then the more traditional Melbourne Indian offerings have been ok but off the mark.

I arrived early on a Thursday evening and was warmly welcomed and shown to a table.

​Decor is very classic and traditional and so we expected the food to follow suit. There's a glitzy, shiny gold panel wall and some colourful dimmed lighting. I found the staff friendly and helpful and as I waited for Steve to arrive was served some poppadoms and dip.

The mint yoghurt dip was thick and creamy with a nice balanced flavour. The dark chutney was fruity and sticky and both went so well with the crispy, fresh poppadom. This serve of poppadoms exceeded my expectations and raised the bar for what was to follow.

As we were guests of the owner, I thought it would be a better idea to leave the menu choices to the restaurant staff so they could showcase what they were most proud of. Our waitress who was friendly and obliging helped us and we started off with:

• Veg Manchurian - Homemade Vegetable Balls cooked in chef’s special sweet and sour Indo Chinese Sauce
• Chicken Tikka

The Veg Manchurian was unexpected; potato patties almost suet dumpling like (but obviously not suet) were soft and pillowy topped with a spicy sweet sauce. At first I felt that the serve of 8 balls was going to be too much but surprisingly I managed to eat my share!

The chicken tikka was a classic representation executed satisfyingly well. Juicy and well flavoured; it was like chicken tikka should be.

The butter chicken was creamy and rich with the tang of tomato in the background. The lamb rogan josh was well spiced, not with chilli but with aromatics like warm cinammon, black pepper and cardamom that could be tasted. The meat in both dishes were tender.​

But it's no UK curry house...rogan josh in UK has bags of flavour; onion, coriander, tomato. The sauce is thick and the flavours run deep. And then there are baltis and bhunas and dupiazas and jalfrezis and none of this exists here on this side of the World. If it does, I've never found it and not for want of trying.

So the verdict is that the Punjabi Curry Cafe is a good neighbourhood restaurant offering classic Indian cuisine. It doesn't try to be modern or offer anything out of the ordinary but what it does send out of the kitchen is satisfying by Australian curry standards. Out of the Indian meals I've had in Australia, it fares well enough but it hasn't satisfied my craving for king prawn puri and a chicken rogan josh!

So we found ourselves there on Friday evening and it was buzzy but lucky for us a couple were just finishing up so a quick tidy of the table by a very obliging waiter meant we were in!

The decor is modern but also traditional so no flocked wallpaper or a Bollywood sound track but definitely has that Indian flavour with the mural on the wall and the intricate patterns stencilled on table tops and other surfaces.

The menu is not as extensive as the more traditional curry houses but I don't mind that as there's certainly more than enough to tempt us. And it's pretty vegetarian and vegan friendly too so something for everyone. I like that there are choices of individual plates with sides and also plenty to share.

We begin proceedings with:

• Spicy lamb chops marinated overnight in a special blend of lime juice, warm dark spices, ginger and garlic served with a kachumber salad and coriander chutney
• Tandoori marinated mushrooms cooked in the tandoor oven served with a kachumber salad and coriander chutney

The chops are tasty and tender with strong flavours of warming ginger and zingy and sharp lime. The mushrooms are also a good start. Both say on the menu that they come with coriander chutney but the two chutneys are different with the one accompanying the lamb being more like raita.

Next up our main courses arrive along with side dishes of steamed rice and garlic naan.

• Smoky eggplant and pea dosa (light crepe made from fermented lentil and rice batter) servied with samber dal and coconut chutney
• Chicken tikka masala

The dosa is beautifully golden with a flaky crispiness and then inside is soft gooey eggplant that has a hint of smoke and some tasty subtle spicing. The samber dal has chunks of veggies in it and the coconut chutney adds this delicious sweet finishing flavour. This is amazing and definitely worth a return visit. It's light and fresh but at the same time with some strong flavours and there's no grease.

The chickent tikka masala is described as butter chicken's big brother that is more intense and spicier with capsicum and onions in the sauce. It comes in an earthenware dish which is a contrast to all the other mirrored metal plates and bowls and has a fiery red colour to it with no unappetising oil slick on the top and I'm so pleased to see that the sauce is thick and not like runny gravy as is disappointingly the case with Indian food in Australia. The chicken thighs are chunky and there are lots of them so it's a generous serve and yes there's definitely some heat there but I love the tomato based sauce what doesn't taste overly rich or creamy. It's delicious with the rice and naan.

I think my only slight quibble with this meal is that the size of rice and naan is a little small but absolutely no complaints about the food and the friendly service. It was also quick which works for me and the whole meal was just very satisfying. I am glad you're close by Mukka!

I came to Tonka when it first opened with a group of girlfriends and although I enjoyed it, we trusted the waitress to order for us and didn't feel she did that great a job but I put that down to inexperience and unfamiliarity, So roll forward 3 years or so and I come here for another girls' night, this time with Shern.

We'd had a few Friday night cocktails before our 8:15pm table so were feeling merry and bright and oh so ready for a feed. Our table wasn't quite ready so we stood by the pass in the narrow corridor and our drinks order was taken by a friendly waiter.

The table wasn't too long and we were shown to a roomy one that could seat 4 but we had it all to ourselves. All the more surface area to put food on!

Our drinks arrived pretty quickly:

Blueberry Punch - Gin, Blueberry, Cucumber, Citrus 
A fresh punch of Hendricks Gin, French Vermouth, peach and cucumber served with a trio of blueberry. An homage to the serving style of Madam Geneva bar in New York.

Pink Lady - Gin, Apple, Pomegranate, Citrus Rich yet refreshing this drink combines American apple brandy, gin, citrus and grenadine. Feminine in name, but definitely not just for the fairer sex.

Mine was the Pink Lady and I liked the sweetness and tartness of it and Shern really enjoyed her Blueberry Punch that had a hint of grassiness from the Hendricks and some interested strips of dehydrated blueberries that looked like seaweed. 

Great cocktails to start off with so thoroughly recommend indulging on those!

Our waitress was friendly and definitely knew the menu and she offered to put something together for us but we were quite taken with some of the dishes so decided to go with what our tummies wanted. The good news is that a few of the curries come in half serves so there's more that can be eaten and shared.

We started off with a bit of a seafood themed couple of dishes which was the plan as we didn't want to go too meat heavy.

• Tuna tartare, rice pappadum, pomegranate, ginger and fresh wasabi
  
• Soft-shell crab pakora with pickled cucumber, lemon, chilli and mint
  

The tuna tartare was delicious. Light and fresh with hints of warming wasabi and then the sweetness of pomegranate bursting here and there. Dolloped on a piece of cracker reminiscent of a prawn cracker, texture and flavour is all there.

Where the tuna was delicate and fresh, the soft shell crab was all about richness and a punchy flavour of salt and pepper rescued with a the soft tang of the pickles. 

The cocktails we started off with were great and this continued through to these opening numbers. We were very pleased.

Next up came some roti and we had it with:

• Duck korma, apple and vanilla spiced beetroot 
  

This was our half serve curry so it was a dainty portion with two bits of duck covered in a pale yellow sauce. So unlike the cloying sweetness of korma curries I've had but still reminiscent of those flavours spiked by the sweetness of the beetroot and refreshed by the sharpness of some apple. The duck shredded off the bone really easily and was a tasty meat to have with this smooth and velvety curry. Yum!

And then our last course we went back to seafood and had the:

• Goan curry with barramundi, Spring Bay mussels, Mooloolaba prawns and Kashmiri chilli 
  

I love a fish curry and I fell in love with this one. Where the duck curry was about warming spice, this one was packed with heat and caught us in the back of the throat but we loved it. There were a few prawns in there, couple of pieces of fish with crispy skin, some mussles and some green beans. The sauce was delicious with rice and the seafood was perfectly cooked.

Shern and I thoroughly enjoyed our food, our cocktails and the bottle of wine we had. We didn't have room for dessert but are excited about returning for more incredible Indian cuisine.

Friday night get together with girlfriends Charlotte, Lucy and Claire and some quick messages the day before mean we settle on Burma Lane as the choice.

I'm actually 30 minutes early for the table I've booked - couldn't wait to get out of work! It's Friday night! And I enjloy a breather with a pineapple cocktail and my Kindle.


I'm soon joined by my dining companions and we're looked after well with drinks orders taken and menu assistance given. We decided to go with their banquet menu and leave it in their hands.

Kun Sar Thi - Betel leaf w/ chicken, shallot, peanuts, green mango & Sichuan pepper is first to arrive and we spoon a mix of the chicken combination into our own leaves. It's tasty and spicy and spiked with citrus and very much like what sister restaurant Red Spice Road offers.

Quickly following come:

• 19th street crispy pork w/ lemon, cumin & chilli
• Potato cake filled w/ spicy slow roasted lamb belly, cabbage salad & minty yoghurt

These are big portions. The pork has a crispy top and the meat is tender but fatty and my serve has that gelatinous fat about it so I leave that to one side.

The potato cake is possibly the most delicious potato cake. Crunchy and crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy and flavoursome with a beautiful piquancy from the yoghurt. This as super tasty but pretty hefty on the stomach!

• Pickled tea leaf salad - Tea leaves, tomato, peanuts, sesame seeds, crunchy broad beans & cabbage

The salad comes next and it's vibrant and fresh with different textures. I actually find the tea a bit too pickley and sharp but I enjoy the rest of the ingredients.

• Shan noodles w/ rough chopped slow cooked chicken, peanuts, green onion, chilli, coriander & crispy shallots

No photo but this is a flavoursome dish and I like the thick white noodles and the savoury dark sauce.

Main courses are:

• Rockling cooked in turmeric, lemongrass & tomato w/ noodles, mustard greens & egg AKA Funky Mohingha, a take on a Burmese classic
• Beef cheek curry with pickled green mango & eggplant

The curries are pleasant enough. I can't remember them much so the flavours weren't as distinct as some of the other dishes. More rice would have been welcome as it was teeny bowl that came out to be shared.

For dessert, rather than all of us have the same which would have been the semolina cake with brown butter, toasted almonds, raisins & palm sugar ice cream we were offered a variety which was a great gesture from our waiter and the chef.

Our other desserts were the:

• Sago & coconut pudding w/ coconut & seasonal fruits
• Coffee & ginger cheesecake with burnt white chocolate & crystallized coconut

My favourite was definitely the sago and coconut pudding which was transformed with the use of melon and a watermelon granita. Light, creamy and fruity it was my kind of dessert. I also liked the ice creams but the cake and cheesecake were both a bit flavour intensive for me.

I didn't feel as full as I have done following Red Spice Road banquets. I also didn't feel it was that different in cuisine type and could have been at Red Spice Road! The food was universally good and suited us as a small group and the service was very attentive which isn't always the case at Red Spice Road as they get too busy at times.

A friend of mine told me that when Red Spice Road first arrived on the Melbourne dining scene it was ahead of its time as it was the first Asian / fusion, not $10 a meal, sharing and hip type restaurant. What has since happened is that it's reached a plateau and stayed at that friendly, approachable, likeable but not amazing level and others have overtaken it. But it's dependable, welcomes reservations and fairly consistent so it has found it's place in the market.

It's not somewhere Steve and I would go ourselves as we're probably a bit more adventurous but it's an option to go in a group where everyone will be catered for.

Steve and I were kindly invited to try out The Rickshaw on Gertrude Street along with other bloggers and we were treated to a set sit down meal on a warm evening last week. The invite advised 6pm and I was there then and Steve arrived a touch later. There was a lot of general mingling and we were treated to canape style servings of two dishes:

Penang Bowl - Our twist on the traditional satay with ground chicken but made without peanuts served in a bowl served with a butter fried naan bread

Chicken 65 - Fried chicken with curry leaves, slit green chillies and spicy yoghurt sauce

Both were delicious. I loved the sweet creaminess of the satay - almost like a sweet Thai red curry with the soft naan bread. The Chicken 65 came with an explosive kick that hit the tastebuds in a fiery but delightful way.

The restaurant isn't huge - maybe 30 seats and it has some stiff neighbouring competition with Anada next door and Cutler and Co not far away. However there probably isn't an Asian offering. The concept is unified Asia so dishes that are from specific parts such as the Thai satay and the Southern Indian Chicken 65. There are Japanese dishes, Chinese dishes...Speaking to the owners, there is a lot of passion for what they want to do and achieve and they really do enjoy the dishes they have put on the menu. They are true advocates of what they have done.

There was quite a bit of mingling before we were invited to be seated and then another wait for the food. Once it got going though, things moved quicker. We enjoyed the following dishes:

Duck Salad - Shredded duck leg, cucumber, green papaya, lychee, red chilli and papaya dressing

Pui’s 3 Fungi Rolls - Cabbage rolls, each filled with a mix of enoki, oyster and shitake mushrooms, served with garlic konbu sauce

Pani Puri - Mini puff pastries stuffed with potato, chickpeas, pomegranate, tamarind sauce and served with spicy water

Black Cod - Black cod fillets marinated in Saikyo miso, served with grilled asparagus and baby carrots

Achari Rack of Lamb - Braised and slow cooked rack of lamb in mustard oil, flavored with Fenugreek, fennel, cumin seeds & cloves,

Drunken Noodles - Stir-fried flat rice noodles, chicken, green peppercorns, wild ginger and Yamazaki whiskey

Lemongrass Crème Brulée

Thai Tea Panna Cotta with Honey Syrup

Coconut Sago Pudding - Young coconut meat, roast coconut flakes, corn and micro herbs

I'm just going to discuss some highlights and lowlights and although Steve and I were invited to this meal as guests, what I write comes from my heart and mind. The duck salad was fresh and zingy - on the spicy side but a good duck salad. The black cod had a hint of the Nobu signature dish but was actually very white with none of the black cod skin. It was flavoursome enough and a decent interpretation. The lamb cutlet was tender and tasty of Indian spice again with a good chili explosion.

The pani puri felt a little copy cat to Tonka's version and not quite as refined. I wasn't that impressed at Tonka and the same applies here. The cabbage rolls weren't my bag either as I felt they were a bit too bland.

The three desserts were surprisingly good and I'm not really an Asian dessert fan. The creme brulee had a lovely creamy and silky consistency that was rich and just with a hint of lemongrass. The panna cotta had a beautifully sexy wobble to eat and I enjoyed the sweet tea flavour. The coconut sago pudding was probably the least favourite as it was quite solid in texture and didn't really have much flavour but I suspect it was overpowered by the sweetness in the panna cotta and the creme brulee.

I hope The Rickshaw does well. There is passion there but I'm not sure it can manage to draw in the crowds it needs to every day especially earlier in the week. It would be good to see it succeed.

Friday night December dinner and Steve makes reservations at Jorg in Fitzroy North. It's an attractive building and fit out and feels nice and spacious. We are greeted and shown to our table and made to feel comfortable. The two waitresses work hard all night topping up drinks, taking orders, waiting tables...and they do it pretty efficiently and remain good tempered!

We start off with an assortment of small bites of goodness:

• Baccalá fritters with house aioli
• Nico serrano jamon
• Crispy zucchini flowers, potato and ricotta stuffing, golden squash and leek fondue
• Tuna crudo, radicchio, blood orange and fennel salad and aioli

I remember enjoying them all but 3 weeks later struggle to remember what they were like exactly. I don't think anything was terrible and I remember eating every scrap so that's got to say something!

We decided to share a meat dish and a pasta dish and swap plates halfway through. Our choices were:

• Pan roasted lamb rump, char grilled cutlet, smoked shoulder, asparagus and spiced nuts
• Cavatelli, arrabiata sauce, pancetta lardons and provolone

We were underwhelmbed by the lamb. The sauce was a it over reduced, there weren't enough spiced nuts to make a difference. The lamb was pink enough and tender but it didn't smack of stellar amazingness.

However the pasta was darn good. Slightly chewy but in a pleasant way, cavatelli with an intense tomato sauce and cheese with some bacon and some hear. It was delicious. Where the lamb under delivered, this exceeded expectations.

We had enough in us to contemplate dessert and I went with the lemon option and Steve the souffle.

• Raspberry soufflé with raspberry sorbet and raspberry coulis
• Stone fruit, berries, italian lemon cake, lemon fool and meringue

The souffle was less like eating clouds and more like eating pancake batter. It wasn't bad but we've had better and lighter and more rise. The sorbet was very good though.

The lemon option was certainly lemony and I enjoyed the creamy fool and dense cake along with some fruits and then the odd teeny piece of meringue. I think I'd have liked more meringue crumbs and the fool itself was quite heavy so not quite the light Summery option I thought it could be. However I enjoyed the flavours.

Jorg is a pleasant neighbourhood restaurant. It's pleasing enough but perhaps not as memorable as other places.

It had been a while since Charlotte, Claire and I had met up for post work for a feed. Since the last meet up, Lucy has had a baby, Zoe and is now on maternity leave so isn't working in the city and Claire is now 6 months pregnant! So whilst Claire is still around we really do need to make the most of the time she is still at work for our post work dinners. After a few emails we decided to try out Tonka which is the new kid on the Flinders Lane block.

Apparently where the club Honky Tonks used to be...but we three relatively nouveau Melbournians don't remember it. What we did notice this wet night was it was so typically Melbourne. Off a back graffitied back street, almost unnoticeable signage, through an inconspicuous doorway into a startling big dining restaurant. Unexpectedly large with an open kitchen and bar and lots of tables to the back.

The welcome was warm and friendly enough. Drinks were ordered quickly and we decided to let the wait staff decide on our food and leave it to them. Our waitress seemed very efficient and at ease with coming up with a feast accommodating the dietary requirements of our pregnant guest.

Smoked trout betel leaf with coconut, chilli, pomelo and kaffir lime came out first and was a tasty delight. Deep herby flavours reminiscent of Thailand with fresh fish

Pappadums with a tomato, red onion and coriander salsa were what Charlotte specifed she had to try and they were crispy and fresh and the salsa was a good accompaniment which was tasty but really did just taste of tomato, red onion and coriander. Not really unlike anything I couldn't reproduce at home.

 The pani puri, crispy parcel filled with spiced potato, mung beans, date and tamarind chutney with aromatic water was unusually presented with a small bottle of aromatic water to pour into the pastry. Gimmicky or tasty? Well I can see why you have to pour the water just before eating otherwise any earlier the pastry would go soggy so the gimmick is at least practical. In terms of taste, it was nice enough...pastry with some spiced mashed potato. Pleasant enough but not mindblowingly amazing.

The Crystal Bay prawn and chicken salad with green beans, chilli and coconut that came next was much more satisfying. Big chunks of sweet prawn and meaty chicken with crunchy greens. Looking at it I was expecting the tanginess and creaminess of mayonnaise but it's actually more like coconut cream so it didn't feel oily or fatty and the tang came from the fresh lime cheek on the side. Loved the hints of coconut both in the subtle dressing and the toasty bits sprinkled on top.

Continuing along the stream of success came the soft-shell crab pakora with pickled cucumber, lemon, chilli and mint. I'm not sure how many serves came in our portion but there were about two pieces each and they were yummy. Meaty, juicy, crispy and well seasoned.

We then moved onto Avani’s lamb curry with roasted coconut, black cardamom and white poppy seeds along with naan bread and a dish of fried cauliflower, garam masala salt, fenugreek and yoghurt dressing.

The curry wasn't spicy in terms of chilli heat but was fragrant and aromatic with the warmth of black pepper. The meat was tender and the naan bread was great dunked in sauce. It was a decent enough curry and was on a par with the curries from other establishments like Red Spice Road, Coda, Bang Pop, Chin Chin etc. Although I think the duck curry from Bang Pop has the edge...just...

The roasted cauliflower was great - unusual and the sharp tang of the yoghurt dressing cut through the rich flavours of the curry.

And that was our meal. It was probably the right amount and gave us space in our bellies to order dessert. I think one more dish wouldn't have gone amiss though and was surprised they didn't bring another main.

So we moved onto dessert and actually making the dessert decision did take some time. But it was Charlotte's birthday and every birthday girl deserves dessert! She opted for peanut butter parfait, salted caramel, chocolate mousse and caramelised popcorn. It looked very appealing and I stole a bit of delicious popcorn from her. She has informed me and allowed me to quote that this was the best dessert she'd had in a long time. I guess that means she approves.

I went with coconut rice pudding, mango sorbet, pineapple chiboust and shortbread. This was a great way to finish the meal not being that huge a chocolate fan. To me a great dessert isn't necessarily chocolate and I prefer non cooked fruit creations like this. I loved the creaminess of the rice pudding, the tang of the sorbet and the textures and butteriness of the shortbread crumbs. Claire agreed having dipped a spoon in both camps. She enjoyed another berry based mocktail as her dessert.

Tonka isn't the place for a chicken jalfrezi, rice and naan and several pints of Kingfisher. In all honesty, we've not found a place like that in Melbourne. It's unusual fusion, quite light and delicate. Certainly enjoyable and different to the usual Thai / Chinese fusion. This new kid is quite welcome on the block.