20 October 2008

Looking for the best curry in Canberra

20 October 2008 | Willozap

My wife and I moved to Canberra about 8 months ago, and since then we’ve been looking for reliably tasty Indian take away. We’ve tried a variety of places – some are occasionally good, some are reliably awful.

So I thought I’d throw it out to the wisdom of The RiotACT – where is the best place to get a curry in Canberra?

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Pommy bastard10:44 am 29 Aug 10

Had a take away from Neeta’s last night, 81/0 highly recommended. Funny place, not some where I would consider for a meal out, it looks like it’s just being refurbished/reequipped.

Food was good, had a mix of vege/fish/and meat dishes. Hot (spicy) food was as a spicy as I like it, no more no less. Portions were adequate, service was prompt and polite. Value for money was excellent.

We4’ll definitely get food from there again, a good find.

farnarkler9:31 am 10 Dec 08

I wouldn’t like to try Blair’s 16 million reserve. I think that would bring on a heart attack. Do any of the Indian restaurants have stalls at the Food and Wine frollick? They should do.

ant9:06 am 10 Dec 08

They’re making ever more hot sauces, as ever-more hotter chillis appear. Once habaneros were the hottest, now there’s these Naga Jolokias and friends (from India, I think) that are way above habs.

Chillis morph, they are quite bizarre. A mate in Texas pickled me some of his Jalapenos, and it was like playing russian roulette. You’d choose one out of the jar and start crunching. It might be a sweet, slightly hot chilli crunch crunch crunch, or, it might reveal itself to be a stealth-chilli and you’d blow th etop off your head. They all came from the same plants, but some had morphed into ultra-chillis.

farnarkler8:43 am 10 Dec 08

PB Dave’s insanity sauce is a little on the weak side. there is a chilli, from Dorset of all places, which rates at 900k scovilles. Take a look at http://www.chilliworld.com/FactFile/Scoville_Scale.asp for the best of the best.

Notice that the hot stuff is always from hot places; India, Mexico, Vietnam, Thailand, etc. Makes you sweat to cool you down. Rucci used to do a really nice lunch buffet.

Pommy bastard8:29 am 10 Dec 08

ns said :

For vegetarian I’d recommend Neeta’s in Gungahlin. Neeta’s a vegetarian and she makes all the vegetarian food herself.

Thanks very much for that, I’m obliged.

Any one got any others?

H1NG010:54 am 09 Dec 08

Mirci in the Platypus Centre in Ngunnawal is excellent. Never had a bad meal from them. Highly reccommended.

ns10:45 am 09 Dec 08

For vegetarian I’d recommend Neeta’s in Gungahlin. Neeta’s a vegetarian and she makes all the vegetarian food herself.

Pommy bastard10:39 am 09 Dec 08

Phal
This particular dish is a UK invention and not found in India (Phall actually means fruit). This dish is effectively a hotter version of the Vindaloo and has been known to be a favourite of inebriated diners.

http://currypages.com/dishglossary.aspx?dish=Phal

Anyone wanting to really suffer should try these;

Dave’s Gourmet is a company notable for creating and introducing Dave’s Insanity Sauce, which for a while held the title of “world’s hottest sauce.” The sauce is widely distributed through gourmet hot-sauce boutiques and online hot-sauce sites. It is well-known to hot sauce enthusiasts, and is often used as the standard of comparison for flaming hot sauces.

Dave’s Gourmet has since introduced sauces with increasingly greater concentrations of capsaicin under names such as Dave’s Commemorative Insanity, Dave’s Total Insanity, and Dave’s Ultimate Insanity, which has been reported variously as from 90,000 to 250,000 on the Scoville scale and comes with a caveat Use this product one drop at a time.” Keep away from eyes, children and pets. Not for people with heart or respiratory problems. Also offered is Dave’s Private Reserve which comes in a coffin-shaped package and has been reported variously as from 500,000 to 750,000 Scoville units. His most recent release is a super-limited holiday edition, which is two to three times as hot as his private reserve, and was limited to 200 bottles total, selling for $199 per bottle.

As a comparison; 2,500-5,000 Scoville for Tabasco sauce

http://www.davesgourmet.com/

BerraBoy6810:39 am 09 Dec 08

ant said :

One of our number in between gasps asked if they had Phal on the menu. The waitier (imagine standard Indian accent) said oh yes sir, we have phal, but it is not on the menu because foolish people try to eat it.

Quote of the week! Thanks Ant.

ant9:46 am 09 Dec 08

Skidbladnir said :

Until now, I’d never even heard of phal, but it sounds godawful.

It’s just a searingly-hot curry, probably from southern India. I remember our group visiting an Indian place in Turl Lane, in Oxford. The curries were somewhat hotter than th emilder ones we’d had in London, and there were scenes of carnage around the table (I have a photo of it somewhere).

One of our number in between gasps asked if they had Phal on the menu. The waitier (imagine standard Indian accent) said oh yes sir, we have phal, but it is not on the menu because foolish people try to eat it.

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