The Buzz
New suburban Indian restaurant
serving up consistently tender curries. Cosy, welcoming and fast becoming a
local favourite.
This fairly new place on the Victoria Park strip feels like home
away from home - if I was living in Bombay. The Indian eatery is tucked away at
the southern end of Albany Highway, two doors down from The Prophet, and is as
cute as a button, with the chatty young owner ensuring everybody feels, well,
right at home. There is indoor and alfresco seating to choose from, and on a
weeknight, both areas are bursting at the seams. Yes okay, we’ve been here
before, but apart from the awesome food and friendly owner, the main reason we
keep boomeranging back is because the food is consistent. Too often I’ve found
that Indian restaurants serve up a dish that’s fantastic one week and dreadful
the next. Here, if you order the goat curry, you’ll get the same succulent,
fall-off-the-bone goat curry every day of the week. But more about that later.
Décor-wise, it’s trad Indian. Chilli-red walls, gilt-edged
Indian oil paintings and tapestries, with Indian music on the sound system. They’re
just about to undergo a re-fit though, so don’t quote me. The service is
old-style: free pappadams and tap water for the table without having to ask for
it. It’s fully BYO, and corkage is three bucks. None of the dishes on the menu
make it over $20, and judging by all the foot traffic, take-away is a popular weeknight
can’t-be-bothered-cooking option.
When I visit with the family, we always order the same
dishes, hence why we know they’re consistent with the meals. The yellow dhal is
a classic comfort food, chunky and soupy with just enough bite to raise a bead
or two of sweat. And then there is the goat. A bit of bone but not too much,
immersed in a thick gravy brought to new flavour heights by the fattiness of
the meat, and so tender barely any chewing is required. They nail it every
time. Generous dishes of saffron rice and naan done just right help to mop up all
the glorious liquid. Generally, butter
chicken comes in a galaxy of combinations – some are too creamy, some have too
much tomato. Others are too spicy, and when you have a six year old addicted to
butter chicken, too much heat does us no favours on the eating front. Spicy
Affair’s version has a perfect balance of all these flavours and again, they do
it the same way every time, so we don’t have to worry whether our child will be
eating or not that night. The sauces meld into a happy slurry on the plate, and
more bread is usually required.
Dessert is but one choice – gulab jamun. Two balls of hot,
syrupy and extremely sweet milk dumplings that is made in-house, and we’re done.
I’ll be dreaming about that goat.
A Spicy Affair, 909A
Albany Highway, East Victoria Park. Telephone 6162 8767
Score: 13.5 out of 20
