Roti Chenai - Emporium

Yass was back in town so it was time to feed her up with halal meats to temporarily boost up her iron levels before she departs to the rigs again and becomes a lethargic vegetarian! Well as lethargic as someone as super charged as Yass is, can possibly be. I decided that we should go to this place in the Valley called Roti Chenai! A mix of South Indian foods with a Malaysian twist, Malaysian is near and dear to our hearts, mine because its delicious, hers because of the time she spent over there eating halal nasi lemak every day for breakfast.

Parking is ample . . . depending on what time of day you get there. It can be difficult to find a park on most days though, you should always try your luck I guess? It's right beside the Ginga restaurant.

Thar she blows!

The interior is nothing much to speak up, vinyl? table cloths and surprisingly heavy chairs. We had a bit of a chat with the owners and this is actually a franchise? Or rather an originally New Zealand restaurant that jumped across the ditch, apparently they won New Zealand's best roti chenai award, are one of the oldest Malaysian/South Indian restaurants over there and are widely featured in NZ guide books. Quite the pedigree!  

Also right beside a pharmacy?

Here is their menu! Yass and I were a bit brainless about ordering and so we ordering a lot of pancake/crepe like things. In our defense, they're often the most delicious of all foods and they all had vastly different meats and textures too!

We got the restaurant's namesake of the roti chenai with a dish of chicken curry, we both loved the roti the best out of all our pancakey/crepe like foods. The buttery, flakey layers of roti burnt our fingers and tongues, they were so hot coming fresh off the grill. Ahhh but it was such a wonderful flavour! I'm drooling just thinking about it. This was Yass's favourite!

Those char marks are beautiful!

We got the chicken murtabak, basically a roti stuffed with chicken pieces, onion and egg pieces. We also burnt our fingers eating this because why use cutlery when you can use your hands? Also why do we have just one slice of cucumber there? I mostly ignored this in favour of our roti and the last dish we opted to choose!

Still ate it all though

The mighty beef dosai! I've always been intrigued by the idea of it since its a fermented rice flour crepe basically, so like an Indian version of Vietnam's banh xeo? It gives me that same feeling with the super crunchy exterior and how it has pieces of onion and beef mince studded on the inside. I also enjoyed the slightly sour taste of the pancake. It came with two dipping sauces, the darker one I can't recall but the white one was a coconut cream based and I ate all of it. Yes, we also burnt our hands eating this one.

So many pancakes

It's kinda like looking at a meat surf wave

Roti Chenai - Emporium
Atmosphere: 5, nothing special.
Service: 7, super friendly people who rescued my fallen cutlery from the floor and replaced it more times than they had to, considering I'm a grown woman. My knife fell on the floor accidentally so many times, I might as well have been throwing it on the ground.
Food: 7, wonderful food! We left absolutely stuffed and were very happy with our choices considering we only got three types of pancakes/crepes.

Indian Mehfil

Mr W., and I went out for lunch on the final day of a massive storm. It had rained for four days and nights, my gazebo collapsed under the weight of the rain and to make matters worse, I had days off and couldn't go anywhere due to the rain. I was going stir crazy and so drove to Mr W.,'s where he decided we should get Indian food and then watch a ton of horror movies in the dark.

Apparently I avoid rain like a cat does and run from car to undercover with an umbrella in even light drizzle. Mr W., thought it was really amusing how annoyed I was getting from the rain. I have a tendency to get sick really easily as an asthmatic, at the time of writing I've been home four days from work with a nasty upper respiratory track infection of some sort. 

Anyway, we decided to go ahead with the lunch specials of the day. Here is their menu! I went with the lamb korma, rice and naan. I decided to go with a medium heat but it was only very faintly a mild. The lamb was only slightly tender, it could have done with slightly more cooking time. The curry sauce was fragrant and full of ground spices but I still found it not to be anything special. We both agreed that this was the better of the two.

Lamb korma

Mr W., with the old faithful of butter chicken. This was honestly one of the worst renditions of butter chicken I've ever had with a bland, tasteless sauce that was honestly unremarkable but for its colour but also for its lack of flavour. There was no aroma to the sauce. The chicken pieces were large and tender.

Blergh

The naans were good at least. Scorching hot, fluffy layers, burst bubbles and with a nice charring on the outside. 

Naans are always delicious

No exceptions

Indian Mehfil
Atmosphere: - blank because we had takeaway food.
Service: 5, we got our food. However when we got home we realised that we didn't get our pappadums, apparently this has happened to quite a few people on Urbanspoon. I wonder if they've decided to stop that and never update their menus.
Food: 4, I would not come back here based on what I've had.

Indimex Cafe Bar Restaurant

I'll tell you two secrets. The first is that the email I created for people to contact me on thatseriousgirl@gmail.com is not actually the one that I use for my mobile phone/ gmail account or the one I use for my blogger account. As a result, I had to set up a forwarding protocol with gmail that never seems to forward on important stuff to my more commonly used hotmail account.

The second is that my two least favourite cuisines are Mexican and Indian food. I've had bad experiences on multiple occasions with upset stomachs or food poisoning not soon after eating them so I tend to avoid it. It doesn't make any sense because I eat a lot of spicy food from other cuisines like Thai or Korean without any problem. Not to mention the fact that I love every other countries version of curry beside the original Indian one.

I received the email inviting me here in early January but didn't see it until almost the end of January when I was manually checking my gmail account. I accepted the offer and dragged along Mr W., as my plus one, since he enjoyed both cuisines and it had been a while since we had had a date.

I was absolutely livid when I realised my camera wasn't in my bag for the third time eating out that month. I ran back to the car and couldn't find it anywhere. I was desperately hoping I had lost it as I had remembered to bring my Kindle along and it had been sitting on that when I left. Lo and behold, it was on my kitchen bench when I arrived home. The following pictures are taken on my mobile phone as a result.

Watch out for this bright red place!

I loved the decorations here. From the loads of mustachioed man cushions.

So manly

To the kooky Indian/Mexican artwork!

OLE SUP

To this gigantic spice? wall. I missed a few photos though. They had a really interesting mural of people who changed the world such as John Lennon, Martin Luther King, Ghandi, the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Che Guevera and then oddly, what looked like James Brown? I coudn't get the entire mural in one shot, so I let it be.

What does it even say?

Here is a link to their extensive menu, it completely changes from meal to meal. I got the gorgeous Brisbane Sunset as my drink, orange, pineapple and cranberry juice with grenadine syrup! I had a huge mouthful of grenadine syrup to start with so make sure to give your drink a good stir. I loved the balance between the sweet, sour and refreshing flavours of the juices used. Good mocktails are hard to find!

Delicious

I picked their holy guacamole as my starter! Pulverised yet still textured avocado, onion, tomato, jalapeno pieces and a fair whack of garlic. Mr W., and I both felt like there could have been a bit more lemon or lime added to give it a bit more zestiness but we both still enjoyed it. I particularly like that the guacamole didn't have a smooth paste texture and still had noticeable piece of avocado to break up the texture. The fried tortilla chips were great, can't go wrong with freshly fried tortilla chips, crunchy, salty tastiness!

Mmm guacamole

Mr W., and I had a long discussion about what we would order on the menu. He pointed out that as a food blogger and someone who goes out a lot, I would order the weirdest thing on the menu or a chef specialty to show off the place. He was right though, because I had been eyeing off the Bombay Pizza a la Naan or getting one of the fusion dishes. 

Mr W., tended to go with safe options or the most popular option, he's traveled a lot overseas and wisely pointed out that you can't go wrong with chicken, seafood is the thing most likely to give you food poisoning. I think this was the second or third time we had gone out for a meal together, so I reminded him that he couldn't order the same meal as me!

Anyway, after much deliberation, we reversed our opinions! I decided to try one of their curries for a classic option. I initially wanted goat but they told me that wasn't available for lunch, so I picked a lamb madras with a heat rating of super hot. Their menu actually carries a warning that they use Trinidadian Scorpion Butch T Chillis, widely regarded as one of the spiciest chilis in the world. I think they only use that for the vindaloo haha,

Oh god, the curry was so good. I love that strong coconut fragrance as it hit the table and the huge chunks of lamb. The lamb was delectable, huge chunks of lamb that were so tender I was able to cut through it with a spoon. My spoon just hit the plate and the lamb fell apart with a sigh, they used a wonderful cut with ribbons of fat throughout the meat. 

The curry was so spicy, I nearly cried. It wasn't a bad heat, it was instantly noticeable but it didn't linger for too long and you could continue eating. I'm not sure if I got used to it later on or it was because when the physical heat abated, I felt like the curry spice was more bearable.

We ended up begging the waitress for some of their raita which I forgot to take a photo of. It's a very strong minty raita that was quite sweet, but it did the trick to cool off my poor mouth.

Delicious lamb

I tossed up between naan and rice for a while too. I love naan but I love how rice soaks up all the sauce. I was wearing a white dress as well so I couldn't risk the sauce dripping onto my clothes! I always think long grain rice looks odd. I'm very used to short or medium grain rice and so the length of long grain rice, which loops in on itself is just odd to me.

Odd rice

I got a few pappadums as well! They were super crunchy and little cumin seeds as well.

I had fun eating these

Mr W., got the very interesting bacon, cheese, garlic, oregano and chili naan which was nearly a meal in itself! I really enjoyed this naan and I'm pretty sure I ate at least 3/4 of this by myself. It had a huge amount of garlic on the surface, lots of little bacon pieces, the oregano scent wasn't too discernible and I found the chili flakes weren't too spicy either. I loved the flakiness of the naan and the cheesiness too, I'd gladly go back here again for the naan bread.

Mmmm naan <3

Mr W., got the sizzling chicken fajitas, there was a lot of onion and sweet capsicum pieces mixed in as well. There was also a pile of salsa on top as well as a wedge of lime. The smell when it hit the table was amazing! I love the theatre of having sizzling food bought around to your table, the sound, the smell, the spitting sight of the stuff and the steam rising off the food! I love how the sauce becomes a thick caramel, coats the meat and gives it a great charred flavour. We were both very surprised when we tasted the chicken as we were both unsure what the spices used were, I had a second and a third piece before I realised what it was. Tandoori chicken! After that, it all made sense and we were able to finish the meal in peace haha.

See the steam!

We also received a basket of sour cream, guacamole, black lentil dal makhani and a pile of tortilla shells on the side.

Mmm lentils

Mr W., got the iced coffee and he remarked that he didn't like it since there was no ice, it had no ice cream and was still quite warm. The coffee flavour itself was quite good.

Indimex Cafe Bar Restaurant

Atmosphere: 7, super cute restaurant with interesting artwork, great decorations and lots of different seating arrangements. 
Service: 7, pretty good service! The two waitresses seemed busy but were always easy to find. We had a slight hiccup where fajitas were placed on the wrong docket, and we had to wait a bit longer for the food to arrive. It was very quick service all in all and they came up to us multiple times to ask if we needed anything else. That being said, we were invited there as guests so there's that too.
Food: 8, really excellent food! Huge portions, well cooked food, a great explanation of what everything is on the menu and reasonable prices for a main. I would happily go here again for lunch with friends especially as everything on the menu is easily shared between a group of people.

 

Punjabi Palace

I'm going to start this post by saying I don't like Indian food. I love curries, Japanese, Malaysian, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai or even British Bastardised whatever with raisins and peas in it. I don't like Indian food barring naans, roti, raita and some chutneys, but the rice, the daals, the curries, the fried starters, nope, not for me.

Maybe because I grew up in Brisbane and we don't have many good Indian places? Whenever I use this excuse, people counter with the names of franchises around Brisbane. I don't want franchises! I want some type of authentic Indian cuisine from a region that I vaguely recognise, where Indian people are in attendance and the waiters barely understand English! That's the ideal for any cuisine! A place where no one understands you, filled with their locals, where the menu doesn't come in English and its always filled and very cheap. Oh, here is their menu.

In the end, I went to Punjabi Palace. Its very accessible in West End, has a good Urbanspoon reputation, is quite cheap and I've seen Indian people in there, granted they're all business people or Aussie born students, it still counts. I've been also telling my Boyfriend that we should go there for weeks and been piking out to go elsewhere, he always wisely counters that I don't really want to go there if I don't like Indian food.

Nice

Woo cheap lunches!

Whats with the tiki like hut?

This is heavily countered by the fact that I've been wanting a naan bread for several months now. Literally every time after we eat and we'd head home, I'd tried to convince him that we should just have one little naan bread to satisfy my craving. We did get a really lacklustre garlic naan in the Indian Kitchen upstairs in Queens Street Mall that taste stodgy and like it had been in the freezer despite them having a visible tandoor oven.

I'm not sure about the interior since I've never been to any other Indian restaurant that I remember. Red and gold chairs around a double table cloth table, lots of random murals and at the back there was a shady bar area beside the kitchen. Also random scattered plasma TVs at the back with muted Bollywood videos running on them.

Hmm odd interior

A bit messy

Their tables were stained and a bit gross, so were their water glasses, crusted with maybe some old curries or something.

What is that?

Or that?

We decided to just order the lunch specials when we went in for a taste of their food. Firstly though, GARLIC AND CHEESE NAAN BREAD.

Oh my goddddddddddddd.

Oh god. It was so good. When the basket hit the table, there was this beautiful aroma of vampire killing amounts of crushed garlic, a cow worth of melted cheese and that distinctive smell of toasted carb loaded goodness. I think I nearly had a food orgasm when I bit into that first hunk of naan, it was burning hot even to my teflon baking fingers where I touched it. Oh that garlicky and salted brushed ghee hit, that crunchy blistered exterior yielding into soft flat bread and an abundance of yet more garlic and melted cheese. These were two massive halves here not two actual serves.

Stretchy. Like mozzarella with taste.

I was attempting to take a beautiful shot of how much cheese oozed out when I pulled off a bit to eat it but then I ate it and it was ruined. I would go here again and again just for that naan bread. I gave my Boyfriend half, begrudgingly.

So much, I was defeated.

I ordered a mango lassi, keen to try an authentic one. It was like a very, very thick mango yoghurt. Like unstrained Greek yoghurt level of thickness. I knew within three sips that I would be suffering from my lactose intolerance very shortly. It was nice but I wish there was like a kid's size one, I never thought I'd ever say that about a drink, ever, unless it was y'know total shit.

On the other hand, the lunch special curries we ordered weren't fantastic.

Lamb rogan josh

I got the lamb rogan josh. It consisted of a really lemony and mostly lentil dominated curry. The lentils ground and so felt a bit gritty on the tongue, I prefer my lentils whole and chewable, but personal preference. There was the occasional minced piece of lamb there but I was disappointed they weren't larger pieces like in the butter chicken. I didn't finish very much of this and proceeded to worship my naan instead.

This is where my camera started to get blurry randomly

He got the butter chicken. My boyfriend has a crazy love of butter chicken that has seen him single handedly try nearly Indian place both good and bad in West End, for butter chicken, within his $15 per meal budget that is. The sauce was quite rich with very large tender chunks of chicken in a mostly tomato dominated sauce. It was also quite salty, but dulled down a bit when added to the rice. Even to my inexperienced eyes, this curry was lacking a lot of fragrance and he agreed. He mentioned that it wasn't any better than a chain store $5 curry either.

Weird salad.

The garnish is odd. The rice was good.

The rice was solid. Rice is rice. The salad was weird, it was an odd combination of flavours with diced tomato, red onion and some lettuce leaves. No dressing and that's it.

Punjabi Palace:
Atmosphere: 5, its sorta cute. Its also a bit dark and dirty. I dunno. When I went past recently there's a shirtless fat Santa statue that is holding a surfboard.
Service: 4, we got water. We got out food. They weren't rude. Meh.
Food: That naan is a 10. The curries were a 1, my Boyfriend is telling me to write a 1.



Oh and the long ten day gap between my Peter's Fish Market and PPP: Obaltan and Chocolateria San Churro posts was due to the fact that the internet/phone lines were down in my area. I had quite a few posts written/partially written from when I had gone over to my Boyfriends/written on paper and stuff, but no internet connection to actually upload existing photos. Expect a barrage soon of new posts.

Also my most famous post is now my apple teacake/muffin recipe with 185 page views this month. Muffin is now the most searched term to get to my blog :)