Diwali

Diwali is a traditional Indian celebration which is about food and dancing and being together. It is also about lights and Buddha and every year it is held at Federation Square. The big finale is on Saturday with the fireworks.

It is a family tradition observed every year in India

But I did not visit on Saturday. I figured that there was too many people, hence the Friday night visit at the beginning.

 The Coles people were there as they support Diwali and Indian foods. They offered some free biscuits for everyone,

Love the decorations

Jalebi

At Autorickshaw

The entertainment was great
At Autorickshaw I had the chickpea curry with pickled red onion and naan the traditional Indian way for $10. It was not too spicy and it went down a treat. In fact this did not take long to prepare.

The chola was light and it was about 50 cals on myfitnesspal. Chola is an Indian bread, like dosa except a little bit sweeter.

The Jalebi was good but by the end it was sickingly sweet. I bought this for $5 for 5 small pieces.

I did not go home empty handed. Instead I brought home some rice and Indian breakfast.

Many thanks to the City of Melbourne for this successful event.

Gaylord Indian Restaurant

Gaylord Indian restaurant has been around for quite some time but I never had a chance to visit until now.

The sauces for the big group

The veggies made me drool

The service was slow. But then again there was a banquet and a bigger group. But the parathas on the table were a nice touch and I couldn't help myself to it. We were all hungry.

The larger group were all Indians which was lovely to see. This reassured me that the food was traditionally Indian.

To start off with I enjoyed their mango lassi. Here a mango lassi is an Indian drink full of rosewater, mango and milk. This took a while to come. But when it did it was cool and refreshing.

The entrees of fried cheese for vegetarians were really lovely. It was creamy and lightly fried.

The onions in the chicken and beef dish were caramelised well and had that sweetness about it.

For mains there was the curry. I had the fish curry and rice and then I had to scoot for the train. The fish curry was lovely and creamy and not too spicy. I'm not too sure about the meat ones since I had to leave and I'm not a huge fan of meat.

Many thanks to Study Melbourne for the invite and hope to see you again soon

The Luna Winter night market

The Luna night market is on again this year and it is always exciting as their summer night market. We talk about our experiences at this night market.

This is at the Queen Victoria Market and it is on every Wednesday night from 5pm-10pm. There are huge lines everywhere for stuff. There are not as many stalls as the summer night market and everything is undercover. Whilst in the summer there is sangria, at the winter night market there is mulled wine.

Warming up by the fire

I came after 7pm and there were huge crowds of people and no parking available. For those that live in the country you should take the train to Southern Cross station and then just walk. It is about a 20 min walk and you will be burning about 50 calories. If you walk back then you'd burn about 100 calories. And if you're like me and can't stomach a lot for dinner then you should do two trips if you can or share. I did two trips.

The first one I had just vegetarian curry at Drums café. It was just before 7:30pm that I got there. I wasn't served until about 7:45pm. My vegetarian curry meal was $10 and they do stellar meals. Roti was an extra $3

Now compare that with the second time where there were not so many people. The curry was much better at Autorickshaw and it too was a mere $10. All the ingredients were really fresh.There were no lines this time and I got my meal in a flash. I had time to enjoy a few short films from Swinburne University students and support their work.

Which stall do you like the best? Do comment below.

Indian night at the Couch

RNIS was invited by Chai Junction to this free event

The event was held on a windy Thursday night at the Couch where 200 people turned up for a night of fun and dancing. And eating.

Indians love to eat and they love their spicy food. Here the food from Delhi Rocks was not too spicy and in fact Delhi Rocks had a discount for students which is half price meals at their café in the city (deets are down the bottom).

Sadly Melbourne doesn't have that many Indian places in the city. They are all either in the west, south and north of the city.

I really loved their samosas without the sauce. The curry in there was really good and I'm glad that Delhi Rocks catered to the vegetarians that night. I also enjoyed the fried onion.

Who could say no to sweets? Certainly not I and I enjoyed the gulab jarmun (which is a round sweet in syrup). The Asians from China might not get it and the other things but they were good.

But first up was spring rolls and mini samosas which by 6:30pm everybody seemed to favor these.

Then came the Bollywood dancing which was fun for all and many students participated.

Many thanks to the Couch and Chai Junction for having me.

Babaji's

RNIS was invited to Babaji's and did not have to pay
As part of Bupa's best blog competition for 2015

Babaji's is an Indian street food stall which goes to various markets and things and its run by a husband and wife.

The owner was lovely to me and they just started last year.

Satay skewers

The menu always changes from week to week but they post it on Facebook and they post their times as well as things change. You order and pay, then grab a ticket and wait for your order to come

They make everything themselves including the salsa which was darn good and it comes with the samosa chaat (a samosa and three salads and curry). Yum. The salads were just gorgeous. The samosa was a bit unusally sweet on one end. But I loved the potato inside though and the spices. It was also slightly lukewarm from being in the bain marie for so long. Not that I minded as I was full afterwards.

I saw someone else having a dosa (Indian rolled pancake, usually with fillings inside) and they enjoyed it. But they didn't enjoy the salsa as much. They in fact left it on the side even after I told them it was homemade with fresh tomatoes.

Rating: 14/20. Keep up to date with their Facebook page.

Best chai in melbourne

As part of Bupa's best blog competition for 2015

Chai is a milky Indian sweet tea. Although this is found in India it is not so common in Melbourne.

Here are some places that do good chai teas
Journal- Here they have the biggest Chai to date for $4.
Realfoods- they do a great chai.
The original Chai stall also does such teas.
Many of the Organic places do great chais as well.

Or you can make your own at home
Here's how (the recipe is from food.com, btw)

Ingredients:

Yield:

2-3

Units: US | Metric

• 4 whole cloves
• 2 cardamom pods
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
• 3 cups water
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons black tea (decaf is best)

Directions:

1. 1
   In a mortar, crush the cloves, cardamom pods and cinnamon, or use a coffee grinder.
2. 2
   Transfer the crushed spices to a small saucepan, add the water, ginger and pepper and bring to a boil.
3. 3
   Remove the pan from the heat, cover and let steep for 5 minutes.
4. 4
   Add the milk and sugar to the pan and bring to a boil.
5. 5
   Remove from the heat and add the tea.
6. 6
   Cover and let steep for 3 minutes.
7. 7
   Stir the chai, then strain it into a warmed teapot or directly into teacups.
8. 8
   Enjoy!

Get that India

Get That India is a Indian- western fusion place that specializes in burgers. They do curries as well but that's not what you go there for.

Their speciality burger which is not included in the Groupon

The wall where you can write a message

Ok the place is just a stone's throw away from Prahran station and the number 72 tram from the city passes the place. It is on Commercial road.

I went there on my way to the Showgrounds for the International food festival having read that the food is pretty pricey there for tiny serves. I bought a Groupon a while back for $10 for a meal deal (their meal deals are normally $17).

The girls behind the counter were very friendly and knowledgeable. But I think they forgot to ask me which bun I wanted the burger on; there are two choices as you can see in the picture above- brioche and wholemeal. Sauces are $1 extra but they make it themselves.

The burgers are to die for . Here I had a vegetarian burger which was well made and demolished within minutes. I was starving by the way. I loved how they used raita instead of mayonnaise as the raita blends in well with everything. I.e the tomato chutney

Burger and chips

Close up of my burger

I also enjoyed their spicy chips. They were so addictive. The meal came with mayonnaise which was pretty good and went well with the spicy chips.

Rating: 17/20 Better than Grill'd anyday.

Do come to this Indian fusion as this one is the first one in Melbourne.

The Lunchbox @Cinema Nova

RNIS was invited by South Melbourne Market and by Madman Entertainment

The motto of the movie is " A little pinch of happiness can change your life". Directed by Ritesh Barvesh this story brings together a man and a woman by food.

This month is Foodies month and Truffle season and hence this was the perfect time for the release of the film.

The movie is based on a true story about a lunchbox being delivered to the wrong place. The wife was supposed to deliver the lunchbox using India's lunchbox service to her husband. But instead it goes to an office worker who is a lot older and lost his wife. It is a funny and dramatic movie which talks about the life of a lonely man and about one of a lonely woman- Ila whose husband has cheated on her. Her aunt lives in the flat above and she is very close..

The husband is very distant towards Ila. Ila is always home alone

At the end of the movie we did not want to leave . It was just that good ( see the trailer above)

Before the movie we had a chance to check out the Nova Cinema bar which offers limited food during the day. NB: we paid for our meals ourselves. The meals are small but are fine and you can take them into the movie itself. The service was very friendly.

They are open from 12pm- late.

Thanks Madman for this fine movie and you can go and watch it yourself in selected cinemas. It is $19 per adult but if you go on Mondays it is $6 at Cinema Nova.
Here is the address for Cinema Nova and their bar.

Tandoori Flames

RMIT Newintstudents was a guest of Tandoori Flames. All thoughts are their own

Tandoori Flames has been opened for a few months now. There is one in Kinglake, Yarraville and now one in Footscray. Here I was met by one of the workers who said that the owner was not well. So he didn't make it. However the worker was very friendly and answered all of my questions well.

Light- look at all the jewels. It reminds me of a palace

The ones that were there was us. For the most of the time people book for dinner rather than lunch as they are only really opened for dinner every night and lunch during the weekends. They are on the busy Barkly st, but on the side where all the houses are. It is about a ten minute walk from the West Footscray station and a one minute walk from the bus stop.

Love all the Indian decorations

Elephants

For those that prefer delivery they have this service via Menulog where if you opt for pick up and order more than $50 worth of stuff you'll get a $10 discount.

For starters I tried the Fish Tikka ($13 for 5 five pieces and salad). It had that smokey flavour but it was a little bit dry as it was overcooked. The mint sauce was nice though

For mains I had the vegetarian noodles which fed me well. For $11.50 it was more of side given the small bowl serving. I was expecting the big fat noodles, but instead I got the small ones.

The naan however was great. It tasted like pizza and had just come out of the oven. It was that GARLICKY.

The drink (Nimbi Panni, $4.50) tasted like a samosa. I can never get used to drinking a samosa. But once after a while I got used to the taste. The black stuff is the Indian spices. What is in that drink is lime, lemon, sugar and a little bit of salt.

Not too sure if I'd travel far for this place but if they opened up in the city that would be great. That and maybe home delivery.

It's not exactly for the poorest of students, rather its for those that love to share.