Chilli India

Going to be frank.

These photos are ugly as anything.

But the food is delicious.

Malaysian and Indian food tends to annoy me in that aspect, curries, noodles, roti, dahl, it's all either brown, orange or yellow. Most of the time. And frankly, that doesn't translate very well through the lens.

Still, I have to at least try to show you what Brad, Marz, Tegan and I chowed down on before seeing Tron: Legacy (which I liked. I'm a bit of a graphics whore though, so shiny things tend to get my attention!). Chilli India, is the smaller cousin of Chillipadi who are right next door in Melbourne Central. It's run by a bunch of lovely Indian boys who serve good, authentic, honest, South Indian food. This includes freshly made, on the spot, roti. Yeah. I'm not kidding.

Whilst Chilli India was a quick meal, we ended up hanging around a lot longer than we expected, enjoying our food, enjoying each other's company, that we nearly ended up late for our movie!

After ordering a couple of beers from Chillipadi next door (and having a good chortle over some Engrish we encountered in the menu), we started with some onion pakora, bite sized pieces of onion lightly fried. Perfect beer nibbles. Seriously. Enough salty, and more onion than your typical onion ring, lots of lovely flavour. Yet crunchy. Mmmmm.

Marz and Tegan each ordered a roti (traditional flaky break, eaten with curry in Singapore and Malaysia typically), Marz got a chilli roti, freshly made roti with chillies dotted throughout and Tegan ordered a paneer cheese roti. Cheese in hot, freshly made roti. Yeah, say it with me again. Cheese and hot roti. Mmmmm?!

I'm sorry. I can't remember what curries everyone had, but every bowl was licked (or wiped with roti) clean. Most of the curries here really have some nice heat behind them, a complex mix of spices and that lovely warming feeling that circulates in the back of your mouth afterwards.

I got a dosai. A chickpea dosai. Again, freshly made to order. Dosai is something very typical of Southern Indian food, sort of a thin pancake made with rice flour and lentils. It's got a bit of a tang to it which I quite like and this variation is absolutely stuffed with chickpeas and potatoes, with a quiver of a curry. Flavour. You can also get meat ones, for you meat lovers, filled with lamb or chicken, or you can also just get it plain and dip it in the dahl and chutney that comes with it. Or get more curry.

It's so big I can't fit it in my 50mm lens.

So here's a shot mid eating!

Silly me thought that the biryani's were quite small and thought I could fit in one with my dosai. Not such a smart idea. And I was sincerely upset to not have a second stomach so that I could eat more. Hearty and filled with different spice flavours.

It was quite a cheap and excessively filling meal, with everything, including a few drinks, costing us under $20 per person, making it good value for money. It's nothing fancy (no indoor seating), it's nothing complicated, but it is good and I feel a bit underrated. Although maybe that's good, so that people aren't taking up my table space when I want me some dosai...

Chilli India

Menzies Lane Melbourne VIC 3000

(03) 9639 3866