Funky Curry
+613 9662 2299
The name of this establishment always provides me with some amusement, as I’m not quite sure whether it alludes to a trendy meal or a terrible bout of delhi belly. Alas, I can attest to the fact that I haven’t suffered any ill effects from my visits, so the curries must truly be funky (in the cool sense of the word ;-)).
Funky Curry isn’t about fine dining. In fact I normally baulk at the sight of a dreaded bain marie. But I suggest you check your reservations at the door, and embrace the idea of the germ incubator (aka. bain marie) and cafeteria/jail style metal trays.
For $6.90 you get what is considered their small plate (above). It is by no means small, so venture here on an empty stomach. You can fill your plate with any choice of rice, meat curries, vegetable curries and dhal. My bent is towards vegetarian options - so above is a vegetable korma (with real frozen vegetable dice), a moreish pumpkin curry, and an eggplant and potato aloo. Steamed plain or saffron rice accompanies, and for an extra dollar or two you get some naan.
It’s cheap and it’s tasty. It might not be the best Indian you’ll ever eat, but just remember, it’s funky.
Written by mellie on
November 13th, 2006 | Tags: cafes, Indian, restaurants | Category: Uncategorized
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November 20th, 2006 at 11:15 pm
I always feel that food it to be enjoyed. Not something you ‘have’ to have to survive. I’ve met people who really don’t enjoy food as such but really just eat cause they have to.
Anyway I went to a similar place to this a while back. Somewhere a friend invited me to and was personally horrified. As you say they serve the food on tray’s like you are in a jail, out of a festering bain marie.
Ugghh personally it isn’t appealing to me. I’d rather spend $20 and get a plate than $6.90 and feel like I’m in the caferteria at Barwon.
Don’t take offence though… just how I feel.
November 21st, 2006 at 2:37 am
Ah, the funky curry experience. I went there for the first time a few months ago, and subsequent visits have all been the same - good, quick, cheap. I agree about bain marie’s, but have you seen this place at lunchtime? The turnover is pretty quick, so I guess that can limit the number of germs you can get from the food lying around.
For me, at this place the food makes it a bargain for the price - they could charge a bit more and I’d fairly happily go along with it. And in my case, I don’t have that much money to spare for a lunch meal! It hardly stands up to the “Indian Roast Restaurant” standards I get at home, but it’s good all the same.
bb: fair comments. And I’d usually agree with your opinion.
November 21st, 2006 at 10:02 am
far from being “jail” trays, these metal trays, or thali, are quite traditional in India. the multiple compartments allows one to sample a selection of dishes, much like a Japanese bento.
I also believe that curries somehow lend themselves to bain maries; the longer it sits there infusing all the flavours, the better it tastes
Finally, a $20 minimum criteria would not allow one to enjoy the sheer pleasure of hawker food on the streets of Singapore, Bangkok or Hong Kong, where I had some of the best meals in my life in less than salubrious surroundings. I note, too, that the celebrated but now sadly deceased R W Apple Jr, of the New York Times, chose a run-down shabby place in Mumbai that serves awesome king crabs as one of his meals that’s worth a plane ticket.
I agree that food should be more than fuel, but as the majority of the CBD student population would attest, cheap meals have their place.
November 22nd, 2006 at 11:24 am
Hey bb - I take no offence…you are completely entitled to your opinion. But fact of the matter is I rarely blog a place that I find unappealing*. And despite its dirt cheap lunch special price, Funky Curry does a surprisingly good meal. Yes, I took a dislike to the frozen veg dice in one particular course. but the eggplant and potato aloo was lip smackingly good, the pumpkin curry completely moreish, and the naan right on. So yes, like you, I normally baulk at a bain marie, but in this instance I make an exception. And I totally agree with you on one point - food is certainly to be enjoyed. Isn’t this blog absolute testament to the fact that I live by that very tenet?
Hi Anna - exactamundo. Not everyone can afford to pay $20 for lunch every day. It’s a real bonus when one can find a tasty/decent/funky meal in the CBD, that is also cheap(ish).
Hey EG
- I think the thali is an excellent way of serving food - especially when you are sampling a few different dishes. It certainly saves on washing up five different bowls! Also I think sometimes people can get a little precious about food/dining. Yeah…I’m certainly up there as a card carrying flag bearing gourmand, but crikey people…food is to be enjoyed. And whether I paid $6.90 for it or $60.90 is inconsequential. If I like it and feel satisfied, then I’m happy. One of my better food memories is paying 20c for an empanada in a shack of a bakery in Pisac, Peru. And I’m just glad I didn’t get all snooty and think that because it was cheap, it was below me to eat it.
* ((cough)) jackie’s kitchen ((cough))
May 30th, 2007 at 6:36 am
yOU WHINGEING AND WHINING INSIGNIFICANT SODS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At last there is a place that will offer to you decent food at a decent price and now you go off on a tangent like you are a food critic for “the London times”
oh fuck off.
While your opinions may be considered to be of some value, you all really need to get over your own importance and self indignation!
Someone actually provides to you exactly what you are looking for and you are not HAPPY!
OH poor baby………….
May 30th, 2007 at 10:21 am
please note that any abuse or inappropriate language directed at anyone on this blog will not be tolerated. if such behaviour persists, we will delete the posts and/or report the poster to his/her’s Internet Service Provider.
everyone’s views and opinions should be respected and abuse will not be tolerated.
May 30th, 2007 at 11:56 am
Anon - I don’t know if you noticed, but my review is actually a positive one?!?! Yes, it had the element of tongue in cheek about it, but I never said I wasn’t happy.
May 31st, 2007 at 1:13 am
mellie and EG - spineless little twits who put their own interpretation on what they read but don’t have the guts to identify themselves while hurling (infantile) abuse at others will always abound.
On the positive side, there are plenty of people who read this blog regularly who know said twits are full of **it.