Janani

Where to go for cheap and tasty Indian and Sri Lankan food? Janani of course. They claim to be open "continuously 7 days a week" and seem to be a good substitute if you can't find that kebab shop at 4 in the morning (or in Patrick's case, if you want Dosai for breakfast). The thing that sets this place apart from your run of the mill Indian restaurant is that they serve more than just curries and naan (although they have those too).

We started off this meal with guava and woodapple nectar. The guava nectar was refreshing but the woodapple nectar was a bit too sickly sweet.

Guava and Woodapple drinks

We also ordered a Marsala Dosai, a large crepe-like roll filled with curried potato and served with sambar and chutney...

Marsala Dosai

A Puri Pack, three large pieces of greasy puri bread accompanied with sambar, curried chickpeas and potatoes...

Puri Pack

Vegge String Hoppers, vermicelli-like noodles with chickpeas and veggies and lots of chili...

Vegge String Hoppers

And the Butter Chicken Package which consisted of a selection of five curries in addition to butter chicken, rasam, rice and a pappadam.

Butter Chicken Package

And dessert? They do have quite a few on offer but we were way too full... maybe next time.

Cumin

It wasn't easy chosing which Indian restaurant to eat at in Crows Nest. After walking past several Indian restaurants, we finally settled on Cumin. The thing that attracted us to this restaurant was the aroma of curries wafting down the street as we wandered along, trying to decide where to eat.

The dishes we ordered were all relatively mild in heat but rich in flavour. The Kesar Kasturi Murg was a dish of juicy chicken pieces in a saffron and sundried fenugreek leaf marinade served with mint yoghurt.

Kesar Kasturi Murg

Being huge fans of butter chicken, we could not go past the Murg Makhani, smoked marinated chicken cooked in a rich creamy tomato sauce subtly flavoured with fenugreek leaves. For a veggie dish, we ordered the Palak Paneer, a curry of cottage cheese cubes tossed in spinach, finished with garlic and cumin.

Murg Makhani and Palak Paneer

To accompany the curries, we ordered butter and garlic naan, Pudina Paratha (a wholemeal bread flavoured with mint) and rice. These were all perfect for mopping up the thick curry sauces from the Murg Makhani and Palak Paneer.

Garlic Naan

For a restaurant we accidentally stumbled upon, this place was definitely a winner and I'm looking forward to going back.