Located on the busy Johnston Street in Collingwood, Punjabi Curry Cafe is a prime example of a restaurant which you should not judge by it's cover. Having driven past Punjabi Curry Cafe many times on my way to the city, the shopfront has never caught my eye, as it is quite cluttered and doesn't really draw much positive attention. However, after seeing the interior of the restaurant and trying the food they had to offer we were pleasantly surprised.
Interior
Punjabi tandoori platter
The Punjabi tandoori platter was definitely our favourite dish of the night. It was exciting trying all the different flavours from the use of different spices and meats and the aroma definitely got our appetite going. The lamb cutlets were especially worthy of praise, as my friend who usually does not enjoy lamb found them amazing.
Vegetable platter
The vegetable platter allowed us to try an assortment of their vegetarian entree dishes, such as the samosa, pakora, onion bahji and aloo tikki. The different flavours and textures presented in each of the elements on the dish gave us an insight into their use of spices and ingredients. The texture of each entree on the dish was wildly variant, where some of the large pieces were just a large mass of mush and others were so hard that biting into it hurt my mouth. This would have been less of a problem if the size of the pieces on the dish were reduced.
Garlic naan
Butter chicken
The butter chicken at Punjabi Curry Cafe is one of their most popular dishes and I can definitely understand why. The marinated pieces of chicken are cooked in butter, coriander, tomato and ginger to create a dish of tender and flavourful chicken in a smooth and mellow butter sauce.
Aloo Gosht
The Aloo Gosht was quite similar to the butter chicken in the way that the spices and potatoes combined to make a great base for the dish in terms of flavour and texture. However, the one difference in how the dishes were made was an important one. The Aloo Gosht was a dish which had slow cooked beef as it's main ingredient and although this process made it so the beef was not tough, it still left the beef quite dry and stringy.
Initially we were a little skeptical due to the appearance of the restaurant, but we quickly found that you should not judge a book by it's cover. Although both the restaurant and the staff were quiet during the night and there were a few shortcomings in the dishes we were served, we still definitely enjoyed the food and found it delicious. I would definitely recommend giving Punjabi Curry Cafe a try, whether it be take-away or dine in, as the food is good and set at a reasonable price point.
We were invited by and dined courtesy of Punjabi Curry Cafe.
Initially we were a little skeptical due to the appearance of the restaurant, but we quickly found that you should not judge a book by it's cover. Although both the restaurant and the staff were quiet during the night and there were a few shortcomings in the dishes we were served, we still definitely enjoyed the food and found it delicious. I would definitely recommend giving Punjabi Curry Cafe a try, whether it be take-away or dine in, as the food is good and set at a reasonable price point.
We were invited by and dined courtesy of Punjabi Curry Cafe.
Food Rating 8.5/10
Overall Rating 7.5/10