Chillipadi – Food trail Part 2
Shop Oe7 Menzies Aly Little Lonsdale St
Melbourne, 3000
03 9663 5688
If you missed out on part 1 of this food slog, please see HERE.
… and to think that we were approaching the end of our feast with a full and satisfied stomach, Robert (aka Uncle Robert) suggested us to try some of their Chilli Indian food… GAWD, HELP US!!!! Being a food blogger, one has become accustomed to accepting whatever food that comes our way, regardless of how much we have already put down our gullet – a sad fact of life!
Kandar Indian fish curry – With a Southern slant to the curry, there is no coconut used to help bring together the flavours, and thus relies heavily on a rich blend of spices and aromatics to coat the chunky bits of fish in mouth watering flavour. This was a clear favourite around the table, but again I find (having previously stayed in Kerala, India for several weeks) the heat is very much toned down to accommodate the breadth of diners here in Melbourne. In fact I vividly remember when I was first served this dish at a host family’s house in India, my mouth and lips burnt up and numbed out… it was THAT hot!
Dosai – a gigantic and beautifully rolled crepe made from rice flour – commonly eaten in the Southern states of India – served with three side dishes on a very typical metal tray. We baulked a little at how to eat this or rather who would be the first to make a mess of it. The dosai was certainly paper thin and snaps easily. I don’t recall what side dishes were on offer, but is generally served with chutney, pickles and/or curry.
Tandoori chicken with biryani rice – chicken is tender and succulent, though lacks the fiery red of chilli powder and cayenne pepper commonly seen in the Tandoors (clay ovens) of India. Though not essential, I really wanted some papadums to break into my biryani.
Butter chicken + roti chanai – an absolutely rich and creamy soup of butter chicken, great for dipping the roti chanai in and adding centimetres to the waist, *Shhhhh!!! I thought I had mistaken, but upon a little reading, roti canai (pictured behind the butter chicken) is in fact very similar to porotta (of Kerala). Not sure if the traditional puffing of the dough is used here, but it is pretty damn good – flaky, airy and very buttery.
Roti tisu (aka Roti Tissue) – was a towering cone of thin crepe like roti, drizzled in ample amounts of chocolate syrup and condensed milk. Fattening +++ … but ironically it was polished off in a matter of minutes. I thought people were full already? Clearly not ey!
To finish off, Auntie Li brought out some green tea that is infused with rosemary to help with digestion. The floral notes in the tea was refreshing indeed, but sad to say, drinking any form of liquid after eating is rather counterintuitive to digestion… but that theory I shall leave for another day =P.
For other reviews see also: The Learner Chef, I’m so hungreeee, Iron Chef Shellie (to be posted), The Bake-a-Nista (to be posted).
Rating: Yummy, edging on +1. I have no doubts I will return to Chillipadi, but probably when I’m not so full from all this eating! We all stumbled out of the place, regretting eating so much…
[Meal courtesy of Li & Robert at Chillipadi, and Ashley from Food pampering]
You may also like: Spice Temple, Pan Asian, HuTong.
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Yours truly,
Almost Always Ravenous.
Almost Always Ravenous 
Somehow I’m not surprised that you managed to pack so much in! I’ve seen you eat and have heard much about your magnificent appetite! Great write up too 😛
Woohoo what a good roti canai boy picture! And the Dosai looks so loooong and HUGE. Great post!
That shot of the dosai is *amazing*! I have serious blurry-blog-induce envy 😉 Also, I would’ve happily helped you finish the dessert! off to read Part One now 🙂
msihua – what’s that supposed to mean ey? =P
Ashley + Hannah – thanks. dosai was HUGE wasn’t it? Too bad I can’t remember what the side dishes were… i think one of them was a white chutney, and possibly pickles… hmm.