Vanakam ... my kind of curry!!

Ok ... another CBA friday night when M felt like fish at the Station but the place was chockers!!! So driving back into Footscray proper we chanced by a new joint called Vanakam (which means Welcome in Tamil) ... not a single cauc in sight which was enough of a recommendation for us.

We started off with M's favourite starter - a Vadai in Samba ... a little too heavy on the evaporated milk but the samba itself was on the money! Just the right amount of tanginess and the usual hint of South Indian's triumvirate - curry leaves, mustard seeds and dried chilli.

We followed this with Lamb Shukka which was dry fried lamb with a ton of shallots, green chillies and curry leaves.

And we also had something curiously called Fish 65 - sort of a tandoori of battered fish which was surprisingly non-oily. A little on the sweet side but moreish nonetheless.

For the mains we had a spicy chicken curry called a Chicken Chettinadu which was typically South Indian in flavour and a punch of a dhal with spinach ... a green lentil mess that was out of this world! I reckon it was cooked with frozen spinach but don't let that put you off ... I am dying to replicate this at home.

For carbs we ordered a Lamb Briyani ... and I warn you, if you do not like the taste of strong lamb, avoid this dish. The lamb pieces were bony and hardly had any meat, but the lamb flavour was suffused throughout the rice.

And like Jack White says:

"my left brain knows that all love is fleeting
she's just looking for something new
and I said it once before but it bears repeating now"

Go Go Go!!!