‘Venue made for the cost-of-living crisis’: Where to get dinner for two for $26
Delicious curries, lots of choice and reasonable prices are on the menu at this casual Indian eatery.
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Hang on, what’s this? Two robustly flavoured curries, condiments and a large flatbread for $26 and it’s enough for two people?
We’re at Tapri restaurant in Rosalie village in Brisbane’s inner-west, where reasonably priced food and a $3 corkage fee for BYO make it seem like it’s a venue made to measure for the cost-of-living crisis.
The Indian street food eatery, with its name inspired by the country’s roadside tea stalls serving chai and hot food, is a budget friendly newer sibling of adjoining Old Monk Modern Indian, which opened first in 2022 serving more conventional Indian restaurant fare such as tiger prawn masala and goat curry in a slightly plusher setting.
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Tapri’s fit-out is fairly basic, with cushion-free wooden banquettes and booth seating, outdoor-style chairs and an Indian flavour delivered by a section of rickshaw looming out of one wall, an artfully deployed milk pail, bicycle and scooter out the front, a teashop mural inside and a hot pink neon sign scrawled across the back wall saying “I like you but I’m a little chai”.
Bare tables are topped with metal cylinders filled with cutlery, a serviette dispenser and a stack of paper cups for water, which is delivered in a stoppered bottle.
The eatery isn’t licensed and we’ve bought a bottle of wine at Wine Experience, a bottle shop and bar on the other side of the road, and we’re promptly delivered wine glasses and an ice bucket. Those seeking non-alcoholic options could choose from Tapri’s selection of chais, mango or salted lassis and various softdrinks.
The menu is quite extensive and begins with a range of light savoury snacks, sandwiches (perhaps with a chicken tikka or grilled vegetable and chutney filling), 13 street food items from crisp fried lentil pasties to dahl, kulchas (stuffed northern Indian flatbreads), parathas (flaky flatbread), Indian-Chinese dishes and southern Indian dosas (crisp crepes).
Having no idea of the size of the dishes, we share a samosa channa chat ($17) as a starter and it turns out to be two of the triangular spiced potato mixture-filled pastries topped with an appealing textural mix of yoghurt, chutneys, sev (crunchy noodles made from chickpea flour), chickpeas and pomegranate, which makes it rather substantial for something listed as a “light snack dish”.
The previously mentioned two-curry meal arrives in a metal, sectioned platter with lamb and chicken curries, yoghurt raita and an onion salad and an excellent, large, charry, clay-oven baked, crunchy-bottomed leavened flatbread sprinkled with black and white sesame seeds and topped with a stick of butter. The robust curries don’t pull any punches and are deliciously full flavoured.
Dosas, thin crispy savoury South Indian crepes made from fermented rice and lentil batter, come with lentil soup, coconut chutney and tomato chutney as well as a choice of various additional items. The Tapri Special Matka dosa ($22) arrives with a clay pot filled with lamb, chicken or my choice of paneer (soft cheese) cooked in deeply flavoured sauce. The dosa arrives poking out the top of a clay pot like a baked version of the cones that dogs wear on their heads after they’ve been to the vet. It keeps its crispness as we break chunks off and slather them with smears of the paneer and chutneys.
Dessert is a bridge too far for us but there are the likes of gulab jamun, the deep-fried dough balls in syrup or kulfi, an ice-cream with flavourings such as cardamom or saffron.
Service is functional but friendly with questions answered when orders are taken at the table, while payment is made at the bar.
Not only is this fare hearty, with items you’re unlikely to make at home unless you have a clay oven, the prices mean you’re also unlikely to suffer indigestion when you get the bill.
Tapri
2/151 Baroona Rd, Paddington
tapribne.com.au
Open
Seven days 11am-10pm
Must try
Tapri special
kulcha thali
Verdict
Food
Service
Ambience
Value
Overall
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