Voting begins for Geelong’s best Indian restaurant

The Addy’s search for Geelong’s best Indian restaurant continues and readers can now vote for the eatery they think is a cut above the rest. VOTE NOW.

Cafe Taj Express owner and chef Mohan Chaisir. Picture: Alison Wynd.

It’s time for the Geelong community to have their say on the region’s best Indian restaurant following the nomination of numerous venues that will ensure a hotly contested competition.

The is the latest instalment of the Geelong Addy’s Best of series.

Taj Cafe Express on Belmont’s High St is one of the nominees and owner and chef Mohan Chaisir said he was proud to be among the finalists.

“We have been open nearly eight years and I cook everything myself,” he said.

“I love cooking and communicating with customers.”

Mr Chaisir is from Nepal and has also worked in Malaysia and India as a chef.

“I’m a friendly person so I enjoy being around people,” he said.

“My passion is cooking and I have been doing it for 25 years.”

Mr Chaisir said his customers tended not to have a favourite dish, choosing instead to have as many as possible on one plate, including butter chicken and vegetable curry.

He said his three types of curry pies – chicken, lamb and vegetable – were also very popular.

Cafe Taj Express owner and chef Mohan Chaisir at his Belmont restaurant. Picture: Alison Wynd.

Hyderabad House has also been nominated and owner Mohammed Azher Uddin said it was recognition of the restaurant’s quality produce.

“We have been in Geelong for two years and have just relocated six weeks ago and it’s very good,” he said.

“We offer lunch and dinner every day and have a special buffet on weekends, which is very popular.”

Mr Azher Uddin said the people were his favourite part of operating the restaurant.

“My favourite thing is when we get new customers and we have a chance to introduce our south Indian food to new people and they are liking it,” he said.

“The cuisine is called Hyderabad, even in south India we are different and the origin of our dishes comes from the ancient kings of India.”

As part of the Addy’s Best of Geelong series, we are searching for the local business serving up the best Indian cuisine and customer service, combined with its overall appeal.

Nominated restaurants have been listed in alphabetical order and readers can vote using the poll below.

Voting closes Monday July 29 at 9am, with the winner announced soon after.

The Addy will also announce up to five other top-rating local businesses from the reader’s votes.

We have relaunched the Best of Geelong series to help our readers discover the incredible businesses and individuals in our community.

It works in three stages:

1. We put out an initial call for nominations over a two-day period. This happens on our various social media accounts, as well as on our website.

2. After nominations close, we launch voting on our website. The businesses or individuals that receive the highest number of nominations will progress to this stage.

3. Once voting has closed, the winner will be announced on our website (usually a few days after the voting has concluded). At the same time we will also announce up to nine other businesses with the highest amount of votes.

*The Geelong Advertiser reserves the right to disqualify any entries to the Best Of competition.

Originally published as Voting begins for Geelong’s best Indian restaurant