The Cheapest Thing on the Menu- North Indian Flavour

Cost: $12.98

Location: 23LP-432 George Street, Sydney

Picture the George Street cinema block as you’re walking down to Chinatown, walk past the cinemas and pub, and you’ll come across a small take-away store which serves up authentic Indian food to go! Which was a bit of a rarity for this part of the city when it first opened in 2020, after Lord of the Fries shut down (a victim of COVID). But at North Indian Flavour, for $12.98 you can get a takeaway box with a curry of your choice with rice. And if you pay an extra $1, you can have 2 choices (but served up in the same size container, so you’re actually getting the same amount of food in smaller portions). On this day, I chose one of their vegetarian options (wouldn’t have an idea what it’s called), just to mix things up a bit from my usual Butter chicken order.

Portioning: It’s not the largest of takeaway containers (it’s the standard plastic rectangle takeaway containers but on the flatter side, reserved for regular/small servings), and you usually get more curry than you get rice. But they’re very generous with their proteins though, the meat to everything else ratio is always ridiculous!    

Tastiness: You know it’s a good thing when most of the clientele are also Indian! *Smile*. The flavours are what you’d expect from each classic dish, however I find their curry sauces to be a bit thin, like if they have been watered down a bit to produce more of it, not as thick as it ought to be if you had the same at a proper sit-down restaurant.

Quality: I find that Indians are really good at cooking meats! They’re never under or over, but always just right, as their slow cook method of stewing their food results in much better outcomes than say Thai wok fried curries which result in overcooked meats. So North Indian Flavour always has perfectly cooked meats, chunky chicken pieces when I get Butter chicken, meaty chunks of goat on the bone when my wife orders the Goat curry, and many tofu like dumplings in my vego curry this night (but it was spicy though).    

Value for money: I personally think their single curry and rice has gone up in price, but what hasn’t these days! But being the cheapest thing on the menu I was happy that I was able to have choices! As usually on the cheap end you only get 2-3 options. While I personally think the single curry and rice option is more worthwhile than paying a dollar extra to have 2 curries, as it just means that you get less of everything!

In the end, it’s a quick and cheap option for a mid-week meal when you’re in a hurry (for some curry). But when you’re not rushing (or attempting to only eat the cheapest thing on menus), their cooked to order dishes are even better! The Naan bread is particularly good and my personal favourite, as it’s always nice and Smokey from being touched by fire! And their freshly cooked Biryani is to die for! Although these days it’s over $20 a box, but it’s twice the size of the single curry box and often serves 2 if you supplement it with some Naan. I definitely know what I’m going to have once this year-long challenge comes to an end!