Curry Cafe Northcote — Restaurant in Melbourne

I regularly order from Curry Café and have always been impressed. The team has vision, creativity and clearly a passion for cooking amazing Indian food. They put their own spin on each meal and step it up a notch.

I recall the first time I tried their ‘Lamb Pasanda’… I was so excited by the aromas that I ran to show my housemate spilled half the sauce on the couch in my excited mad rush to share the joy… It’s not often that food invokes such a reaction.

Last week I ordered the ‘Lamb Chops’, beautiful, succulent and tasty morsels of meat that had been marinated in cardamom yoghurt and cooked in the tandoor, giving it a lovely smoky BBQ flavour. I couldn’t resist the urge and ended up holding the lamb chop in my hand and just ripping into it like a cave woman which is a pretty big statement coming from someone who has been known to eat a burger with a knife and fork in order to avoid getting her hands dirty….

The customer service is second to none. They always call to confirm my order, they let me know if there will be a slight delay during peak times and are amazingly quick to correct any oversights (which have been few and far between)…

Thanks for the consistently amazing food guys! You have an avid fan here. PS-Just a quick update years later to say, I STILL miss Curry Cafe. I moved locations sadly :-( so have been unable to enjoy their delights.

I do however want to remind people that if there is an issue with Ubereats or Menulog app, this is not in control of the restaurant! it is a pet peeve of mine when I see people commenting on this and including it as part of their review. If you're going to rate a restaurant make sure you are on point and fair. How would you like to be reviewed on something that you had zero control over!

Looking back, I only had amazing experiences and the staff were ALWAYS friendly! I still miss their curries even a few...

CASH ONLY - no warning on entry!

Wanted to try the place because we walked past a few times and it’s always packed and smalls great. The menu looked awesome too with a nice variety of food.

Sadly just didn’t really live up to it. Authenticity is meh. Didn’t even ask us for the level of spice we wanted (which is standard for most Indian restaurants unless they just by default give you the real heat levels 🔥). So, came out a bit blander than I’d like for Indian food. Can see why mild curry fans would like this place? Definitely tailored for a non-authentic crowd.

Was busy for a Saturday. We were seated outdoors - half in the rain. Acknowledging that’s the only table we could get - sure. Most of the food was just “thrown” on the table and landed with a thud. And then also just kept listening to the manager apologising to the customers behind us about wrong orders... alarming? And then our order went wrong... and responded with some sass comment when we tried to cancel it. 🙈🙉🙊

To enlighten the experience, at the counter we were told it was a cash only place. Absolutely no signs indicating otherwise at the entrance. Who goes in and asks if a place takes card these days? Considering hygiene post CoViD (most places take card now?) and even the kebab store accepts bank transfers in lieu of card? Anyways, had to trek a mile in the rain go grab some Melbourne dollars 💸 and considering the price they charge for cash only, you’re probably better off going to some place along Sydney Rd for real Indian food - cheaper, more authentic, better service and probably takes...

Generally, we all enjoyed our meal here. We're not sure how the Happy Hour meals work as we ordered from the menu with drinks but still got charged for the full price. They don't offer this deal to non-drinkers. However, the food was tasty. If you like sweet curries, the Lamb Pasanda is sweet and creamy. The Dhal Makani was okay, a bit runny and couldn't taste the flavours due to the spice level. After our meals, we could mostly just taste the chilli and only the strong flavoured curries like the Pasanda or Pumpkin came through. So we recommend starting with the plain curries first so you can taste them, rather mix them on your plate with other curries like we did. The curries work better with a side of raita as a palette refresher in between curries. We forgot to order this but this would have made it much more enjoyable. The curries come in little bowls which is just enough for one or to share with other curries between 2-4 people. The house rice was perfectly cooked too. The place is a bit cramped though and can get very noisy so it's a very bustling little place. Come early for the best experience when there are fewer folks so you can chat to your mates or order a takeaway and eat on the lawn at the park nearby. Service was great. Be aware they don't split bills and there is a card surcharge of 10%. It was about $60 each for a curry, rice and...