~ Curious Charlie ~

Red Pepper Revisted @ Sunday, August 30, 2015

10th & 25th August - Pictures are a mix of phone & camera, due to spontaneous visit.

We first started going to Red Pepper in 2013 according to the blog :P I don't recall how I found it, or even how I discovered Indian food. We never ate Indian food growing up, only American, pasta and Japanese/Vietnamese food.

Since 2013 Red Pepper have updated the place. From a dinning hall to a place that has ambiance where you could take a date. Here's what it used to look like.

As I really wasn't planning on going out to dinner tonight all the pictures were taken with the phone and there was ambiance lighting. But here's some great pictures from 2014.

Red Pepper does very good Indian. How do I know that? From outside you could see most of the customers are Indian. Also we saw someone we knew from theatre, she's an international student from India.

I'm open to trying new things. Doesn't mean I'll like it but I'll give it a go. Tonight we ordered completely new dishes, no butter or tandoori chicken or paneer butter malsa.

The New Interior

Paper Chandelier

Plain Lassi $2 - I love mango lassi but have never tried. the plain one. It'll be like a yoghurt drink I thought. It was, but it wasn't as I had expected it to be, slightly sweet. It was sour and kinda gross! I didn't like it at all and couldn't finish it.

Mango Lassi $4 - To finish off I had to get a delicious and sweet mango lassi. It was just as a remember it, though sereved in a milk bottle rather than a milkshake glass.

Service got very slow at the end, hence the pile of dishes.

No. 13 Dahi Sev Puri $7.50

Puffed balls stuffed with potato-chana mix, yoghurt and green chutney

From the Indian Street Food section we picked something that we both never tried before, Lola knows Mexican food (while not being Mexican) but she doesn't know Indian. None of my friends do.

These balls (5) were delicious, full of flavour and consumed in 2-3 bites. Unfortunately they also contained three eye lashes, one of which I ate thinking it was a herb/spice! Lola picked it up and so did I when I saw the second one.

Did I ever tell you why I used to love pho but now rarely eat it? We went to a restaurant, a fly died in it. I had to eat it - no not the fly, but the rest of it. I was scarred for life. When my father is involved there aren't many good memories.

Oh god I just ate an eyelash! I was oddly calm. They offered to take it off the bill, with apologies as not everyday the chef looses three eye lashes in a dish, especially one dish. On top of that they also gave us another dish on the house. Lola was very pleased. And she is hard to please, with a background in hospitality and position as a hostess in a fancy banquet restaurant with white table clothes.

Despite the lashes I'd still get that dish again! I love it. Wished we had these as canapes at events instead of the assortment of frozen pastries we see half the time.

Mains

Cheese Naan $4.50*

The last dish we had was what I think is the cheese naan, which was so good that I think (if it's a naan) deserves a spot on the front page with the other entrees. For not only was it like an Indian Grilled Cheese Sandwich, but with naan, it was the one thing that stopped the burning sensation on my tongue from Lola's deceptive green dish! We'd get this again every time.

Vegetarian No. 7 Pumpkin Masala $9.50 - Roasted pumpkin, sauteed in five aromatic spices and flavoured with mango powder and crushed jaggery resulting in mingling of flavours – spicy, sweet, tangy and salty

I like pumpkin very much and so ordered this dish - but first I did ask how spicy it was. Not very said the waitress. And it wasn't. It was very filling and had all the flavours advertised.

No. 9 Palak Paneer

Indian cottage cheese in smooth and vibrant pureed spinach 10.5

Lola likes it green and hot. Why does she like it hot? Because she comes fro, Denver, Colorado, where it is winter 8/12 months. But she did not know this dish was hot. It was very very hot to me! I washed my tongue and drank that awful yoghurt drink. It helped as long as there was something else in my mouth. But she loved it and would get it again. If you like it hot, this one's for you. My review of the pumpkin dish may be a bit off due to the overpowering hotness of this green dish.

Tandoori Naan & Roti $2.50 each.

The dishes here do not come with rice, but the prices are very cheap so you could still get a main + rice/bread for $15.

I like naan, it's soft and buttery but not too much. However the dietitian pushes for me to get roti. Much to my immense disappointment Indian Roti is nothing like Malaysian Roti, all buttery, fluffy like croissant bread but less flaky. Instead Indian roti is like paper. It's not beautiful and buttery. It could be like kale chips, but not crunchy. Always go for naan was what this experience taught me.

There's another ajoining room from the one in the picture before the lighting feature.

Service was very good, with our clean water glasses being filled regularly (we ordered drinks, but also got water) and the way the eyelash issue was handle. Lola in all her years of experience says this is how you truly make-up for a dish gone wrong due.

We ordered four drinks though we were charged for six, though they were great about apologizing and giving us a refund for the drinks we didn't get. Missed two trains doing that.

We'll be back to try more new things, especially as at 10pm on a Monday night they're still open. Service was great like the food and prices.

I read that they don't do take-away on zomato? But they do. The credit card min. is $25 and you're not going to spend that much on a meal and drink for one.

Tuesday 25th August

A revisit within the month to get decent pictures. :P

No. 13 Dahi Sev Puri $7.50

Puffed balls stuffed with potato-chana mix, yoghurt and green chutney

These look nothing like last week! They're beautiful! Instagram worthy :P Scroll up to compare. It's not just the picture, but the presentation. Also it tasted different, in that it was much hotter... I'll ask them to tone it down a little next time. Two different chefs made this, this time compared to last time.

A work of art...

Cheese Naan $4.50

Still very good, though I made the mistake of ordering it as naan instead of an entree. It tastes completely different hot, I prefer it cold as it freezes up a bit more.

Goat Curry Goat Curry $13

Goat slow cooked in a fragrant mix of coriander, red chilli, cumin & other spices

Jas has very few words unless pressed, like the process of making wine...

Garlic Naan $3.50 - A bit on the oily side.

Pumpkin Masala $9.50 - Unlike last time this was hot! I'm going to ask them to dial it down next time. I still quite like it.

Plain Naan $2.50*

This came 20mins after everything else... I ate it alone. As I'd long finished the pumpkin. It feels like you're on your way to eating paper... We weren't charged for this.

Service was very slow that night.

The prices and the menu hasn't changed since 2013, but the deco has been given a face lift, from eatery to date-worthy restaurant though all the while retaining the very affordable prices, and catering to everyone from students (us, well me, none of my friends are studying) to families.

What's your favourite Indian Restaurant in the CBD?

CC min. is $25.