My mad but completely adorable friend the Spice Girl skyped me last week…
“Andrew threw out my lard! I’m halfway through the Cuban bread recipe, what can I use instead?”
In the end, she raced down the road to her local butcher and came back with a tub of duck fat. Then she went into her garden and cut four lemongrass leaves…and voila…
Of course, any conversation with the Spice Girl always leads to lunch. “I’ve heard about this new place in Harris Park, let’s check it out..” she said.
So we did…and found ourselves eating the most delicious Indian street food that my Goan friend has ever tasted in Australia. The prices were extremely reasonable, and the all-vegetarian dishes were (to me) new and exciting. And before anyone asks, yes, there were only two of us, and yes, we did attempt to eat all this food (we didn’t quite succeed). Eating out with the Spice Girl is always an adventure!
We began with a Bombay style Mysore Masala Dosa ($9.90) stuffed with a special chutney and mostly raw vegetables rather than the usual potato filling…
It was accompanied by a lentil soup and tomato chutney…
The Methi Gota ($4.90) are fried balls of chickpea flour and fresh fenugreek leaves. These were tasty, but a little doughy…
When I saw this Bombay Style Vada Pav ($4.40), I was a little sceptical. I shouldn’t have been, because the soft white bread roll was the perfect foil for the spicy fried potato ball inside it…
The Sev Puri ($5.90) were superb (although a proper food blogger would have moved the spoon before taking the photo). According to SG, this is classic Indian street food – small crispy flat breads topped with onions, tomatoes, green mango, pomegranate seeds and an assortment of chutneys, with crunchy lentil vermicelli sprinkled over the top…
The Chhole Bhatura ($9.90) was obviously a house special, because every table was ordering this dish! The puffy hollow flatbreads had a crispy exterior with a soft, slightly spongy underside to soak up the chana (chickpea) curry that was served with them. The red onions were essential to balance the flavours…
These Khaman Dhokla ($4.90) were really unusual – the savoury chickpea flour cakes were steamed rather than baked or fried. They were tasty, but by this stage we were getting quite full, so SG took most of these home. The tamarind chutney that accompanied the dish was fantastic, and I ended up dipping all sorts of things into it…
For dessert, Spice Girl ordered Jalebi – freshly made deep fried spirals of dough soaked in sugar syrup. They were very sweet and crispy, and not at all stodgy like previous ones I’d tried…
Chatkazz is a small takeaway-style shop in Harris Park, near Parramatta. There are several tables for dining in, all their dishes are completely vegetarian, and the service is cheerful and efficient. It’s definitely worth a visit – here are all the details you’ll need to find it!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
I only have one thing/word to say….. JEALOUS !!!! Everything looks soo yummy!
Cecile, it was delicious – we ate until we couldn’t move! :)
Where’s my jet pack? I need to fly over there now! I love good vegetarian food. All The Noms! Maz
Maz, I reckon the Indians have vegetarian food nailed – their dishes are so interesting and so tasty that we didn’t miss the meat at all!
My favorite vegetarian cuisines are Thai, Indian and Mexican. And italian…. heck, I just love food. :-) Maz.
That food looks delicious. My mouth is watering! I love street food!
Clare, weren’t you over there for a visit last year? It must have been amazing…
That looks so good, I can see another “food safari” coming up. :-D
Saucy, definitely worth the trek! And not really all that far from us! :)
You are very definitely a ‘proper’ food blogger. I love how the Spice Girl was able to rescue her bread with some duck fat. What a great find! I love the variety of food and how it’s all vegetarian and how it’s all so reasonably priced. When next in Parramatta! xx
My friend is an absolute star like that, Charlie, she left her half mixed dough and ran down the road to get the fat! I suggested she use oil or butter, but she wasn’t having any of it! :) The pricing was amazing – we ate ourselves stupid for about $25 each.
I would have liked to have seen all those delicious plates spread out all over the table. A feast indeed, lucky girls!
Brydie, without fail, whenever I eat with SG, we order…and then the food arrives, and the first dish is always enormous, and we look at each other with raised eyebrows, knowing there are so many more to come.. ;-)
Harris Park is in Sydney? I’ll have to wait till I visit my granddaughters. In the meantime all those delicious sounding dishes are making me hungry so I’ll just go have to do the next best thing and have breakfast.
Mary, yes in Sydney, but more accurately in the city of Parramatta, which is about half an hour from the CBD. It’s worth a trip next time you’re in town – Harris Park is full of really interesting Indian shops!
I have a smile on my face. I take photos when we eat interesting food too. Also, it looks delicious and seeing beautiful food always makes me happy! Thank you for sharing!
Ardys, I always get so excited whenever I get to try new things! :)
My idea of heaven, with a menu like that I’m not sure where I’d start or end!
Claire, I have the menu here, and I just counted for you – there’s (truly) over 150 items!! We didn’t really know where to start either!
So many of my favourite foods :) And I had to smile as I used goose fat for my pan cubano (amazing) but had no leaves…they didn’t look as pretty as yours but tasted great!
Chica, I’m so glad to hear it worked and that you enjoyed it! :)
Am making more tomorrow as we love it for our “builder’s” sandwiches!
Lucky builders!! :D
You help educate me, Celia- thank you!
I would stand in front of all those dishes and not know which way to order- wanting to taste them all (although it does look like you tasted a lot of them, anyway!)
How great that your friends are foodies, as well.
And the Cuban loaves Spice Girl made look great!
Heidi, as I was telling Claire above, there were over 150 dishes to choose from. We had to start somewhere, thankfully my friend knew what she was ordering! :)
The food looks so delicious indeed and the prices seem great as well Celia. It’s always exciting to try new dishes- especially with a good friend to share it with xox
Becca, she’s my Convergent Other – we have matching tastes when it comes to food, so we often go exploring together! It’s so much fun! xx
What a feast! I am full of admiration for you yet again – but this time for your appetite, I doubt I could have eaten half of that lot!
I let my friend order! I have to admit, I was completely stuffed that night.. ;-)
Thanks for that round up. I love a good Dosa and we now have a little hole in the wall place that has popped up near us. The deal is though that we have to walk there if we want one, to work off some of the kjs!
Fiona, it’s a good rule! Unfortunately Harris Park is a 40 minute drive away, so it’s too far to walk..maybe. We certainly ate enough calories to walk there and back! :)
I love Jalebi and those ones look fantastic – lucky you :-)
Sue, I’d never had a good one before (previous ones had been very stodgy) – this one was great!
That food looks sensational Celia, now I am hungry…which is really not unusual for me! x
Jane, me either! :D xx
I cannot believe that you two ate all that food. Everything looks really good – even that darned spoon. :) I’m glad her Cuban bread was saved, too. Who tosses out your prized lard?
Maureen, I know!! I told her it was grounds for divorce! And we didn’t eat ALL the food, we just ate MOST of it. :)
What fun! And there’s a whole street there full of Indian restaurants. It’s quite a sight to behold as there are fairy lights and all sorts of decorations! :)
SG and I are going to hit the sari shops next time! :D
Yum I want some now! I love how you gals did not hold back! Hope to try it out one day & now I feel like heading out to Surry Hills for some Indian sweets, it’s a bit closer to home :)
“Holding back” isn’t something we’re good at, Moya! :) Hey, heard about your new shop, congratulations!!
I love dosa! I have them when I am in Hong Kong. I might just have to come to Sydney for more.
Deb, come!! We can go and eat, then hit the Indian sari shops! :D
Those Dhosas look good – love the little holes from the batter.
Sally, it was such an unusal dhosa/dosa too – there wasn’t any potatoes in it! xx
The food looks amazing!
Manuela, it really was! :)
What a feast! It all sounds delicious :)
Tandy, I’d never eaten food like this before, so I was really chuffed to try it. Even more so to find out that it was all so good! :)
Celia, that is a lot of food but it sure looks good!
Glenda, SO much food. We did take a little bit of it home, I promise.. ;-)
Oh this is a fabulous find by Spice Girl, will have to check it out next time I’m back home. The stainless steel serving trays remind me of happy times when visiting colleagues in Delhi and eating the free delicious vegetarian food in the staff canteen.
Danielle, I didn’t realise Sydney was home for you, how cool is that! :) I love the divided metal dishes as well!
Celia??? I wrote my In my kitchen post a few minutes ago…..is it too late?????
http://ale-ligeradeequipaje.blogspot.com.ar/
Regards!!!!
Ale, of course not, it’s on the list! :)
I love that food! It is one of the few things I truly miss about not living in London, the bel poori restaurants in Drummond Street, behind Euston Station. Tamarind chutney and yoghurt and pooris and sev and rava dosa deluxe, and oh drool, oh drool. I have found some boxes with bel poori kits that I buy sometimes and cook a little potato and chop coriander and mix the chutneys up and attempt to emulate them but I never quite get that remembered taste quite right. Glorious photos and rumbling tummy here :) xx
Jo, I’d only ever tried bhel puri before, nothing like the other dishes we had. How fabulous it must have been to be able to get it all in London!
Do you remember me and Gill attempting home made dosa? Food can be such fun xx
Yes I do! Pete and I tried too, but we didn’t get them quite as light and holey as these! xx
Looks so tasty. About 10% of our population in our area is South Asian so we’ve got a great variety of Indian restaurants and takeaways.
Pat, lucky you! Interesting cultural difference – over here, “Asian food” usually refers to Chinese/Vietnamese/Thai, and Indian food is called “Indian”. Our friend from Cornwall told us that in the UK, “Asian food” almost always means “Indian food”!
Just sent the link to my friend living in Sidney…
ah…I send you a blogpost for the In my Kitchen serie….
Your pics are amazing as always!!
Ale, thank you for playing! I hope you had a fabulous holiday! xx
Ok, now I have a hard time believing you two little ones ate all of those dishes:) But who wouldn’t try, this looks amazing! We ate out at Moti Mahal last night, not vegetarian but very decadent with all the sauces and curry. xx
Barb, we love you, because no-one ever calls us “little”.. :) xx
xx
Looks wonderful Celia and I have nothing but admiration for your appetite! Wish I had a takeaway like this near home. Funnily enough just been on a cookery course on street food so I can have a go at home, will post about it soon.
Andrea, I wasn’t actually feeling all that food that evening, but it was worth it! Can’t wait to see what you learn on the course!!
Fantastic! :-) I know nothing about Indian street food, but would love to sample my way through all this. :-)
Thanks Krista! I’ve only just found your blog – it wasn’t coming up as a link to your comments! I’ve added it as a hyperlink to this comment for you!
Celia, happy to see indian food in your post…
Audrey, it was SO good! SG and I need to go back and try more dishes! :)
Celia, Welcome to Mumbai (Bombay) !
What a find – interesting food and so economical. They haven’t used a huge range of ingredients but every meal was different and attractive – I love that.
Jan, that’s a good point – we had several dishes made with chick pea flour, but each one tasted distinctly different to the others!
You certainly have a knack of photographing food– it always looks scrumptious!!
You’re very kind, thank you! It’s amazing the quality we get from iPhones these days! :)
That food looks fabulous Celia. What a lovely feast for you and your friend to enjoy. What a shame l don’t live in Sydney. Can l say that there is a good vegetarian restaurant here in Melbourne, opposite the Town Hall in the CBD. It’s run by Hare Krishna’s and , although there’s only one dish per day, it’s always so good. Always love to hear of great Vegetarian food.
Jody, I’m a big meat lover, but this Indian food was SO good that I didn’t miss it at all! They really do have vegetarian cuisine down to a fine art! :)
I was reading this yesterday while waiting for an appointment, laughing out loud because I kept thinking “ok, that had to have been the last of it….” and every time you just came back with more marvelous food. I think I would have needed a good nap after that though.
We didn’t feel very well afterwards… ;-)
Oh Celia the first thing I do when I get to Miami Beach is go to the bakery for a fresh loaf of hot Cuban bread…slap some butter on it and have it with a big, hot steaming cup of “cafe con leche”…
Norma, I’d read that it’s commonly eaten like that at breakfast! I’ll have to try it! :)