Rangoli Indian Restaurant Review

3/ 60 Fitzroy St
St Kilda
VIC, 3182
Ph: (03) 9593 6599

Food
Indian Cuisine. Banquets available. Some delicious spicy chicken in the entree. A massive amount of food laid out for the main courses in the banquet with delish naan and great vegetable curries. More than I could ever manage to eat and some unusual desserts not found at all indian restaurants.
Service
The service was wonderful. We had a delightful waitress and the host was very charming as well. The accomodated us with our small child and provided a high chair and extra space partitioned from the others.
Value
A bit more expensive than your average indian restaurant in Melbourne. Banquets are generally over $40 per person.
Decor and Atmosphere
Spacious and very well presented. They have done a great job doing up the old St Kilda Railway Station building. A modern feel and heaps of tables. Suitable for large groups.

Gurkhas Nepalese Restaurant Review

190-192 Chapel Street
Prahran
Ph: (03) 9510 3325

Gurkhas have several restaurants in Melbourne, located at Brunswick, Richmond, Carlton, Melbourne and Prahran. This review is for 'Gurkhas Brasserie' in Prahran.
Food
Nepalese Food, a cuisine from the Himalayan Kingdom. I have to admit I'm not much into vegetarian dishes, but the 'Gurkas Special" vegetarian appetiser was refreshing and scrumptious - a vegetable mixture topped with yoghurt, sauce and plum sauce. I particularly enjoyed the goat curry in the mains and the chilli chicken wasn't bad. The nepalese rice pudding was a great way to top off the meal as a sweet and tempting dessert. All of this was provided in their 'simple feast' banquet option, along with tea or coffee. Also available are main courses from their 'vegetarian bazaar', 'meat bazaar', 'seafood selection' and 'gurkha grill' and most of these are reasonably priced individually as mains.
Service
There were plenty of waiters on hand and they provided prompt and professional service.
Value
Some excellent value options with 4 banquets to choose from starting with the 'simple feast' at $21.50 per person, and most individual mains at reasonable prices as well.
Decor and Atmosphere
Dim lighting, tastefully decorated, photos and pictures to set the cultural atmosphere.

Purple Shells Restaurant Review

153 Acland Street
St Kilda 3182
Ph: 9525 4988

Food
Seafood and BBQ Chinese Restaurant. No added MSG. Mostly your standard sort of chinese fare as generally found around Melbourne. Large servings of soup which were hot and filling. Good selection of hot entrees which I enjoyed. The mains were a bit more luke warm and ordinary, but not too bad. Lemon chicken was a bit too battered and deep fried. They also have a vegetarian's selection, omelettes, roast dishes and prawn/scallop dishes available.
Service
The first waitress was a bit scattered, but a second lady took over and took control and looked after us.
Value
Good value banquets available. Your standard mains are reasonably priced. You'll pay a bit more for individual seafood and roast dishes
Decor and Atmosphere
Neat and colourful, not overdone. A few simple decorations.

KL Café Restaurant

92c Acland Street
St Kilda, VIC 3182
Ph: (03) 9534 3721

Food
With the name inspired by the south east asian city of Kuala Lumpur this restaurant boasts a large range of Malaysian, Chinese and Thai foods. Some very spicy dishes which were also very tasty. A great selection to choose from in all 3 cuisines including seafood, vegetarian, rice dishes, noodle dishes, prawn specials, calamari and beef. A striking dessert which we just loved was the Kueh Dah Dah which had bright green crepe wrapped around coconut with ice-cream. The people at the table next to us were mesmerized, wanting to know what we were eating! My partner nicknamed it the 'steam rolled frog' due to the bright green colouring.
Service
Very attentive and reasonably friendly.
Value
One of the best value restaurants in the St Kilda area, which is notoriously filled with your expensive yuppy type restaurants (particularly along Fitzroy st). Not this one. The banquets that are available will give you much better value than ordering individual dishes, but the mains are reasonably priced too.
Decor and Atmosphere
I think the locals know this is one of the better value restaurants in the area, because they flock there. You will be challenged to get a table if you haven't booked. We managed to get the last one. Some very interesting artistic pieces inside. A feature ceiling with an oval shaped recessed area painted with clouds and stars and lit up which is quite delightful. Also a wall featuring a city landscape backlit and silhouetted. Some tasteful painting gives the place a nice atmosphere, though it is not a large restaurant. There were some intense flashing lights on a branch near the front entrance that were a bit distracting to the eye, but that was our only real critisicm.

Tamarind Spice Restaurant Review

257 Glenferrie Rd
Malvern Vic 3144
Ph: 9576 0597

Food
Indian, Malaysian and SIngaporean cuisines.. at least that is what it says on the menu, however the front window boasts a couple of extra cuisines such as Sri Lankan - a little confusing. If you look through the menu though I would say the dishes are 85% Indian, with just a few other dishes thrown in here and there. The food was of reasonable quality for the price. The 'chilly' (?) chicken was hot and spicy. A few quirky titles for dishes on the menu too with some questionable spelling.
Service
The waiter seemed to have a great deal of trouble understanding english. We tried over and again just to request a spoon. I guess he was trying his best though.
Value
The restaurant claims it has the best deal in town, and it comes pretty close. Extremely cheap banquets available - $30 for two people or $50 for 4 people! Every individual meal on the menu is under $14, so there is some really great value to be had here.
Decor and Atmosphere
Conservative, not flash, a bit b-grade. Sometimes you get what you pay for in that respect.

Afghan Gallery Restaurant Review

327 Brunswick Street,
Fitzroy Vic 3065
Phone: 03 9417 2430

Food
Traditional Afghan Specialties. A good selection of dishes, some interesting entrees with a little spice, mains had mostly mild tomato based sauces with rice. Afghan food also seems to feature beans in a few entrees and dishes. Very sweet desserts. I have to admit though I was just a little disappointed with the food only because the last afghan restaurant I dined at had taste sensations to die for, and this didn't quite live up to that standard.
Service
Mostly pretty good service, a little slow at times as they were busy. Polite and friendly.
Value
They had several good value banquets available to come in under $30 per person budget, or you can pay the extra $5 and have dessert included.
Decor and Atmosphere
I really liked the interior, it had an old style tavern atmosphere with exposed bluestone and wood on the walls, dim lighting. A little tasteful music. Some nice tapestries and pictures.

Nyala African Restaurant Review

131 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy, VIC
Phone: (03) 9419 9128

Food
African cuisine featuring dishes from South Africa and Ethiopia. They had banquets recommended for 4 people but they were willing to offer them to us for two peopls and we had one of the banquets which included deserts. This banquet was great value with a range of different foods, with plenty on offer in generous portions. There was cus cus, spicy dips, three different meats for mains in spicy sauces. Choice of deserts was included in the banquets - the sweet cus cus and South African custard tarts with ice cream were great choices.
Service
Exceptional service. African waiters wearing traditional African robes give it a genuine feel.
Value
All very reasonable priced, no complaints with the pricing. Large amount of food and banquets available. Reasonable corkage ($2)
Decor and Atmosphere
Interesting ornaments and paintings all for sale. The painted lights and bar were pretty funky. Ambient African music. Comfortable, relaxed and cosy.