Ministry of Curry – Dani Valent

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My score: 3.5/5

58 Lygon Street, Brunswick, 9381 1196

For a restaurant to be tempting at this time of year its first qualification must be that it is open. That’s a tick for this two-year-old Sri Lankan eatery, which is keeping pots bubbling every day including Christmas Day. The next necessary quality is that the restaurant be relaxed: when our airs and graces are hidden under scrunched piles of wrapping paper or stuck behind the ham in the back of the fridge we don’t want formality. Again, Ministry of Curry comes through. It’s a small business with all the warm-hearted hospitality that implies. If that also suggests that inexperienced waiters are sometimes roped in, well, that’s as I mean it to be. Of course, good food is always the core appeal. On this score, Ministry of Curry romps home.

The menu is a lengthy showcase, including curries, rice and roti-based stir-fries and the sweet-and-sour ‘devilled’ dishes that are a hallmark of this lively Euro-influenced cuisine. The condiments (known as sambols) are flavour bombs, featuring combinations of coconut, chilli, curry leaves, pickled vegetables and dried fish. Use them to jazz up larger dishes or do as I do and sneak them by the spoonful. Other winners include the beef pan roll (a spiced meeting point between croquette and pancake), kottu roti (flatbread stir-fry) and rich, tender, coconutty goat curry. Egg hopper (a lacy coconut pancake cooked in a wok-like pan with an egg cracked into it) is a Sri Lankan classic: I love its creamy-crunchy contrast. The spice factor can be turned up or down as desired, and there’s no problem pleasing children, the gluten-free and vegans.

As a restaurant experience the Ministry plays in a minor key. Takeaway customers troop in and out, it’s impossible to shift the chunky timber chairs without making an ear-piercing screech and service can be uncertain. But as an eating adventure, it’s great, and not just because it’s open.

See their website.

Also open through the holidays:

Atlantic Restaurant, Crown Entertainment Complex, Southbank, 9698 8888. Daily lunch and dinner
Crown doesn’t really do ‘gone fishing’ so its businesses are open throughout the holidays. Atlantic, a big, luxurious seafood restaurant with open kitchen and downstairs Den bar, is worth a visit for oysters shucked to order and wood-grilled fish.

T’relek, 116 Victoria Street, Richmond, 9427 1777. Daily lunch and dinner
I’ll keep going back to my old fave on Victoria Street for their rice paper rolls, beef in vine leaves, crispy fried egg noodles and coleslaw with rare beef. Simple, fast, cheap and open every day except Christmas Day.

Time Out, Federation Square, Melbourne, 9671 3855. Daily, breakfast, lunch and dinner
Just refurbished and open every day of the year Time Out has a relaxed, easy-please menu that includes eggs, cocktails, calamari, pizza and plenty more. In another bonus, there are separate outdoor areas for non-smokers and smokers.

First published in The Age, December 21, 2014.

2018-05-04T11:55:25+10:00

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