Malabar South Indian Restaurant

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Malabar South Indian Restaurant
South Indian
332 Pacific Hwy, Crows Nest
Phone: 9906 7343

Sambar vadhai

Onion bhaji

With so many Indian places in Crows Nest, it becomes necessary to distinguish them by regional specialties. Malabar proclaims itself to be "The Dosai Palace", and they make a big deal about this southern Indian coastal dish from the Malabar region. Their main rivals in claiming this dish as their own are Banjara, who make a very good version. Malabar's also stacks up well, with the thin, crispy lentil pancakes being, if anything, a little larger than Banjara's own enormous ones, and stuffed with fillings just as delicious, ranging from spiced potatoes to minced lamb. The accompanying sambar and coconut chutney complement the dish nicely. The one thing Malabar doesn't have is a chicken masala version, but they do an additional extra-spicy potato version with hot coconut.

For other dishes, there are the usual entrees and mains you expect from an Indian restaurant. The sambhar vadhai is an interesting entree composed of "doughnuts" made of lentil batter, served in a bowl of sambar, which allows you to try this hot and spicy accompaniment if you're not going on to have a dosai for your main meal. The curries are as good as one would expect from an Indian place in Crows Nest, with an especially good malai kofta for those not wanting meat. The Goan fish curry is also great, with a tang of lemon in the fairly hot curry (they call it "medium" on the menu) matching nicely with the fish. They don't do the old standard naan, but the paratha is excellent, and comes up a treat reheated the next day with any other leftovers you've doggie-bagged.

There's no wine list, so BYO if you're a drinker, but don't let that stop you coming here for the delicious food.

Mini masala dosai
Regular masala dosai
Vegetable curry, Goan fish curry,
lamb korma, chicken biryani, rice