Mango lassi in Northcote
"It falls into that happy category of desserts masquerading as drinks, which means it is quite acceptable to put one away while you’re waiting for your food to arrive, then demolish another one immediately afterwards, even as you wave away suggestions of pudding."
Felicity Cloake
My two grandsons certainly agree, though I don't think they were allowed the second one. Last Sunday we (my grandsons, their mother and I) dined in Curry Café in Northcote. (More about them later.) And it almost seemed to me that the attraction to them was the mango lassi. And the seven year-old knowledgeably and gravely told me that no they were not all the same. But he liked this version.
Now I have no idea what was in their version, but I foolishly thought that it was just a mango smoothie really, made with yoghurt, mango and something to water it down - milk or water. With perhaps some sugar. But no, of course not. And why did I think there was a definitive recipe. Felicity Cloake, in her inimitable style has actually chosen it for one of her How to make the perfect ... articles. So if you want to know all the ins and outs do read her article.
Mind you for all her research I actually think that her final version looks just a tiny bit thick, It doesn't really look much like a drink. I think you would need a spoon to 'drink' this one, not a straw'. The version my grandsons had looked more like this:
Anyway, in the course of reading her article I learnt a couple of things.
Firstly - although there is always yoghurt in it, the amount and type varies enormously - thick Greek, thin non-fat, just plain old ordinary yoghurt but creamy rather than thick. And home-made, of course, is said to be best. And it always seems to be thinned to a greater or lesser degree with something - buttermilk, milk, water, ice, even soda water - and that's from Charmaine Solomon, who, you would think would know. Felicity Cloake thought this one was 'just plain weird'. Madhur Jaffrey - my other Indian guru thins hers with water. Or you can combine two of those thinners. And the mangos have to be super ripe. No problem there - we always get tempted to buy a whole tray at the market because they are so cheap but we can never eat them quickly enough even if we give half of them away to our families. Now that I know my grandsons like mango lassi I shall have to try making it for them at home when they visit. Felicity Cloake is a bit dismissive of the mangos they get in England - mostly from Brazil it seems. I wonder what she would think of ours. And some of the gurus recommended tinned mango anyway - really?
Then there's the spices and/or sugar and salt. Not an infinite variety but certainly quite a big range - from nothing - to cumin, cardamom, ginger, mint and lime juice. I gather there are two types of mango lassi - sweet and salty/spicy. I'm guessing the one my grandsons had was the sweet version, which may just have been a mango smoothie really - maybe with a touch of spice.
In India they drink it in the streets from a disposable clay cup.
"creamy and sweet-sour, sometimes salty, sometimes subtly spiced and never less than utterly refreshing." Felicity Cloake
I tried to find super trendy versions but couldn't find any. I did see one suggestion of topping it with granola for breakfast, but that is as extreme as it got. No chia seeds or quinoa to be seen.
So what about Curry Café? Well in Zomato it only gets a score of 3.5 but we went there at just after 6.00 when it opens and got almost the last table. By the time we left it was absolutely jam packed. Not only with people sitting at tables, separate or communal, perched up high at a kind of bar, or out in the courtyard, but also with people cluttering the tiny space waiting for their takeaways. Not to mention the Über Eats couriers coming in and out at very regular intervals. Now Northcote is a trendy inner Melbourne suburb, with heaps of restaurants and an art-house cinema, and there are people in all of them, but none more so than this one. So who needs Zomato? Their website, by the way, is pretty basic - location, hours of opening, menu and a few comments. No pictures. But then I guess you don't need anything else. You can make a booking too. And if you are differentiating yourself with cheapness then why would you be flash? It would spoil the image would it not?
Why the popularity? What are the things that distinguishes it from other Indian restaurants?
Personally I think the main reason is that it is cheap. And now that I look at their menu again I see that one reason may be that on Sundays between 6.00 and 7.00 they have a $10.00 curry menu - I vaguely remember it was very short - maybe three options - and we didn't choose any of them anyway but nevertheless it might explain the rush. For it was Sunday between 6.00 and 7.00. They also gave you a 5% discount if you paid cash - which is a bit unusual. So I suppose those inner city hipsters are thrifty as well. And the portions were generous - so generous that there were sufficient leftovers to be taken home in a doggy bag - well a plastic takeaway container. I was particularly struck by the generosity in the supply of rice. Indian restaurants are often a bit stingy with rice and you often have to order more. Not here. There was rice left over.
They claim to be Mumbai centred, which I guess is another distinction, not that I noted that there were a huge number of specifically southern Indian dishes. The menu was fairly conventional really - and nothing wrong with that. It enables my grandsons to have their favourite chicken butter cream for example. You could also choose whether to have mild medium or hot - which is not very authentic. For most Indian dishes vary in their spiciness or mildness. I mean whoever heard of a mild vindaloo, or a hot korma for that matter? We chose mild, in deference to the children, but it was pretty spicy. I wonder what hot was like?
They claim they roast and grind their own spices and that their meat is all free range - which also probably suits the urban hipster image.
It would be interesting to know whether they are as busy at other times. They have a sister restaurant in Flemington. So if you are in either of these Melbourne districts, give it a whirl.
Anyway my grandsons think their mango lassi is the best - and they have tried lots. And children are notoriously difficult to please.
And yet another dish/drink with just two basic ingredients - mango and yoghurt but with an almost infinite variety in ways of mixing them together.
