Simon Goh and Baby Thomas
Chinta Blues & Haveli
1997
Curries originated in some of the hottest parts of the world. I guess just thinking about them makes you feel warm in Melbourne's winter. There are hundreds of varieties to be found in India, let alone in South-East Asia.
It would be almost impossible to find two more different styles of the curry experience than a Sunday brunch at Haveli and a weekday lunch at Chinta Blues.
Situated on either side of Melbourne, they are worlds rather than continents apart in cuisine, clientele and style.
But their owners, Baby Thomas at Haveli in Doncaster and Simon Goh at Chinta Blues in St Kilda, both opened their first restaurants in 1988, have achieved real success and acclaim, and are proud of their individual styles.
The Sunday brunch at Haveli is a very special meal, probably the only authentic Southern Indian food in Melbourne and certainly the only example of this area's special breakfast.
Chef Shiva Kolambe had worked with Baby Thomas at Taj Hotels in India before coming to Melbourne seven years ago.
There he had been crowned the "King of Dosai" for his specialised skill in the dosa, a lightly fermented batter made from dhal and rice. This emerges at Haveli' s brunch in various forms, notably as paper dosa which is cooked using the entire grill plate and emerges a metre long, paper thin, the color of an aged parchment and deliciously crisp.
It seems impossible to eat it all, but by gradually breaking off bits to dip into the sambar (vegetable and lentil curry) and its accompanying fragrant coconut chutney, it soon disappears.
Other dishes in the brunch, which is completely vegetarian, are rasam, a piquant tamarind-based soup; idli, steamed rice cake; vada, a sort of doughnut; uttappam, a thick pizza-like pancake with vegetables; and my favorite, rava dosa, which is a crisp pancake topped with fried onions and potatoes.
You are encouraged to eat as much as you want from the buffet, and including a dessert (which I could not manage) it costs just $14.50.
For dinners and lunches on other days of the week, Baby Thomas and his other chefs, Sunil, Prem and Naryan. prepare a full Indian menu with dishes from the north and the south of India.
Prices at Chinta Blues will also cheer you up, with curry puffs at $3 and a generous bowl of curry laksa or platefuls of fried noodles at $8.
It seems to have wide appeal, from students at the bar/table facing the display kitchen woks, to suits, to ladies who lunch.
Started a year ago, this is Simon Goh's fourth successful business.
Chinta Ria Jazz in Commercial Rd, Prahran, opened nine years ago, then in 1990 came Chinta Ria Soul in Acland St, then Chinta Ria R&B in Carlton in 1992.
It's an amazing personal success story because all of his restaurants are based very much on Simon Goh's passion for music and his own relaxed personal style.
His love of music goes back to his days as a student in Port Klang, the main port of Malaysia near Kuala Lumpur, where his older brother used to encourage him to study by promising him the latest records.
A private saxophone player (he never plays in his restaurants) and a public broadcaster (for the past 13 years he has played his favorite music every week on 3PBS), Simon says music is "the best thing that has happened in my life".
"It keeps you up and you just forget about the worries in the world."
The two-hour 3PBS program is a big commitment (and unpaid) for a man with four busy restaurants.
The best thing that happened on the program was meeting some of the great musicians, like BB King, Ray Charles and Dizzy Gillespie.
"Those connections are wonderful. It's music that unites everything that I do."
Simon attributes the success of his restaurants to his staff and his adaptation of his home-town food to Melburnian tastebuds.
But he now gets Malaysians coming in and preferring Chinta's laksa to that back home.
For bookings at Chinta Blues call 9534 9233. For Haveli call 9842 9375.
Mietta O'Donnell
Published in the Herald Sun Food & Drink Section on the
©Mietta's 1997