Indian delight

I love a small family business that doesn’t try to be anything but what they are.

In this case, I am talking about Indian Lounge, a small restaurant in the outer eastern Melbourne suburb, Croydon.

We have driven past this restaurant on many occasions and always said that we must give it a try, we finally did give it a try and are kicking ourselves for not doing it much sooner.

When I write an excellent review about a small restaurant, I am always worried that too many people will get on the band wagon and there won’t be a table available for me when I next want to go. This is the case with Indian Lounge, there is nothing I can say about the food here other than ‘excellent’, and, for one of the dishes, ‘best I have ever tasted’.

Indian Lounge is tiny, seating a maximum of 20 people, and the décor is certainly nothing to write home about, but if you are after excellent Indian cuisine, this is the place to go.

When I first looked at the menu I thought it was a bit on the pricey side for the location and venue, but when I tasted the food I changed my mind, because it equalled that of any well-known inner city/city restaurants who charge quite a bit more. Yes, the other restaurants might have a trendier location or a nicer décor, but those things are not always high on the agenda, particularly if you are a ‘foodie’.

Indian Lounge’s menu is vast and includes a large choice of vegetarian, chicken, beef, goat, lamb and seafood dishes. Their range of breads, Naan, Roti and Paratha was larger than most other restaurants I have visited and the selections we had were delicious – equal to any others I have ever had.

We dined on Tikka Chicken, Samosas, Mango Chicken, Beef Vindaloo, Lamb Saagwala, Plain Paratha, Plain Naan and Rice. Everything was absolute perfection in taste, tenderness and quality, but I have to say, the Lamb Saagwala was the best I have ever eaten; full of flavour and meat so tender it fell apart.

The three of us dining had different favourites, but all of us loved everything that was brought to our table.

If food is your thing, and you are feeling like an Indian feast, Indian Lounge will make you very happy.

Indian Lounge

118 Bayswater Road, Croydon South 3136

Ph: 9723 2539 / 0412 952 739

Open for dinner – 6 nights: 4.30pm – 9.30pm

Open for lunch – Wed – Fri – 11.00am – 2.00pm