16 Comments

I just scanned the headline for this piece and it read in my head to the tune "The Devil Went Down to Georgia". Apologies -any resemblance of JB to "the Devil" or Canberra as Georgia is purely coincidental.

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Ah hot curries - some years back myself and mates were in Canberra for a games tournament (nerdfest!), and we went to dinner at an indian restaurant whose names evades me. Two of our number decided on a Hot Curry Challenge and ordered the hottest, non Aussie curry they could provide. Of the pair, one chap bowed out sweating like a squeezed sponge and blazing red - the other chap who had a cast iron constitution, leaned over and said 'oh, aren't you finishing that?' and then scraped the remaining food onto his own plate to finish. No, I didn't sample it!

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If you’re ever in St. Louis let me know, I’ll take you out for a real meal and get you a ride in a police helicopter and than we can go out and fire some weapons at the farm..

😁

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Now searching for St Louis bookstores to visit.

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Well

That might be a touch brisk weatherwise

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mmm curry. Assuming indian? I've been branching out on dishes everytime we go to indian and found some nice dishes outside the usual. I had a paneer tikka masala the other week and was surprised by how nice the smoked cottage cheese was in a nice curry sauce wrapped in some naan. They asked if i wanted hot, which is always yes, but it was white person hot. Yet to find a place that can produce a nice spicy dish when you say you want it hot. I probably wouldnt be able to handle the actual spicy one anyway so i should be careful what i wish for lol.

Dal makhani has also hit the top of the list for me - love that dish. Hard to convince the kids to branch away from butter chicken though. My family look at me weird when ever i go for something unknown - like i'm an unpredictable firecracker about to go off. I've had more good surprises than bad. Had a salt and pepper tofu from the local chinese place once that was in the bad category - not horrible, just that it was too much to eat by myself because no-one wanted to share. Just realised the three dishes i mentioned were vegetarian, which i'm not, i just dont hold any prejudices on vegetarian food. All are equally valid when on the menu.

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This reminds me of an old curry house in Brisbane I used to go to in the 80s. If you were foolish enough to order the hot all of the kitchen staff came out to watch you try and eat it. Try and fail.

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That wasn't the one at Paddington with the "Aussie Cry" strength curries?

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If it wasn’t, it should have been.

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There was (and probably still is) an Indian place in Toowong that served me a Vindaloo so hot that it instantly cleared my sinuses and the person across the table from me (who couldn't put black pepper on food because it was too hot) broke into a sweat.

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hahaha. I was in Wagga for work once and asked for hot and the chef poked his head around the corner. I failed the vibe test and got white person hot.

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I did this in full drunken spectacularity in a UK curry house. The waiter asked me if I was sure. Sure I'm sure. I got it hot. Unbelievably hot. Uneatably hot. Don't get me wrong, I persisted. Sweat pouring down my face, spoon in hand, it's delicious, I love it, another lager please.

I learnt my lesson, though.

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May 11, 2023Liked by John Birmingham

In king st in newtown there was a great place up the northern end forget the name. A mate did this and he couldn't handle it - he asked for a cup of milk thinking that might help but something was lost in translation because when they brought it out it was a giant tall glass of piping hot milk like they'd stuck it in the microwave and he almost sprayed it everywhere. And then when he asked for a cold one they stuck it in the fridge. God that was hilarious.

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May 11, 2023Liked by John Birmingham

I once worked in an Indonesian restaurant that had a hot rendang. The basic recipe started with 250g of chilli to every kilo of meat. Not so hot you didn't get used to it but as a one off, it was probably hotter than white person hot. We used to get dicks who would loudly say it wasn't that hot and ask the waitress to take it away and make it hotter, but mutter under their breath as the waitress came around, to basically water it down.

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May 11, 2023Liked by John Birmingham

i had this kind of experience in an indonesian place in katoomba once. Didn't ask for anything extra but happened to order some super hot dish (forget what it was called - but it was more soup like) and they all watched me eat it with a reddening face and much mopping of forehead - they were worried because i didnt order rice with it (i didnt order rice because i wasnt too hungry and it would have been a massive meal if i had). That was a struggle!

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Keen- hit me up, I think you've got my email.

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