Delhi 6

It took more than 40 minutes to recieve a takeaway ‘express’ meal from here and the quality was incredibly sub par with a lot of rice and not much curry for what I paid. Do not go here if you’re looking for a quick delicious meal.

I’d say more of a 2.5, but that’s not an option on this site. It’s good, but not great (especially for the price).
In reading this you should know that I love spicy, flavorful, dynamic, interesting food so read this review with that in mind because that mostly explains the dull score. Even though I asked for extra spicy/​flavorful, the dishes they brought me were not even close to what I was looking for in terms of my litmus test. This was classic Canberra ethnic for me: similar to too many other places in its category (Indian Restaurant in this case), watered-​down (adjusted for the fragile, inlander, Aussie baby-​boomer palate), and overpriced for portion-​size and amount of flavor. Just because Canberra and the Australian Public Service has an unfair reputation of being boring doesn’t mean that the city’s restaurants should add to the reputation: especially one near the dynamic/​diverse ANU student body.
Good tandoori chicken (nice and spicy) (the only moment in the meal where I sat back and smiled in culinary happiness/​bliss) — good everything (except for the precooked, stale papadum) — just not quite good enough for the price: too plain… a big fat «Meh,» with a dismissing shoulder shrug.
The most frustrating thing was that we asked for several of our dishes to be «Indian Hot» and they were just plain mild.
Some nice surprises include: the background music was not the catchy/​distracting Indian pop blasted at most Canberra Indian joints, but more like Hindi-​themed ambiance music played at a decent volume which equals nice in my book for a calm dinner with conversation. And the naan orders exceeded my volume expectations (for Canberra) with several pieces instead of the customary Canberra one or two small pieces.
This place has SO MUCH potential: it’s in a great location (New Acton near ANU), it’s well decorated, and the wait staff seems friendly and competent, but the curries just aren’t flavorful enough to warrant the high cost and still be a standout to me, so it’s just OK. A strong OK, but just OK. No Ramas, which is much farther away for me, unfortunately, but I’ll drive al the way to Pearce for the lower cost and more dynamic/​flavorful/​spicy food.
My wife has eaten there before and she said that the food was more interesting before so maybe I caught it on a 2-​star night instead of a 3 or 4 (and again it’s all about spice/​interesting for me).
Interestingly, on Saturday and Sunday they run an Indian Brunch (think dim sum/​yumcha): I’ll have to check that out one day, but at the current price to flavor ratio that I have experienced, I will not be falling over myself to do so.

a nice hearty meal just outside the ANU, but for special occasions, I’d travel further out for curries. Take away lunch specials are decent.