Varsha Sips + Nosh House

Tried Varshas numerous times while in Vic on business. Always good, great selection of Indian food… yum

I am by no means a first-​time customer at Varsha’s, I’ve tasted several of their menu items including the fish tacos, butter chicken, pakoras, and most recently the aloo gobi. I have yet to be disappointed with a dish and find each one packed with flavour! The prices are reasonable (including their alcoholic beverages), the atmosphere welcoming, and I love often seeing the same faces when I return. This family run business is a hidden-​gem and not to be missed!

Great food, great service and amazing beer! Burgers and yam fries were delicious and hubby has the Driftwood IPA. Worth checking out when in Old a Town.

Excellent service and great beers! The food though, was the best butter chicken I’ve had so far! The perfect place for a quick bite, with really amazing entrees if you’re wanting a bit more.

Great food and nice ambiance. A good place for a vegetarian. The Naan is outstanding. Good prices as well.

Great experience.
My family was visiting so we gave this place a try. We were all very happy and satisfied with our orders. They have great vegan and gluten free options and are accommodating.
Friendly and uplifted staff.
The restaurant itself is very clean, is a nice layout with unique décor too!
Impressed

Very very good food. The paneer was amazing. So flavorful. Service was a bit lacking. If there was better service I would give five stars.

Good food and attentive service. We had the tandoori chicken with masala fries, paneer tikka and lamb kebabs. All delicious. Service was attentive and prompt — they had a bowl of water for our dog as well. Plan to head back when we are in Victoria next.

From bland tasting food to the waitress spilling butter chicken sauce all over my partner’s new white jacket (and then NOT apologizing or offering to clean it up — yeah, seriously, that happened; I had to go to the bar and grab a rag for myself) — Varsha Sips + Nosh house was one of the worst dining experiences we’ve ever had.
The interior design is different and a bit funky, and the menu has its upsides — which is what original drew us in. However after waiting 40 minutes after ordering for our mediocre (at best) food to arrive, followed by the jacket incident, we will not be returning. Oh, and not to mention the HUGE party that was taking up half of the restaurant (which were the owners’ — the Dodd’s — family). Children running around and loud intoxicated party guests made us feel incredibly unwelcome — ESPECIALLY given that it was the owners who had this large party… guess they aren’t too concerned?
Stay away from Varsha.

The menu board on the street drew us in. .. .
Varsha has a funky comfortable interior and nice patio for people watching. The menu entices with an East Indian fusion menu that combines curry flavours, pub food, small plates and tapas all with an interesting flavour twist; made it hard to choose.
My partner’s lamb burger with the works was flavourful and moist, on a brioche bun. Switching in yam fries for the usual was good value for 35 cents extra. He loved it.
My pakora fish tacos and kale salad ($ 13.50) looked wonderful, with an East Indian inspired onion salsa. Flavour wise it was three-​star. The salad was delicious for healthy. Unfortunately, a bite down hard on a fish bone in a taco wasn’t a pleasant surprise. The server acted immediately with concern when shown and advised the chef.
They responded appropriately. .. . Offering a free dessert (declined), with an explanation that the fish supplier is supposed to be providing cleaned and deboned fillets, so they will be taking it up with them and checking carefully the current stock. Ten percent was deducted from the bill and two coupons for $ 5 off of $ 20 spend per person offered for future use (though expiry date had past).
I’m not a fish person really when it comes to bones, so I won’t be taking it up. I feel for them as it wasn’t really their fault; I’m hoping this is an anomaly. I might come back later as the menu is otherwise innovative and the vibe is cool. .. .

A wonderful fusion of Indian, Mexican and everything else. Food is awesome, prices are right and the service is great! Check it out — especially at happy hour.

For those who don’t know Victoria, Gordi Dodd is local legend for his cheap-​o adverts for his home furnishings store, as well as his good prices and services. My latest bed and sofa were brought there, and I’ve slept well on both.
The restaurant takes over the corner that was home to Nando’s (spicy roasted chicken, which I love, and everyone else seems to think is better done else where) and before that a conveyor Sushi place, where the conveyor was a large scale train-​set.
Varsha has a much better set up, with a series of small booths around the windows, bench seating for slightly bigger groups and set of tables one one side for parties. It’s all clean lines, square edges, and certainly not the old British curry house. No flock wallpaper. It’s modern, yet still relaxed with the bright prints and fabrics.
The menu is not heavy on lists and lists of curries and meats and variations. It’s doing comfort and quick plates with a Indian twist, not a full blown 3 course extravaganza. The stand out is the Masala fries. Served as poutine, where the gravy is butter chicken sauce, this is a fantastic combination. Though I would love to try it with paneer rather than curds. The spicy dust all over the fries makes them incredibly moreish, with a got crisp bite to the potato. Coupled with the gooey, creamy mess that the curds and sauce merge into, and you’ve got a winner. And I ate them with my friend who knows her poutine, and she ordered it many times.
Full review here:

I had lunch here the other day and was really pleased with the quality of the food here. I had the lamb burger with masala fries and they were a great combination. There were two downsides to the meal. The first was that our waitress was just learning her job and she tried to clear our plates ¾’s of our way through lunch and the other was that when I was paying the bill, they have the debit machine programmed for on 15, 20 and 25%. I will definitely be back to eat here again.

I love the idea of Varsha and decided to pop in for a bite (and maaayyyybe many several Sunday afternoon drinks).
The service, from start to finish, was 5 star. Our server was sweet and attentive when she needed to be, but not so much that we felt stalked while we were bumming around drinking. Plus, she was wearing ali baba pants and those things are so much fun.
The drink specials are ahhhmazing. Great prices and our server convinced us to try a ‘shaft’ (baileys and espresso over ice) which was totally the highlight of my Sunday.
I wasn’t all about the food here but perhaps I simply ordered the wrong thing. I had the fish tacos and found them slightly bland. My partner had a curry dish and from the tiny bite he agreed to share with me, I thought it was pretty good (he loooved it).
Overall I would definitely go back.

I loved eating here because they took «regular» western food and packed it to bursting with delicious Indian flavours. The Dodd family have a good concept that they pull off well.
The room is casual and open, but still finds space for a few more private nooks. Also, the balcony gets good sun on sunny days.
The food is eclectic, and clearly based on what the chef just loves to make from a variety of cultures. It all has an Indian edge though. The Bollywood style Burger brought me back to my childhood trips to little India in my hometown, both with the toppings and the paddy itself, which had spices throughout.
If I were picky, I would say that it would have been nice to see some of the Dodd family there… quite a bit of the concept is built around the family (with family portraits on the walls and blurbs about them at the entrance and tables), and I wanted to meet these people. However, I did go on a Sunday afternoon, so I understand they can’t be there all the time.
Also, the spicy ketchup didn’t do anything for me. It felt like a lot of heat with no flavour. I asked the server and she said they made it with sriracha, but I didn’t taste any of the yummy chilli or other flavours of sriracha.
Finally, there is room to improve the Masala fries, which had amazing texture, but no real spice or blended spice flavours.

Excellent food and service! Will come again! Had the fish tacos and the lamb burger and both were excellent!!! Fresh, fresh. Awesome service. Glad we tried this new place.

Your tastebuds will thank you! I had the house made veggie burger and it was delicious. The kebab (starter) with chutney is tasty too. Try the Phillips Blue Buck beer — it’s flavourful but light and creamy. Love this place.