Maya Dhaba at MHCC

If you are well-connected in the world of internet trivia you may have seen reference to a certain raunchy Burger King ad, allegedly tempting the usually staid people of Singapore.

The good people at The Atlantic have seen fit to address our questions about the efficacy of this sort of food advertising. "No!" they say, "sexy ads drown out the product, diminish brand recall, and often don't reap dividends" ... and then embed a plethora of examples to prove their point.

Just because Fiji is spared this sort of advertising, doesn't mean that we are off the hook when it comes to "food with sexual innuendo."

Enter the mighty dhosa: an lusty South Indian delicacy with unavoidable phallic connotations, the signature dish of Maya Dhaba at MHCC.



Undeniable shock and awe value. A tasty, hearty meal, the chicken dosa goes for $8.90; the (vegetarian) masala dorsa for $6.90. Each is served up with a side of coconut chutney and a bowl of sambar.



The biryani ($8.90 for chicken, Goat/Lamb for $1 extra) is also worthy of your attention. Both the biryani and the dorsa are cooked to order.



Tandoori chicken starts at $3.50 for a quarter of a bird. The food warmer offers a variety of meat and vegetable curries in various combinations (with rice and drink) ranging up to $8.50. The usual caveats about eating food with a dairy component from the food warmer apply. Plain and garlic naan are also available.



The ever present scourge of the food court, the coke fridge, offers up the usual range. But! for those of you who demand a more authentic experience, there is a choice of Sweet or Mango Lassi.

An extensive range of Indian sweets rounds out this offering.

For me, the success of this little food court outlet is that every time I eat here, it makes me want to eat at their parent restaurant on Victoria Parade ... though that is an experience better suited to dinner and a larger budget than is sensible for lunch.

Thumbs-up for bucking the boring food-court routine, staying affordable and offering one of Suva's most visually provocative dishes.

In Summary

Maya Dhaba

MHCC Food Court, Thomson Street, Suva

Opening Hours:

Mon - Sun: 9:00am - 9:00pm

Spend:

$3.50 - $13 per person

Rating:

Thumbs-up

Joji's at Fiji Showcase

The annual abomination that is Fiji Showcase has rolled around again. The entry fee to the exhibition has gone up ($3.50 this year), the clown hasn't changed, and the same old exhibitors are touting their wares from the floor.

The "food" offerings aren't particularly inspiring this year either, though I do note and applaud the general effort to keep the number of BBQ stalls in check.

But ... Joji's was there! Yes, that Joji's. The Showcase Joji's is a special chicken-only version of the original from under the Civic Centre. $5 for the 'medium' serve, $6 for the large: in all the usual chicken combinations: chop suey, chowmein, chilli, fried rice and blackbean.

On that note, here's our first Lunch in Suva video special: 'Son of Joji' showing us how they make Chilli Chicken in 2 minutes 40 seconds flat.



Truly, the force is strong with this one: fire, wok and chicken do his bidding.

There are a couple of other stalls that bear mention:

There is a new entrant in the hot-dog category offering a "German frankfurter with sauerkraut". The frankfurter didn't look, taste or speak German (in fact it looked and tasted remarkably like the Foods Pacific 'dog being sold a few stalls down), but the sauerkraut was definitely sauerkraut. At $3.50, this is probably not a valid justification for a trip to Showcase ... but it may help redeem the visit if you were there for other reasons.

Also, worth a mention is the FRIEND's Fiji stall: I'm a fan of their excellent tamarind chutney, and supply of the big bottles is a little irregular in the supermarkets; so get yourself a stash straight from the source.

Most of the other food stalls can be ignored: Wish Bone, Curry House, KFC, et al can be got from their usual locations without paying the $3.50 Showcase tax.

Oh! And someone is selling cans of V for $2.50 each ... that's the cheapest I've seen it in a while.