The Defence Club on Fridays

All the private clubs in Suva have a kitchen, the last remaining holdout was the Defence Club. With the demise of "Khana Kao" that used to be in the basement (selling something called "Indo-fijian cuisine"), the Defence Club has been without food for a couple of years (cheese, tamarind chutney, and breakfast crackers don't count).

Now the club is getting back into the lunch scene with a Friday cafeteria style offering. Usually only one or two options are offered, and the price ranges from $10 to $12. A lady named Joanna is in charge and apparently you can call her for orders as well (call the club at 3305037 and ask for her - Friday only).

The day we investigated the Seafood lunch was on offer and this menu included:

• Dalo
• Fried Fish in Lolo
• Ota
• Baked Kai
• Lumi
• Nama
• Fruits ( watermelon / pineapple)

Overall a stunning success - slightly over our $10 per head policy, but we can justify it by saying that its a Friday only treat. Its a large meal, and when coupled with the $1.60 beers that one will be tempted to wash down the lolo with, your afternoon productivity will be severely impacted. You are probably better off telling the boss that you won't be "out in the field" for the rest of the day.
Make sure you eat your fruits. The fibre will help you shit later, and god knows that you'll be needing to shit after such a serve.

The menu changes every week. Typical offerings include Lovo (pork, chicken, palusami, wacipoki) and Curry (lamb, bhindi, pumpkin, chutney, rice). Ask them to put you on the mailing list and they will tell you whats for lunch via email.

In Summary

Defence Club Friday Lunch

57 Gordon St

Phone: 3305037

Opening Hours:

1200 - 1430 - Friday only

Spend:

$15 per person (assuming two beers)

Rating:

Thumbs-up

Merchant Curry House

Unless you are accompanied by a regular, your first visit to Merchant Curry House may be a little strange. This small eatery is tucked away at the back of the Merchant Club parking garage, beneath the Purple Haze nighclub.


The menu board has no prices, and little relation to what's available. The food warmers are perpetually empty. A large cardboard cut-out of a mutant iguana oversees all proceedings. Don't let any of this put you off: you are very close to a good Fiji-style curry.


The best approach is to ask what's available. Our visit coincided with the availability of the chicken and lamb curries, and these were ordered with a vegetable curry side, dhal and roti.


The lamb curry (above) was a little on the bland side, but tender. A good meal.


This excellent chicken curry deserves a bit of explanation. The picture above is the 'live' chicken curry (as opposed to the 'frozen' chicken curry). The 'live' curry is $1 dearer and is prepared from freshly slaughtered free-range chicken (junglee murgi). The Hindustani swear that these make better curries than the 'soft', commercially farmed chickens. They also reckon that meat curry is tasteless without the bones.

We have heard good reports about the goat and various seafood curries but haven't had the occasion to try them yet. Let us know if you have.

You're expected to eat with your fingers (as God intended) but spoons are provided.

The proprietors seem quite flexible with requests: less roti, more roti, swap this for that and give me more of the other ... we heard all of these, and all were accommodated.

The members from the Merchant Club next door occasionally shout orders through the window: the curry house doubles up as the club kitchen and provider of 'curry chasers'.

Should you chose to eat in, be prepared to make conversation with the squash players passing on their way to the squash courts via the stairs ... you will also have to ignore your conscience as these masters of lunchtime exercise survey your artery clogging endeavours.


On that note, as is our tradition when reviewing curry houses, here are the oily remains of the meal. What can we say? Good Fiji curry always seems to carry a cholesterol tax.


Merchants Curry House accepts phone orders and (according to their sign) offer some catering services.

In Summary

Merchant Curry House

Merchant Club,
Cnr of Butt St and MacArthur St

Phone:

9229 457

Opening Hours:

Mon - Sat: All day

Spend:

$3 - $7.50 per person

Singh's Curry House

It was a subject of some debate amongst the Lunch in Suva group as to whether this article needed to be written at all. Singh's Curry House is famous enough without any help from us. However in the interest of full coverage of the Suva lunch scene, we've decided to write this completely unnecessary post.


The first thing one notices about this place is that it is popular. If you want to sit in for lunch you need get there before 1230. Turn up after 1245 and takeaway is probably your only option. Luckily the takeaway is well packed.


I do recommend that you make the effort to turn up early and get a seat as you get a bowl of good dhal soup (and a rather boring salad) with the sit-in meal.


We have the standard meat curries (chicken, goat, duck, lamb) and typical vegetable curries (bhindi, aloo baigan, kattar). Often prawn, fish, and kai are available as well. As vegetables go in and out of season Singh's does a good job of adjusting their menu accordingly (as the excellent Duruka curry that we ate attests).


The lamb curry is uneven, sometimes quite tasty, other times way too salty. Heartburn is almost guaranteed with the lamb curry. The other meat curries are all arse burningly excellent. The vegetable curries are probably too spicy, vegetables generally do not absorb chilli as well as meat does, but Mr. Singh insists on adding the same amount of the red stuff nonetheless.


The ambience and décor is quite bizarre. The music seems to consist of Bollywood ring tones on continuous loop. The décor is one third nautical (lighthouses, lifesavers, boats), one third Chinese, and one third 1930s art deco. The doorman is forced to wear a silly uniform with a ridiculous hat.

Note from Picky Eater: (1st May, 2008)
Kania Tiko's coverage of the lamb curry warrants further coverage. So, after yet another trip to Singh's (yes, citizen journalism requires a strong stomach), we present you with the following evidence:


Quite nice, even a little curry leaf putting in an appearance. And now, we present the leftovers:


Perhaps a larger than normal dose of cholesterol ... we still recommend Singh's, just not the lamb curry.

In Summary

Singh's Curry House

Cnr of Gordon Street and Victoria Parade

Opening Hours:

Mon - Sat: 9:30am - 9:00pm

Sun: 10:30am - 8:30pm

Spend:

$4.50 - $10 per person

Verdict:

Thumbs-up (avoid the lamb though)