At the top of Cuba Street, oppos­ite Fidel’s and next to a sex shop is what appears to be a crappy little tea room named Chef’s Cafe. You might think that they’re going to try and sell you a pie and a cus­tard square, but you could­n’t be more wrong. See that little sand­wich board out­side that says “Takeaway Curry $10”? That’s right, this is an Indi­an res­taur­ant. And it’s good. And it’s insanely cheap*. If you dine in, you’re look­ing at a cost of around $12.90 for a meat curry, rice and naan. The decor is admit­tedly noth­ing at all to look at, but the menu is really extens­ive and the cur­ries do actu­ally all taste dis­tinct­ive and tasty, rather than just com­ing in dif­fer­ent col­ours of the same slop (cough cough Tulsi). Plus, it’s BYO, and not just wine – the cork­age on a small bottle of beer is $1, and $2 for big bottles. We really think you should try it out. We would like it to have more pat­ron­age. Just not on Tues­day nights, because that’s when we go before the Quiz around the corner at the Cross.

* If you work on the basis that most Indi­an places charge at least $15 for a curry, and that does­n’t include naan and in some cases does­n’t even include rice.