Marinades Review

Marinading in Indian pleasure

The first bite/suck/lick/nibble/chew of food renowned for being exceptionally hot and spicy is often taken with trepidation and shrouded in nerves. Involuntary trembling or quivering accompanied with driblets of sweat emerging from your forehead is a common occurrence. After that first taste, your fears are either realised or relieved.

Marinades is a restaurant you don’t need to worry about. I wasn’t asked how hot I wanted my curries, but they arrived with an appropriate level of heat that was challenging but not overwhelming to my pink tongue. To put it simply, I was still able to converse with my colleagues during lunch without gagging or struggling to top up my depleted water glass. And that’s a good thing – you have to impress the people who are paying you.

Marinades restaurant looks as though it has been allocated the remaining crappy space left over after everyone else has hogged the best bits of the building. It is crammed into a narrow triangle space that looks as though fitting guests will be a tricky manoeuvre, but to my surprise the décor and layout works very well. I’ve never been to India, but somehow I did feel as though I might have been there. A small golden figurine with his legs wrapped around his neck in a yoga posture stared at me while I ate.

For lunch I started with the Tandoori Meat Platter. The chicken, beef, lamb, sausage, tofu and cauliflower were lightly cooked and spiced with Indian flavours. It was the perfect warm-up to the curries. My murg tak-a-tak (chicken), Bengali (Fish), pumpkin and gosh kadai (lamb) arrived simultaneously, accompanied with copious white rice and a refilled water jug with ice. Struth, this looked serious.

I was here with the people I work with so I had to impress them with my vast experience as a diner. I lunged headfirst into the murg tak-a-tak, heaped spoonfuls of gosh kadai into my gaping gob, and chewed into the Bengali. Then I waited. Slowly, but surely, the fire grew. Just as I thought it would erupt into a flaming ball of hell-curry, it stabilised. The yoga figurine was still staring at me, this time with a smirk. The curries at Marinades are excellent, and the flavours are as varied as the climate of India and as exotic as the people of India. It’s obvious this food hasn’t seen any curry powder during its preparation; it is immersed in spices that are separately prepared each day afresh for each individual dish.

Marinades is a quality restaurant, and its central location makes it ideal for lunch or dinner. The prices of the dishes are towards the upper end of the scale, with each small curry costing around $10, with rice. By the time you have a couple of curries and a jug of water for each, the bill starts quickly accumulating digits. But if you’re adventurous, keen for a high quality meal, need a venue to impress someone, and aren’t afraid of being watched by the yoga man, Marinades is the place to be.

Marinades	Cairns CBD
Authentic Indian cuisine with helpful, attentive staff and friendly passionate owners. Open for lunch and dinner, Marinades is an inexpensive and fun restaurant for small groups, family outings and dinner with friends. Large groups can also take advantage of their brightly decorated banquet room.
cuisines: Indian, Vegetarian features: A la carte, EFTPOS, Licensed, Take Away open: Daily from 18:00 to 22:30 With these exceptions: Closed on Monday review: Marinading in Indian pleasure (28/3/2003) contact: (07) 40411422 | 43 Spence Street
Mini Reviews
Andrew	19th Dec 2006
Marinades remains not only Cairns or Qld's, but Australia's finest Indian restaurant. It is wonderful to know that each time we go back, the standard of food and service will be superb. My wife and I have both lived in India, and are on an eternal quest for quality Indian food, so having Marinades so close to home make our life alot easier. 3/3. Excellent!
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