Spice up something new at Flavours of India

Posted on 4 March, 2021

Sometimes when you go out to eat, you just want the comfort of what you know; a familiar dish that you know will hit the spot, get the job done and satisfy whatever it is you’re craving.

But then there are the other times, when the same old thing won’t do. You want to order something you’ve perhaps never even heard of and give your tastebuds something new to explore.

If you’re in the mood for the latter, Flavours of India can deliver in droves.

The Indian eatery is a stalwart of the Canberra dining scene, having first opened in Civic way back in 1999. Owner Vikas Randev grew up passionate about cooking, and trained as a chef at various luxury hotels around his home country of India before moving to Canberra in 1995 to work in the kitchen at Hyatt Hotel Canberra.

Having always dreamed of owning his own restaurant, Vikas opened Flavours of India in Garema Place at the young age of 27. Over the years, he has also opened Flavours of India restaurants at Gungahlin and Woden, before deciding to just focus on the Woden restaurant, which sits in Woden Diningon Corinna Street at Westfield Woden. Throughout it all, he has worked with wife Sue, and their children have grown up in and around and even working in the restaurant.

Sue and Vikas Randev.

Vikas hails from northern India, so on the menu you’ll predominantly find northern Indian dishes, but he also features options from different regions which you’re unlikely to find elsewhere in town. He’s passionate about sharing authentic flavours, using laborious cooking techniques that take hours and hours, and can include up to 20 or 30 ingredients, and everything on the menu is made in-house.

If you really do have a hankering for butter chicken or lamb korma, you’re still catered for—they’re covered under ‘The Usual Suspects’ portion of the menu. But The Chef’s Specials page of the menu is where the magic is, with a range of tasty options you’ve unlikely tried before. Vikas’ recommendation? The Angler’s Fish Curry. The coconut-based curry combines fresh fish, Fenugreek seeds and curry leaves with Garcinia Cambogia, a small fruit that gives a sour, smokey flavour.

“It’s a special recipe from back home. I used to study in that part of the world when I was growing up—I did my hotel school from there—and we used to enjoy the fish curry with a pint of beer. And that stayed with me, the lingering aromas and taste,” he says.

You can wash it down with a Kingfisher beer from India, or choose from the full drinks list, with BYO wine also available.

Vikas says he’s a purist when it comes to Indian cooking so you know you’re in for authentic, traditional flavours when you dine at the restaurant. So don’t even try and ask him for a ‘mild vindaloo’.

“A lot of times people do get upset if they say I want a very mild vindaloo and I say there’s no mild vindaloo. I can call it something else but I can’t give you mild vindaloo,” says Vikas.

“If you want vindaloo, you have to go through the hard yards. You have to earn your vindaloo today and tomorrow.”

To survive two decades in the restaurant industry these days is no small feat, and Vikas says they have plenty of regulars who have supported them through thick and thin, and have followed them all over town for their unique cuisine.

“Some regulars, we see them from the carpark and we start cooking. We know what they’re going to have. When they sit down their entree is ready and their wine is sorted out, and they don’t even need to look at the menu,” he says.

“There is a gentleman who is 95 years old and since we opened he has come every time on his birthday—every birthday he’s celebrated here. He always has vindaloo. And I’m always scared to give him vindaloo.”