With the plethora of Indian Restaurants available to dine at in Cairns its hard to know just which one to go to these days but one that has truly stood the test of time in our grand city is Marinades on Spence St.  A few friends and I rocked on into Marinades last Thursday for lunch after a series of ‘blockies’ in an attempt to find a parking spot in the vicinity.  It wasn’t even market day!  At Marinades the lunch set met is a meat or vegetarian thali.  The Vegetarian Thali consists of three vegetarian curries, raita, jasmine rice and dessert for AU$10 while the Meat Thali consists of a meat dish (either lamb or chicken), two vegetable curries, raita, jasmine rice and a dessert all for AU$12.  On top of that if you are really hungry you can get the Deluxe Thali and that includes both the chicken and the lamb for AU$16.  We each ordered a Meat Thali except for my ‘man-friend’ MS who ordered the Deluxe Thali because, well, he’s a big, hungry man.  We also got some naan bread on the side because you just can’t resist the naan bread here it’s so damn good!

Meat Thali with Lamb Curry, Two Vegetable Curries, Raita, Jasmine Rice and Dessert (AU$12)

According to the waitress the curries available in the Thali change daily and on this particular day they were Chicken Korma and Lamb Rogan Josh.  Pretty standard curries for this type of dish but then again you don’t want to get too imaginative with diners coming in for the lunch special especially odd people like my man-friend MS who seem to think that all curries have raisins in them.  I, for one, am completely horrified by this thought.  I ordered the lamb curry which was well, lamb curry but it was pretty good.  Call me simple but my favourite dish in the Thali is the raita.  I could literally ‘shower in that shit’ it’s so good!  Wrapping up, the lunch set menu at Marinades is great value for money, a good size, super tasty and the large table of Indian’s dining next us has got to say something as to the quality of the Indian food here.

Marinades

43 Spence St, Cairns QLD 4870

Ph: (07) 4041 1422

Opening Hours: Tues – Sun 11.30am – 2.30pm, 6pm-10pm (closed Monday’s)