Marinade's Indian Restuarant 2nd Nov. 2007

Irene's choice. Ken, Irene, Neil, Alex, Gerry, Alan
Overall Rating: 3 star
Total Cost per person: $75.00

Ratings scale: Excellent; Very Good; Good; Not so Good; Poor; Abysmal

This restaurant is considered the best Indian restaurant in Cairns and specialises in Northern Indian cuisine. There is an excellent range of Indian breads, but overall the servings are extremely small. As with most restaurants of this type, dishes come to the table to share, which means that not all diners might get a taste of everything, as there is often not enough pieces of meat, prawns etc. for one each. Large tables should order two serves. The restaurant has several private group areas at the rear of the restaurant.

Ambiance - Rating: Good. Nice decor - not overly Indian, paper place mats with prints complementing the decor and linen serviettes. Being seated near the open doors made it uncomfortably hot as the airconditioning and fans did not extend to that area. It pays to ask for an interior table in hot weather.
Music - Rating: Good. Background piped Indian music - not too intrusive.
Menu - Rating: Very Good. An extensive menu of northern Indian food. Reasonably well explained in the menu but waiters extremely helpful and knowledgeable and willing to Anglicise items.
Entree: none
Main course: Dal, Murg Tak E Tak (chicken in Peshwari spice), Lamb Rogan Josh, Goan Prawns in coconut mil and spices, Navratta Korma (vegetables with dried fruit and cashew nut sauce), Bengali fish curry. Breads: Naan, Roti. Ratia and rice. All food was rated as Very Good, but serves small. With only six people one would expect at least one prawn each.
Sweets: none
Drinks: The first bottle of white wine was too hot, but was replaced. Otherwise wine choice and cost was rated Good.
Drinks Service - Rating: Good. After the initial settling in service it was difficult to attract attention.
Food Service - Rating: Good. Food took longer than acceptable to arrive. Wait staff efficient but not overly friendly.

Summary: There are many much cheaper Indian restaurants around serving larger portions of good food. Marinades food is certainly tasty, but not good value for money in this genre of restaurants.