MAYA, Fremantle
by JENNY DA’ANGER:
My old mate and ex-Chook Richard was in town and keen to catch up so we headed to his favourite haunt of 10 years ago, Maya Indian.
He’s now editor of an environmental mag and lives in Sydney with his partner and a couple of gorgeous kids. Incredibly he has even less hair than he used to.
The Maya has changed too, adding more awards to those lining the walls, and a small bar upstairs: “Much more upmarket,” my friend noted happily.
The Herald prides itself on being iconoclastic so we broke with tradition and ordered a mix of entrees and mains to share.
When there’s so much fantastic food to choose from it’s a great way to share without overloading the stomach, or the wallet.
And when it’s a 2–1 vegetarian/carnivore ratio it’s a great way to order meat dishes for one.
Raved
Richard raved about the tenderness and the flavour of his chicken tikka ($15 entree), promptly polishing off three sizeable pieces.
Unlike aloo tikki eaten elsewhere, Maya’s Bombay version ($11.50) came as tasty, chewy, vegetable patties, with a pleasing, slight crunch to the exterior.
Eschewing only the eating of cute and cuddly animals, including chooks, and never having had a pet goldfish, the D’Angers are happy to chow down on fish so we ordered a mains of qmin fish curry ($29.90).
Chunks of firm, fish arrived swimming in a rich red gravy with more than a liberal lacing of roasted cumin (or qmin if you want to be fancy schmancy) and fenugreek, coconut, tomatoes and chillies, leaving our taste buds singing with joy. We reached for the yoghurt and cucumber raita ($5.90) to cool our tongues.
The vegetable poriyal ($17.90)—a Tamil word for a fried, or sauteed vegetable dish—was a tad bland, which actually worked well with the hot and spicy fish.
Having chosen wisely size-wise we were left with just enough room to squeeze in a couple of kulfis ($8.90).
I can never go past mango. Richard chose pistachio. We argued over whose was best. The mango was rich, flavoursome and creamy while the nut had a subtler flavour, but was no less creamy.
The Maya was out of our favourite tea, Earl Grey, so we took a punt on green tea. Unhappily, the Maya slugs customers $4 for a pot of hot water and a tea bag.
It was undrinkable and we left it untouched after the second sip confirmed the horror of the first.
We humbly suggest the owners take a stroll down to Joy Kitchen, which uses real leaf in its green tea: It’s a revelation.
It was a sad end to what had been, overall, a delicious meal with terrific service and great company.
Maya Indian
75 Market Street, Fremantle
open Fri–Sun 11.30am,
Tues–Sun 5.30pm till late
9335 2796