Maurya Indian Restaurant & Cafe, 58 Station Place, Sunshine. Phone: 9364 9001

It’s been almost two years since we wrote with pleasure about Maurya, a cosy little Indian cafe tucked away and easy to miss opposite the Sunshine bus and rail aggregation.

Truth be told, I would not even be heading here today were not for the fact Bennie is attending and birthday party-and-movie shindig a little way’s away.

We’ve enjoyed an intense week that has included a quickie trip to New Zealand and the season’s first rugby game for Bennie, so I figure a little space is warranted – although I do subsequently join the party party for the movie.

Maurya is very much as I remember it – a small restaurant with a lived-in feel, menus stuck to the wall near the serving counter (albeit with more hand-written additions and substractions) and a vibe that evokes memories of eating in India more than any other I know of in Melbourne.

I wave aside my usual objections to paying for pulses in Indian joints by ordering a simple vegetarian thali ($10).

It’s ace – and different.

For starters, instead of rice there’s four wholemeal chapatis – warm, freshly made, pliant, superb.

The raita is minus vegetable matter and only slightly seasoned. It’s runny and quite sour, so I figure that it may be house-produced like my breads. I’m told such is not the case – though it sometimes can be here.

The dal is as I recall from my previous visits, if less spicy – a smooth blend of aduki and read beans, onion, ginger and … ?

My efforts to ascertain the remaining seasoning fail as the staff plead business.

Oh well – it’s all part of a delightful, homespun and healthy Indian lunch.

And proof positive that the best food can often be the most humble.

See earlier review here.