Completing my round-up of Indonesian curry lunches, can Ayuriz Café in the Darwin Central Hotel building provide the goods to best Sari Rasa and Sumatra Café? I stopped by for lunch twice last week to get the low down and to chow down on some curry.

My first visit last week was a little average to be honest, I thought I’d be a little fancy and went with jackfruit curry, beef rendang and some random tofu concoction. The first dish was alright, but nothing special. The beef rendang I’ll get to later, and the tofu was tasteless. I love tofu but this didn’t do anything for me. In my head I can hear the boss lady at work – “This tastes like cardboard! Poo!”

On the second visit a few days later, I got the same as I did for my other two Indonesian reviews - beef rendang, chicken curry and chili eggplant. The rendang was different, soft and tender but not as full compared to the other two in terms of in your face spice. Nice but not as nice as the competition. The chicken curry was nice, mild and not too spicy, the sauce was good. Finally the chili eggplant was a little bit of a let down. Not enough chili goodness, however the eggplant was nice and velvety.

The serving size on my second visit was very generous ($10 for medium), on the first visit it was a bit on the stingy side. Luck of the draw I guess. I took my plate and sat down on the many free tables - it's a great spot to eat lunch with it being both quiet and very spacious. There's also an a la carte menu with all sorts of Indonesian comfort/street food which I'll have to come back and try at some stage, they certainly look the goods from the photos. To round out the experience, they have some cheap baked goodies on the side as well, which neither Sari Rasa or Sumatra offer. I haven't tried any but they do look tasty. Valiant effort, but not as good as the competition I'm afraid. Worth a look for a quiet lunch out of the office.