9 curry spots you need to visit in Durban

Curries, bunnies, biryanis, buffets, thali and takeaways, traditional and fusion - there's no shortage of dynamite in Durban's dishes. Here are some of top spots to sample fiery Indian cuisine at the coast.

1) CONTEMPORARY CURRY: SPICE RESTAURANT & BAR LOUNGE

While Linda Govender describes her food as "east meets west, classic meets modern", her many fans keep coming back for her innovative and delicate blends of spices and aromatics. There's no better place for a long, slow lunch rich with taste sensations and views of the sea.

Signature dish: Prawns in a curry cream sauce served with a cumin-studded poppadom.

Heat factor: It's difficult to define what people mean when they say "hot" or "mild", says Govender. "I'd say if you don't want heat, don't order curry."

Taste: The balti spiced prawns are nuanced, subtle and seductive. Draped in a creamy curry sauce, each bite reveals new flavours and hidden depths.

Visit: 37 North Beach Road, Bali Hai, Westbrook, Tongaat. Phone 032-943-3558.

Times: Open daily for lunch and dinner but guests are welcome any time for drinks or coffee.

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2) TOP TAKEAWAY: JAIPUR PALACE EXPRESS

Jaipur Palace has served food good enough for royalty for more than 15 years but the little takeaway, tucked behind the restaurant, has been around less than half that time. It's small, neat and customers can sit at a table and make a meal of it if they can't wait until they get home. It's popular with out-of-towners - one regular picks up his takeaway just before he catches the plane back to Cape Town. Free naan or rice with meals.

Signature dishes: Lamb bunny, butter chicken and they make a great mutton burger.

Heat factor: Standard, "with a sting".

Taste: The mutton burger is a multi-layered offering - a juicy patty with lashings of spicy sauce, salad and fat chips.

Visit: 131 Waterkant Road, Durban. Phone 031-564-9215.

Times: 9am - 9.30pm, seven days a week.

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3) COOLEST CURRY: GOUDEN'S

From 2001 until last year, Gouden's ran from factory premises. Now it's moved and while the venue is still canteen-style, it's much easier to find - and boy, is it busy. Devan Gounden puts their success down to consistency. There's plenty of seating space but takeaways make up the bulk of business; on average they sell between 1 500 and 2 000 curries per week. Beer and spirits available.

Signature dish: Mutton curry but many swear by the chops chutney (available two or three times a week).

Heat factor: "Between 6.5 and 9," says Gounden, "but we do cater to the one-in-30 who wants something mild."

Taste: Yes, yes, the mutton curry is the favourite but the much maligned chicken curry holds its own. Tender chicken on the bone served in a thick, fiery gravy with spuds, this is a dish best appreciated by those who like it hot. The flavour is in them bones.

Visit: 520 Umbilo Rd, Durban. Phone 031-205-5363.

Times: 9am - 6pm.

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4) BEST KARMA: VRUSHIKS VEGETARIAN FOOD

Vrushiks, following the principles of Hare Krishna, has supplied 100% onion- and garlic-free vegetarian food for more than a decade. "Karma-free," they call it but it is the quality that attracts customers from all walks of life. Paneer is king here, but you can also get a haloumi burger or a spicy soya roll. Minesh Rajput does all his own cooking while his wife Varsha is responsible for the sweets.

Signature dish: The paneer burger, closely followed by their spicy soya mutton.

Heat factor: "The soya products reach 8 or 9, the other meals are mild - around 5," says Rajput.

Taste: The paneer burger is an exotic blend of a double thick, spicy, grilled patty in a spicy sauce with cucumber, tomato and lettuce served with masala chips. Very morish.

Visit: Mangrove Beach Centre, 91 Somtseu Rd, Durban. Phone 031-368-7443.

Times: 9.30am - 5pm weekdays, until 4.30pm Saturdays. Closed Sundays

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5) BRILLIANT BIRYANI: SOLLY MANJRA'S

Solly Manjra's Caterers is a Durban institution that's been around for more than 50 years. The flavoursome food, the result of open-fire cooking, is prepared in pots the size of bathtubs - necessary to cater for the masses who descend on the takeaway seven days a week. On weekends, they start cooking at 4am and sell about 700 biryanis a day. The restaurant, only open Friday to Sunday, offers a nine-course buffet. Halal.

Signature dish: Lamb biryani.

Heat factor: Mostly medium but can rise or fall on request.

Taste: The maharaja of dishes, the lamb biryani is tempered with a combination of elachi, anise, cinnamon and saffron, yoghurt-marinated tender lamb, buttery potatoes and braised rice.

Visit: 9 Lakedale Road, Sea Cow Lake, Durban. Phone 031-577-4774.

Times: The takeaway is open 8am-4pm weekdays and until 8.30pm on weekends.

6) LITTLE DYNAMITE: NITA'S CURRY DEN

If you blink you will miss Nita's diminutive wendy house, hidden behind razorwire and set back on the pavement next to a salvage warehouse. And it would be a pity to miss Nita's curry, cooked fresh daily and usually sold out by the end of lunchtime - the workers in the area know good food when they smell it. There is usually a choice of two, possibly three curries.

Signature dish: Mutton bunny, but Auntie Nita only makes it a few times a week. Nothing wrong with the quarter beans bunny, though.

Heat factor: As it comes - usually medium.

Taste: Every Indian family boasts an Auntie Nita - the person who is responsible for cooking the main curry at a family gathering because she has the "best hands". In this case, a combination of freshly made food, homemade curry powder and her blessed hands ensure that whatever is on offer on the daily menu will satiate the curry craving. Her curries are just the right colour (burnt saffron), her gravy is just so and the potatoes almost disintegrated but not mush.

Visit: 172 Brickfield Road. Phone 073-260-2147.

Times: Monday to Saturday, 11am until the curry runs out.

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7) ALL YOU CAN EAT: OYSTER BOX HOTEL

Way back in the 1950s, curry was a prized item on the Oyster Box menu. So, following the 2009 refurbishment, the curry buffet (above) was introduced in the hotel's Ocean Terrace Restaurant, under the experienced eye of head chef Luke Nair. They use only fresh ingredients, he says, and the imported spices are ground and roasted in-house. At least 11 curries are on offer as well as tandoori chicken and a selection of breads and chutneys. Booking essential.

Signature dish: The chicken and prawn curry, from the recipe Nair used to beat 54 other chefs and win the "Curry Cup" competition a decade ago.

Heat factor: The vindaloo is very, very hot; the rest medium to mild.

Taste: Foodies may turn up their noses at buffets but the array at the Oyster Box would make any Indian home cook proud. The chicken and prawn curry packs a flavour burst that leaves your inner self smiling.

Visit: 2 Lighthouse Rd, Umhlanga. Phone 031-514-5000.

Times: Lunch (noon to 3pm) and dinner (6pm to 10.30pm) daily.

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8) SPICED-UP SEAFOOD: EL ARISH

An upmarket venue, the El Arish opened its doors in 1983 and moved to its premises on the Bluff 15 years ago. The original recipes go back to their first chef, a British import. "We set a standard and we keep improving it," says owner Tony Perumal. "We have people who come all the way from Umhlanga and Balito." Full bar available.

Signature dish: The prawn curry (as is, or with calamari or crayfish) is a talking point but they are as famous for their fillet Madeira.

Heat factor: Cool in general but it can be adjusted to suit your palate.

Taste: You know it's authentic when the stringent aroma of the tamarind in the fish curry reaches out and socks you in the nose, which in turn launches the taste buds into dance mode. The fish is moist and soaked in gravy, which definitely leaves a tingle after the last drop is mopped up with a slice of bread. (Purists, of course, would insist on eating it with sangati, a stiff mealie-meal porridge.)

Visit: 899 Bluff Road, Bluff. Phone 031-467-9576.

Times: Lunch is 11.30am until 2.30pm and dinner is 5.30pm until 10pm. Every day except Monday.

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9) BUNNY HUGGING: SASOL MOUNT EDGECOMBE

Yes it's a petrol station, but it's also the home of an award-winning bunny. Kumaran Pillay opened his takeaway in 2009 (in 2010 they won Durban's Bunny Chow Barometer competition) and he serves about 30 000 people a month. "We cook our food with passion and we don't compromise on quality," he says. "An American customer called our bunnies 'messy, crude and delicious'. That says it all." Strictly halal.

Signature dish: Mutton bunny.

Heat factor: Extra hot and hot. No medium or mild but, says Pillay, "the bread absorbs the heat so you don't really feel it when you eat".

Taste: Like Indian actor Rajinikanth, this bunny explodes with action from the moment you place a piece of the fresh bread - soaked with thick masala gravy, melting potatoes, tender lamb and vinegar-dressed carrot salad - onto your tongue. The after-taste is as pleasant as a film's happy ending. The taste is enhanced by "crushing" said bunny on the bonnet of your car.

Visit: 34 Sipho Sethy Road, Mt Edgecombe. Phone: 031-537-3997.

Times: 24/7.