By Jo Attard
Tucked away in Newport’s quaint Challis Street shopping strip is the little gem of Searz Caffi. Opened in 2015, this restaurant is a renowned westie treasure of Asian fusion delights with something special for the whole family.
Chef Gopikrishna Govindasamy, better known as Gopi, grew up in Singapore in the 1970s. He attributes his knowledge of winning flavour combinations to growing up immersed in the operation of his grandpa’s spice shop. However, it was his mother’s love of entertaining that ignited his passion for cooking and feeding others.
Searz’ menu boasts variety, and heaps of popular crowd pleasers but the Gopi’s signature Wednesday Mambo night and authentic regional Friday night curry specials are exceptional at a price point of $20 – $25. Last week, he served Bengali beef curry served with chickpea salad, spinach, zucchini and cauliflower dhal on a bed of steamed rice.
The menu includes a variety of hearty parmas: vegetarian, Hawaiian, salami or meat lovers, as well as; lamb, fried chicken, pork and tonkatsu burgers. If you prefer something lighter, the plentiful bibimbap, donburi and Japanese bento box combinations feel like a more balanced take away choice.
The kid’s meal offering has more variety than usual, with considered options of grilled or crumbed chicken, grilled fish and panko prawns aside sweet potato fries or rice. While, deserts, like recent features mascarpone mixed berries cake or pecan pie cheesecake with sticky rum sauce make it hard to say no to afters at only $8.50.
The restaurant is cosy with both indoor and outdoor seating but it’s when ordering take out at the family friendly time slots of 5.30 and 6.00pm that it becomes really obvious exactly how popular Searz is. You’ll have to head to Challis St if you want to sample any of this tasty goodness though, as there are no delivery options and remember to bring your own bag because Searz is a leader in eco-friendly take out containers.
Searz Caffi is open Wednesday – Saturday at 39 Challis Street, Newport.
