Blow Horn son and dad team Nav Dhillon, 22, and Harry Singh with business partner Guru Ghuman (centre), the owner of Gurus Cafeteria just down the street. How they came by the name of the eatery can be explained by the photograph Guru is holding in this picture! Photo: Minerva Taylor.
It would have to be a rare thing for a restaurateur to spontaneously invite a random customer on a tour of their kitchen at the end of a busy Saturday night service.
But after enjoying a meal at Albury’s Indian-Middle Eastern eatery Blow Horn recently, that’s just what son and father team Nav Dhillon and Harry Singh did for this writer – which proved the catalyst for a sit-down interview for Region’s ‘Five Minutes with’ series.
Blow Horn kitchen exemplifies meticulous standards for cleanliness and orderliness, clearly reflecting the pride the team behind the popular Gurus Cafeteria and Meraki Kitchen Albury offers in every dish they serve.
It’s a “one pan, one spoon, for one curry” standard, Harry declared proudly.
Located opposite Regent Cinemas Albury in the city’s main street, Blow Horn opened in 2024 with a vision to serve authentic fare, made from scratch with the freshest ingredients, and full of flavour.
Think street-food inspired appetizers such as samosas, kebabs, koftas, paneer pakora and dukkah dips, mains of lamb shoulder, Egyptian beef, Moroccan chicken and traditional Indian curries (with vegetarian options), a mouthwatering array of flatbread with which to soak it all up, desserts made in-house and meals accompanied by a licensed drinks menu (as well as a range of mocktails).
For breakfast you’ve got all your staples but with a twist: Sharwarma Benedict or Blow Horn Pancakes with pistachio knafeh, chocolate drizzle, crunchy pistachio crumb and rose.
“We cook food our own family and kids would eat here daily,” Harry said.
“With Indian food, everyone has their own ideas … but it can tend to be heavy. We wanted to offer something lighter and a bit different.”
The venture between Harry and well-known Border business owner Guru Ghuman came about after the Indian-born pair met through family connections in Sydney many years back and discovered a shared love of food and cooking from their homeland.
How did the name Blow Horn come about?
Well that’s a bit of a story in itself, according to Harry and Nav. And it’s probably best explained by a photograph on the wall of the restaurant, featuring (rather bizarrely) the back end of a variety of trucks in India.
It was Guru who came up with the name during a visit back to India, where he kept observing that all the trucks and buses had the words ‘Blow Horn’ or ‘Blow Horn Please’ written on the back of them.
In the chaotic and crammed throng of Indian traffic, loud honking is almost a quintessential part of the country’s culture, he said.
And with that, Guru called his accountant and asked if he could register ‘Blow Horn’ as a business name!
A must-try on the Blow Horn menu?
Harry: The goat curry (cooked bone in on a low flame for 3-4 hours with whole spices in yoghurt, ghee, ginger, garlic and onion). The lamb and beef are also cooked low and slow for up to nine hours with fresh spices – “there are no powders”.
Nav: Our chicken tikka masala (sauteed with capsicum, tempered fenugreek, onion and tomato gravy) … and the goat!
Ingredient you can’t live without?
Cumin, coriander and turmeric are the essentials for cooking, said Blow Horn chef Neeraj Kumar.
Top three cooking tips?
For Harry there’s just one: use fresh ingredients!
From grinding up their own spices from scratch to sourcing quality local meat (“it’s never frozen”), fresh is the best way to maximise flavour, he said.
Most unusual dish you’ve eaten?
Nav: Alpaca in Peru
Neeraj: Crocodile in Thailand.
Best thing about the Border’s dining scene?
“We are here because of the support of the community,” Nav said. “Most weekends it’s pretty packed in here and we also get a steady stream of take-away orders. We love sharing and showcasing our food but we are nothing without this community. It makes us pretty happy and proud when people keep returning and that the next time they come in, they bring someone else with them. It makes all the long hours and effort worth it.”
Best coffee in Albury?
Nav: Ours.
Guru: (laughing) Gurus of course!
For the record the eateries share the same brand of coffee.
Blow Horn, at 2/453 Dean Street, Albury, is open Tuesdays (5 to 9:30 pm), Wednesdays to Sundays for breakfast, lunch and dinner (7 am to 3 pm, and 5 to 9:30 pm) for dine-in, delivery and takeaway. Check it out on Facebook and Instagram, phone 0481 341 355 or email [email protected]
