Curries generally need seasoning with salt, like most dishes, so don’t be afraid to use it. If you do overdo it then lemon juice can neutralise the salty taste.
Author: Daniel Ford
Daniel Ford is a media entrepreneur, writer, editor and publisher who specialises in launches and re-launches. He is the Publishing Director of media company Chase My Snail. He was previously Editor-in-Chief of GQ (South Africa), Editor-in-Chief of Sunday Life magazine (Independent News & Media) and CEO of the African design magazine Ogojii. He has consulted on digital media, magazines and books in England, India, the USA and South Africa, including creating a glossy print edition of the SABC's TV show Top Billing and branding for the Laureus World Sports Awards. He has written a number of books on fitness, sport and travel, which have been published all over the world, from China to Africa and from Russia to Australia. He loves carefully crafted words, digital and print publications produced with passion. And curry.
Curry joke 24
The amazing thing about Indian food is that even when you are full you still keep picking at your favourite dish. The other day the waiter asked a couple if they had finished. The man replied, “You can take everything Butter Chicken.”
Leg of Lamb
Leg of lamb with spice. Mouth-watering…
– Part of our memories of England, Tuscany and now India –
The dish I served at one of my first dinner parties I gave way back in England to introduce JS to some of my friends was, at his request “English Leg of Lamb with all the trimmings” and he still keeps talking about it. He absolutely loved it and I could have made this for him quite easily once a week then.
When later we went to Florence, this beautiful city, I happen to mention to some of our Italian friends the “English Leg of Lamb……” story and guess what! Yes – right, one day at a beautiful Lunch in the Tuscan Countryside they served “Tuscan Leg of Lamb with a spread of beautifully oven roasted vegetables” from their garden – both JS and I thought we had gone to heaven.
But with all…
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Curry joke 23
My friend always takes a long time to eat his curry. I sometimes ask him why he is taking so long but he just replies, “Don’t Reshmee.”
Curry tip 23
When a dish requires yoghurt, cream or coconut allow your base sauce (onions, tomatoes, spices etc) to cool down a bit before adding it. This allows it to absorb better and not split.
Not royalty but decent
Royal Tandoori, Lincoln
The Royal Tandoori is what I’d imagine curry houses looked like in the 1960s and ’70s. – the days when the food itself was still a novelty and the décor could be an afterthought. Things have moved on since then for sure, but not it seems in this specific corner of Lincoln. I say ‘specific’ because over the road a curry competitor, The Modern, is all shiny knobs and clean cut wood.
There are usually two ways you can approach things when you see a restaurant that thinks cork tablemats, plastic pepper pots and chairs with springs poking up the bums of guests are appealing. The first is that the food will be so good the décor doesn’t matter (after all a shiny table setting is no guarantee of quality food) and the second is that the food is as awful as the badly framed prints on the wall.
The Royal Tandoori is closer to the former, and although the food is not sensational by any means, it was certainly up to the task for four men who had just been to a football match.
When it came to ordering I blame the dithering. Starter or no starter? Popadoms? No I don’t fancy them. Lamb? Only if you order a chicken dish I can share. And not too hot. Side dishes? We won’t eat it all. But I want one. Dither, dither, dither. And so it came to be that, to avoid any more dithering we ordered a set meal, something I assumed belonged to the realm of Chinese food. Always seems like a good idea when you read it out loud but rarely is.
But here we go, headlong into a set meal. At least it included popadoms, which meant the pickle tax was absorbed (80p per person for the pickle tray indeed). So, and it really does sound good when you read it out loud, there are starters of Sheehk Kebab and Onion Bhaji, mains of Chicken Tikka Bhoona, Rogan Josh, Prawn Bhoona, and Chicken Korma, plus sides of Sag Aloo, Mixed Vegetable Curry, Pilau rice, Special rice and two naans. All for £42.95. Not bad indeed.
My reticence over set meals is that the nature of appealing to a group means the dishes have to be pretty middle of the road (see above). The second is that the dishes are mini portions.
But the dishes certainly were not mini, or if they were then the other people in the restaurant were getting huge portions. Certainly no complaints there. So how about the quality? Our friend Billy Broadbent, who knows a thing or two about curry, reckons it’s decent but probably not royalty.
Royal Tandoori, 118 High Street, Lincoln, LN5 7PR. Tel: 01522 514222 or 576736. Open: daily noon–2pm and 5.50pm–midnight.
The Scores on the Tandoors
Food 6
Décor 3
Vibe (Saturday night) 4
Service and friendliness 6
Value 7
Curry tip 22
Don’t treat your order of rice as an afterthought. Choosing the right rice can enhance your meal. If you are ordering a special dish (or a really hot one) stick to plain boiled rice or plain pilau so you don’t have tastes competing with the flavours of your main dish.
Curry joke 22
How should an Indian takeaway always answer the phone?
“Aloo, can I take your order?”
Curry joke 21
There are a group of friends who meet down our local curry house every Friday but one of them has a habit of leaving early. They all call him Ceylon.
Curry tip 21
Do you want a curry that’s cooked to perfection? Ask the waiter where the chef is from and what dish he would recommend from that country or region. Most chefs will have perfected the dishes from where they grew up.
The Royal Curry Club 