Category: 2. Reviews (Other UK)

Carrying on up…

On By Daniel FordIn 2. Reviews (Other UK)Leave a comment

The Khyber, Swindon

There is a little part along Victoria Road in Swindon that can lay claim to being Little India, with a string of spice restaurants along a tiny stretch. It would seem the Khyber was the place to kick it all off. The restaurant proudly declares itself as Wiltshire’s First and last year celebrated 50 years, the year when it was named the south west’s Caterer of the Year by the BCA. It has been in the same venue all along.

One thing that has certainly changed in that time is the decor. The long, narrow space is designed smartly in a contemporary style, with the mostly muted creams and whites offset with dashes of red and brown colour used on some of the seating. It works well and certainly looks a ‘night out’ place for couples.

Wonder how many of these they've dished up over the last 50 years?
Wonder how many of these they’ve dished up over the last 50 years?

So why after 50 years (plus one now, of course) haven’t they got the food right? The Chicken Patia (£5.95) was sweet but not sour. Or was it the other way around. Oh, I can’t remember, it was just a curry without any distinction. Which, as readers of the previous review of Jack Spice will note, is becoming a bit of theme in this town. The King Prawn Madras (£7.95) had decent-sized shellfish but was the most insipid madras I have ever had. Neither spice, nor kick, just a curry again.

This came with a tiny bowl of pilau rice (£2.35) and even the waiter chuckled when I asked which of the seven dwarves was joining us for dinner. The keema nan (£2.60) was decent enough but, again, fairytale sized. If you want to see a decent nan then check out the elephant ear.

Sometimes I can forgive a bog-standard curry when I’m hungry, especially if its good value but here the bottled Cobra is priced at £5.25 (they have draught beer at less eye-watering prices we discovered after the fact) and the popadom tax was 75p a pop.

The Khyber, 5-6 Victoria Road, Swindon, SN1 3AJ. Tel: 01793 523992. E-mail: info@thekhyber.co.uk.

The Khyber snapshot

Food 4⃣

Decor 7⃣

Value 5⃣

Atmosphere (early Friday night) 5⃣

Service and friendliness 6⃣

Minster munch

On By Daniel FordIn 2. Reviews (Other UK)Leave a comment

The Raj, York

It’s cold and I need a warming curry. The Raj looks nice. It is. Beautifully designed with bold print wallpaper and smart, carved chairs, the restaurant is set in two levels. The top level is full already despite it being early, so I head down a couple of steps to the lower level (you can still see the diners on the upper level). This level soon fills up too.

The waiters are friendly, especially the one from Goa, who proudly tells me about his home state. The food is good (Sheek Kebab starter at £2.25, Chicken Rogan £4.20, pilau rice £2 and a chapati 70p). I’m warming up.

Ideally for tourists, the restaurant it only a short walk from York Minster. But from the chatter and the accents, this is well-known and used by plenty of locals too. It’s easy to see why.

The Raj, 21/22 Bootham, York, YO30 7BW. Tel: 01904 612017/613366. E-mail: ahmforh@aol.com. Open: daily 6pm-late.

The Raj snapshot

Food 7⃣

Decor 8⃣

Value 8⃣

Atmosphere (early Saturday night) 7⃣

Service and friendliness 8⃣

Nice name, shame about the food

On By Daniel FordIn 2. Reviews (Other UK)1 Comment

Jack Spice, Swindon

You’ve got to love the name Jack Spice. Unfortunately not so the food. There was nothing really wrong with it, but there wasn’t much right with it. Plenty of jack, not much spice.

The attractive, cosy little restaurant was buzzing. This appears to be due to the Sunday to Thursday special where you can order paps, starter, a main, a side and rice or nan for £11.95. Everyone around us was making hay. It seems to be such the norm that the (first) waiter didn’t even bother giving us the option of anything else and was somewhat baffled when we turned down the paps (“but they come with your meal” he said, simply assuming we’d go for the special).

Jack Spice is one of those friendly places that thinks you want to meet all the waiters and owners within minutes of arriving, so one by one they all made their way to our table in quick succession, clearly not having a clue what we’d said to the previous waiter. Let’s be kind and say they were just making sure.

Chicken Shally. Sweet and sour dish with chipped potatoes on top
Chicken Shally. Sweet and sour dish with chipped potatoes on top

I wish they’d told us the Chicken Shally (normally £5.50) is not really like a Patia as it says on the menu. A well-cooked sweet and sour dish is always a delight when you get that first rush of sweetness then a kick to follow. It’s certainly not easy to balance such different tastes admittedly, but this was just a medium curry with absolutely no balance of spice. The shally bit, by the way, are fine potato crisps on top of the dish, which works remarkably well.

I can’t remember the other dishes because they all tasted like medium curry as well, although there was some sweetness in the end thanks to the Peshwari nan (£2.50). But by then we didn’t give a jack.

Jack Spice, 61 Fleet Street, Swindon, SN1 1RA. Tel: 01793 488098/613309. E-mail: contact@jackspice.co.uk. Open: daily 5pm-midnight (later on Fri-Sat).

Jack Spice snapshot

Food 4⃣

Decor 6⃣

Value 5⃣

Atmosphere (weekday night) 8⃣

Service and friendliness 5⃣

Quick and cheap

On By Daniel FordIn 2. Reviews (Other UK)Leave a comment

New Regency, London, EC1V

I’d suggest you don’t arrive late for the noon to 2pm daily buffet as some of the food will be cold (tops off the serving trays, even the warmer plates seem to have given up). “Get here early, it’s nice and fresh,” I’m told.

That said the lunchtime buffet food at New Regency in Old Street is pretty decent for a paltry £5.95 (large takeaway £4.95 and a pound less for a small one). The promo leaflet says  ‘over 16’ items but as an example from my visit you’ll get a couple of starters (onion bhajis and pakora), three curries (two veg and one lamb), a couple of rice and deals plus salad, pops, nan slices and a dessert.

But frankly for a quick and cheap lunchtime curry (it looks like it attracts local office workers) one or two decent dishes are fine. The Vegetable Curry was spot on, and with rice and salad makes a great lunch. If you like something a bit heavier the Lamb Curry with Chick Peas was sweet and tender too. This lot, at least, was still hot.

New Regency, 96 Old Street, London, EC1V. Tel: 020 7336 8636/8696. E-mail: info@newregencyindiancuisine.com. Open: daily, noon–2pm, 6pm–midnight.

New Regency snapshot

Food 5⃣

Decor 4⃣

Value 7⃣

Atmosphere (Tuesday lunchtime) 3⃣

Service and friendliness 7⃣

* Note: new rating system introduced. See About for more details

New Regency Indian Cuisine on Urbanspoon


A proper vindaloo

On By Daniel FordIn 2. Reviews (Other UK)Leave a comment

Chilli & Spice, Reading

Inauspiciously situated (and advertised) as being next to Burger King and above Perfect Chicken, Chilli & Spice is a restaurant which knows about proper heat when it comes to Indian dishes.

Is it just me or are vindaloos and Madras dishes generally getting milder? I suppose I might just be immune to spice heat after decades of curry munching but in recent years I’m increasing unimpressed by many of these so-called hot dishes. Hot? Hot? You call that hot? Do the chefs pop their heads around the door and think, “Oh dear, he looks a bit pale, think I’ll calm his order down a bit.”

You will find no such worries at Chilli & Spice because the chef clearly knows how much heat dishes really should have. First up a King Prawn Dhansak (£9.50). Most of us know that this lentil-laden Persian dish should have sweet and sour tastes (tamarind and sugar usually does the trick). But there is a third leg to dhansak dishes and that is… hot. Prawns and lentils absorb heat fantastically and the chef here certainly knows how to use them perfectly to create all three tastes. Spot on.

And when it came to the Keema Vindaloo (£5.25) the chef certainly didn’t pop his head around the door. This was a proper vindaloo, with the mince lamb so drenched in spice it led to sharp intakes of breath. When was the last time a vindaloo made you do that?

PS. Try to get your hands on a takeaway menu leaflet before you visit as it includes a 25 per cent discount on food for diners.

Chilli & Spice, 1st Floor, 10 St Mary’s Butts, Reading, Berkshire RG1 2LN. Tel: 0118 956 7080. Open: Mon-Thur 6pm-11.30pm, Fri-Sat 6pm-00.30am. Sun closed. E-mail: info@chilli-and-spice.co.uk.

Chilli & Spice snapshot

Food ① ② ③ ④

Decor ① ②

Value ① ② ③ ④

Atmosphere (Saturday night) ① ②

Service and friendliness ① ② ③


Tip or flick?

On By Daniel FordIn 2. Reviews (Other UK)Leave a comment

Red Chilli, London, E1

“Didn’t you tip him?”
“Yes, I added it to the card.”
“Oh!”

“Oh,” indeed. The question had been prompted because at the end of the meal at Red Chilli my credit card had been push-flicked towards me on to the table by the waiter from the plastic holder thing it’s always presented in along with the receipt. Had I imagined it? Sadly not. It had followed a couple of sharp comments from staff earlier which I had chosen to ignore (well, I had a curry to eat after all).

It’s pretty easy to keep me happy when it comes to curry. Give me a seat, a table and food that is spicy and a curry house has pretty much cracked it. Upmarket or downmarket, old-school or contemporary, cheap or pricey, hey, it’s all curry in the end. I’m not against that complimentary brandy when the curry is finished but it’s not crucial. But I think I’ll skip the bit where my credit card gets flicked towards me thanks.

Red Chilli had come highly recommended and its walls are covered in certificates celebrating various awards. The menu is extensive and, as well as the usual dishes there are two speciality sections – Red Chilli specialities and more unusually Vegetable House specialities with no fewer than 19 dishes listed. The word ‘Signature’ dots the menu indicating the restaurant’s special dishes.

Sadly, as well as the main waiters being off on holiday (I’m assuming), it seems the main chef had the night off too. My taste buds must have though I’d stumbled into a Chinese. The Chicken Shashlik (£7.50) came with fried tomatoes, peppers and onions as you’d expect. I suppose even the stir-fry style of the Mushroom Bhaji (£3.25) in a thick sauce could be enjoyed as ‘something different’. But there was a theme emerging and the Chicken Pathia (£6.50) stayed true to form. There was certainly sweet but where was the sour and hot? I quickly check the rice to see if it’s egg-fried.

Red Chilli, 137 Leman Street, London, E18EY. Tel: 020 7481 3300. E-mail: redchillicurryclub@hotmail.co.uk.

Red Chilli snapshot

Food ① ② ③

Decor ① ② ③ ④

Value ① ② ③

Atmosphere (Thursday night) ① ② ③

Service and friendliness ①


Red Chilli on Urbanspoon

Curry chic

On By Daniel FordIn 2. Reviews (Other UK)Leave a comment

Curry Leaf East, London, EC1Y

This smart restaurant near Moorgate appears to have a steady stream of City workers looking to enjoy a decent curry in clean, cool surroundings after work or after a few post-work drinks. It is one of about 20 in the group I am told (and yes there is a Curry Leaf West, it’s near Tottenham Court Road).

The food in Curry Leaf East is not going to be the cheapest you’ll ever enjoy but you’ll be hard pressed to find better curry. This contemporary venue is right up there when it comes to quality ingredients and offers a balanced and interesting menu without completely ditching the old favourites.

The colour palette of the restaurant is mostly cool creams but set off with dark wood chairs and metal, latticed Indian-style lights. The centrepiece is a wooden installation hanging from the ceiling that will remind you of a small whale skeleton. A couple of tables sit under this, while others line the walls of the long, narrow space.

It’s always a delight to see Chicken Nilgiri Korma (£10.95) on a menu. This spicy version of the classic offers a nice balance of creaminess and spice bite, although this one came in a greener sauce than you’ll usually find thanks to freshness of the mint and coriander used to create the sauce. There is also dark rum in this dish.

Lal Maans (£9.95), a rich Rajasthani dish, was the closest dish we could find to the craved-after Keema. But don’t expect frozen peas anywhere near this dish. The small chunks of lamb were perfectly cooked and tender, and smothered in the trademark thick, dark sauce of northwest India.

The Khumb Makai Masala (£4.50) offered button mushrooms instead of the more common slices served in other curry houses, and the baby corn supplied an excellent crunch to add to the sweetness of the dish. Add to this the tang of the Lemon rice (£3.95).

The obvious freshness of ingredients ensured all the various flavours of each dish was distinctive and balanced and none were overpowered. One moment there was the creaminess of the korma, then the kick of the chilli, then the sweetness of the lamb and the zestiness of the rice. It’s what makes Indian food so wonderful and not something we should really be surprised at, but as we all know from the more cheap and cheerful corner-of-the-street curries, this isn’t always the case.

Curry Leaf East, 20 City Road, London, EC1Y 2AJ. Tel: 020 7374 4842. Open: Mon-Fri noon-3pm, 6pm-11.30pm; Sat-Sun 6pm-11.30pm.

Curry Leaf East snapshot

Food ① ② ③ ④ ⑤

Decor ① ② ③ ④

Value ① ② ③

Atmosphere (late on Tuesday night) ① ② ③ ④

Service and friendliness ① ② ③ ④

Curry Leaf East on Urbanspoon

West End curry

On By Daniel FordIn 2. Reviews (Other UK)1 Comment

Strand Tandoori, London, WC2E

The only thing wrong with the West End (apart from the high prices, the tourists blocking the pavements etc) is that curry houses are thin on the ground. First you have to search for your curry fix, then you get ripped off with the prices, then the food is naff because they don’t need to try because of where they are. Luckily there is the Strand Tandoori.

Okay, you have to accept that a place so close to Covent Garden is going to be a bit more more expensive than your local on the corner of your road. In fact there will be a few dishes you will probably avoid due to the prices (Tandoori Chicken at £15.50 and King Prawn Biryani at £15.95 for instance) but generally it’s not toooo bad on the wallet.

The Chicken Dopiaza (£8.25) was probably the best I have ever tasted, with a delicious slightly creamy sauce that had me scraping the serving dish and thinking there must have been a bit of yoghurt added (the waiter’s raised eyebrows told me “no” when I asked). Great sauce, crunchy onions and perfectly cooked chicken. The Lamb Sag (£8.75) also delivered with an excellent consistency and no shortage of spinach (i’ve been in a kitchen where a sag dish was bulked up with the basic masala sauce to keep costs down). Add pilau rice (£2.95) and an extremely fresh nan (£2.25).

Strand Tandoori, 45 Bedford Street, London Wc2E 9HA. Tel: 020 7240 1333. E-mail: strand tandoori@live.co.uk

Strand Tandoori snapshot

Food ① ② ③ ④ ⑤

Decor ① ② ③

Value ① ② ③

Atmosphere (late on Monday night) ① ②

Service and friendliness ① ② ③ ④

Strand Tandoori on Urbanspoon

Fresh of Borough

On By Daniel FordIn 2. Reviews (Other UK)Leave a comment

The Balti House, London, SE1

When in a place called The Balti House, have a balti, that’s what I say. The key attraction of a balti is the freshness of all those ingredients cooked together and the Chicken Tikka Balti (£7.50) was super fresh. Isn’t it great to taste the individual parts of a curry rather than them just getting lost in a mush? Baltis start from £5.95 (Balti Vegetable) and rise to £10.50 (Balti King Prawn Tikka) and are to be recommended.

Strange then, that these appetising curries are found not in the most appetising of locations – downstairs in a darkish part of Borough. The decor of wicker chairs and, neat but bog-standard tablecloths doesn’t add to the ambience. Think dining hall in a two-star holiday place in Majorca. Mind you, the waiters don’t speak Spanish and are very friendly. A draught pint was replaced without hesitation for a bottled beer at the mention ‘that it doesn’t taste right’.

Apparently The Balti House thrives on takeaways, which might explain why it was so quiet, despite a large number of tables. Luckily a slightly tipsy work crowd appeared to dismiss the quiet and before long there was even dancing. Now we had more than the food to entertain us.

The Balti House, 7/9 Newington Causeway, London, Se1 6BD. Tel: 020 7357 6175 or 020 7357 6177. Open: Mon-Fri noon-2.30pm, 6pm-midnight. Sat-Sun 6pm-12.30am.

The Balti House snapshot

Food ① ② ③

Decor ① ②

Value ① ② ③ ④

Atmosphere (Thursday night) ① ②

Service and friendliness ① ② ③ ④


Balti House on Urbanspoon

Let there be (chandelier) light

On By Daniel FordIn 2. Reviews (Other UK)Leave a comment

Jewel in the Crown, Swindon

On a short stretch between the old town and new town of Swindon you will find a glut of choices for your spice needs. The Jewel in the Crown, we were told, was the one to choose. And clearly everyone else knows it.

The restaurant has many inter-leading rooms so the atmosphere remains intimate enough for a big place. And the big place was buzzing with couples and larger groups of friends out for a Saturday. In return they get good food, attentive service and, wow, glitzy decor (including the waiters’ outfits).

The interior designer certainly took the name of the restaurant to heart, possibly even a little over the top for some. Chairs are beautifully carved and upholstered, the dish warmers a notch up from anything you’ll usually see, and there are more chandeliers in here than a lighting shop. Waiters are dressed in traditional long, white shirts with fancy, colourful waistcoats.

It was a nice touch to serve a ‘shared’ Sheek Kebab (£2.90) on separate plates, each with their own salad, rather than the usual one plate-two forks version elsewhere. And it was tasty, top-quality meat too. These different touches continued. As dishes are wheeled to each table a single-ring gas burner is used by the waiters to make sure each dish in a Karahi is bubbling hot. Then there is the complimentary brandy, of course.

Eyes down from the decor for a moment and you could enjoy a Large Vegetable Biryani (£5.90) served with a large Vegetable Curry, or a Gourmea Garlic Chicken Massalla (£6.95). The food’s as good as the decor.

Jewel in the Crown, 14-16 Victoria Road, Swindon, Wiltshere. Tel: 01793 522687 or 511943. Open: noon-2.30pm, 5.30pm-midnight.

Jewel in the Crown snapshot

Food ① ② ③ ④

Decor ① ② ③ ④

Value ① ② ③

Atmosphere (Saturday night) ① ② ③ ④

Service and friendliness ① ② ③ ④