Ah, what to do when you collect your takeaway, only to open it up at home and discover they haven’t given you exactly what you ordered? In honesty it didn’t make too much difference when I discovered one of the dishes from Mirchi was a Chicken Dopiaza instead of a Chicken Rogan (both £5.25) because I like them both. I certainly wasn’t going back. But on a previous visit I’d had an extra rice I hadn’t ordered (and I definitely wasn’t going back that time) so this was fast becoming a lucky-dip curry place for me.
The food at this good old neighbourhood curry place is pretty decent anyway. Tucked away in a little arcade just off the Westferry Road it wouldn’t be the easiest place to stumble across. And although there are quite a few cafeteria-style tables this looks more takeaway than restaurant.
Recommended dishes are Chicken Bemisal (at £6.20, a sort of extra hot Dansak thanks to the green chillies) and Chicken Tikka Green Chilli Bhuna (£6.20) a bit of a mouthful in all senses.
Parking: along Westferry Road. Delivery: free within three miles for minimum orders of £10. Specials: 10% discount on collected takeaway orders over £10 (excluding set meals). Beer while you’re waiting: The Tooke is a few metres away. Waiting time: was about 15-20 minutes from the time of order.
It says a lot about our times that the village of Liphook has more curry outlets than pubs (at least for now as one of them is being renovated after a fire). Chondona is the old favourite, having been here for years and it is the only one in the village itself (the other two, a Nepalese and a takeaway are in the new bit further down the old A3).
It advertises itself as serving contemporary Bangladeshi cuisine, although it serves the usual range of dishes from all the old-school favourites to tandoori and everything in between.
The front part of the restaurant was full (there is a side overflow area as well) early on a Saturday night and from what I saw the takeaway side of the business is thriving as well. People collecting their food can either stand at the small bar or take a seat at a table that has been set aside for them near the bar. It’s a perfectly pleasant place to have a draught Kingfisher or bottle of Bud (£2.05) but is maybe a bit too close to those dining and might make some a bit uncomfortable. It’s never nice to feel like you’re gate crashing someone’s big night out, them all dressed up and you with overcoat and scarf and a bottled beer to while away the time. Yes, yes, I know I could ring up and order in advance but I never do. Imagine – horror – if it was ready when I arrived? Then I wouldn’t have an excuse for ordering a beer…
The potato in the Aloo Gobi (£2.55) was a bit over-cooked and crumbly but the Chicken Rogan (£4.95) was delicious, with the amount of tomato spot on (i.e. loads of it) and, joy oh joy, the chicken was not in those over-perfect cubes that some restaurants insist on dishing up. There, in the tasty thick sauce and coated in the juicy toms were great big piece of chicken, not uniform, and not looking processed. I mopped it up with a Keema nan (£1.95).
Parking: large car park at Hungry Horse pub opposite or a smaller one at the back. Delivery: free within six miles for minimum orders of £15 (last orders 10pm). Specials: 10% discount on collected takeaway orders over £10. Beer while you’re waiting: Chondona is a fully licensed restaurant or the Hungry Horse pub is opposite. Waiting time: was about 15-20 minutes from the time of order.
Chondona, 15 The Square, Liphook, Hampshire, GU30 7AB. Tel: 01428 724201 or 722095. Open: daily noon–2p.30m, 6pm–11.30pm.
It was a cold Friday evening when a friend and me went out to eat at Panas Gurkha on Lee High Road. Although it was seven o’clock there was no one else in the small restaurant, although it did fill up while we ate there. The décor in the restaurant has a slightly old-fashioned feel to it and there were quirky pieces of artwork (to say the least) dotted on the walls around the restaurant.
Dinner started by ordering Cobras and a couple of popadoms, the way all of my curries begin. We were going all out so decided to order starters as well as main courses. The two dishes that came first were the Momo (£4.25), lamb dumplings which the menu described as one of the most popular dishes in Nepal, and Sadeko Kukhura, shredded chicken on salad, a signature dish of Panas. Both dishes were pleasant enough, although the salad was very salty, which ruined the chicken a little bit when eaten together.
Interestingly, the main courses were pre-plated, which is not the norm but our waiter had no qualms when we asked for some extra plates so that we could share our dishes. We choose our mains from the chef’s specials and there wasn’t a curry sauce with either, which wasn’t a massive problem, but again unusual. The dishes were Choyola Chicken (£8.95) and Jhaneko Masu Lamb (£9.95), and although the ‘spice rating’ of both was two chillies (out of three) on the menu but were extremely spicy, so much so that we had to order two more beers. I am a fan of spicy food but would hate to try a dish with three chilies at Panas.
The lamb had a sea-salt crunch to it, which meant, again, it was a bit too was a bit salty for our tastes. This came with a perfectly fine garlic naan and a new dish on the menu: green rice. However, this appeared to only be rice with some coriander in it, so it wasn’t exactly special. The one thing we found faultless at Panas was the service, as all the waiters were very observant throughout the evening. Well done to the front of house staff…
Overall, Panas’ food was perfectly edible, although a bit too salty, and not horribly expensive as our meal was under £60, including the drinks. I won’t be rushing there anytime soon, but if I do go back I would be inclined to try the more well-known curries.
Panas Gurkha, 318 Lee High Road, Lewisham, SE13 5PJ. Tel: 020 8852 9891 or 020 8297 8794.
The Bay Leaf is a friendly restaurant in the large village of Grayshott, which locals tell me is fast building a good reputation in the area and is often packed on weekends.
It could just be for the Keema nan (£2.20), which not only has spicy mincemeat on the inside but is also coated in it. It makes the bread look like a pizza and the meat on the outside naturally dries out a bit, but it is extremely tasty so much so that I stopped mopping up my curry and ended up eating it on its own.
The double helping of keema with the Bay Leaf’s nan
But you can’t just sit and eat Keema nan now, can you? Madira means ‘alcohol’ in the language of the owners (Nepalese) apparently. The dish, either chicken (£7.95), lamb (£8.25) or king prawn (£12.50) is cooked in red wine and the (ho hum) chef’s special sauce. The red wine, clearly noticeable in the special sauce works nicely with chicken and for curry experimenters this really gives a new taste to your favourite food.
Another dish that caught my eye in the chef’s specials section was Five Spice Sea Bass (£12.95) with fillets of the fish pan-fried the spices and served with spinach and basmati rice.
But for those who like to stick to the good old favourites I can report that the Butter Chicken (£8.95) was just as it should be – creamy with a slight tasty tang and filled with perfectly cooked, juicy chunks of meat. Maybe with a Keema nan?
Fisherman’s Cove, Candolim, Goa, India
(Review by Mark Grady)
Fisherman’s Cove was one of my favourite restaurants from last year’s trip to Goa. However, just before setting out on this year’s return visit, I did the usual checks on Trip Advisor to catch up on any local changes.
To my horror there were several really bad comments about the standard of service, which was described and rude and uncaring while the food was described as overpriced and unappetising. This was not the Fisherman’s Cove that I remembered! I found some comments seemed to be describing a different establishment altogether to the one I knew. Some seemed to have cultural questions as to whether they treat Indian customers with disdain as opposed to firangs (white foreigner).
Fearing the worst for this establishment we passed by on several nights but it still seemed as busy as ever. Had the reviewers on Trip Advisor got it wrong? Or was there a campaign against the restaurant? There have been a number of stories about seemingly coordinated reviews in the UK, with several restaurants complaining they are suddenly attacked, after years of good service to the local community, with a whole host of bad reviews. Could this have spread to the Indian resorts?
At 9pm and the restaurant was busy, there were no tables available downstairs and there was no way I was going to get my 75-year-old mum upstairs. We were shown to the side of the restaurant outside a tailor’s shop which they use as an overflow area. The advantage of this area is that you get the same waiter who serves just these few tables plus it does have a more alfresco atmosphere.
Memories of the previous year’s whole Kingfish Tandoori came flooding back when I look over the menu but I’d had a good lunch and there was no way I could tackle that at this sitting. I was looking for something different, something I’d not tried before. And there it was! Leaping out of the menu, something that shouldn’t work. Something that, if ordered, would have your mates not wanting to come anywhere near you for the next 48 hours: an Egg Curry!
Egg curry
It really shouldn’t work. It’s 23 degrees in the evening and hell knows where the eggs have been all day. Edwina Currie (no pun intended) would be having kittens! Anyway decision made; its new and a must-try on my list of curries.
What a revelation this curry is. Light at first, with the sauce giving just the right amount of heat and flavour. The whites of the hard-boiled egg gives body to this dish, then gives way to a creamy, bold egg-yolk taste. These are not the cheap eggs from the supermarket that we’ve become accustomed too, these hold real flavour. So if your thinking of making this at home then use free range eggs or the best you can get. The egg man at Lewisham market has a great range and has recently converted me to duck eggs as I enjoy the flavour so much more after this dish.
So with faith restored after the dark reviews on Trip Advisor and not quite feeling like Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke. I recalled that I had seen this recipe in one of my numerous curry books, which I had purchased many years ago, from the £1 bookshop in Greenwich. It’s by Meena Pathak.
* At the time of the visit £1 = Rs 85, $1 = Rs 54.
Fisherman’s Cove, Main Market Road, Candolim, Goa, India. Tel: 0832 248 9538.
With their toes in the sand and the smell of BBQ in the air as trays of fresh fish – red snapper, pomfret, tiger prawns and shark – are ferried to the hot coals, Solitude is where Home Counties girls with plummy accents come to be at one with nature. As long as there is a good wi-fi connection. It is here they can chat to friends on Skype as they relax to the sounds of crashing waves and chilled jazz.
Solitude is one of the larger shacks along this small beach that has an almost exclusive feel to it and it’s a fun place to watch people connect with themselves. Darling.
Hey mum, it’s me. Can you hear me mum?
But the food is damn good so you’ll have to take a rest from people watching. When the waiter’s eyes light up at your order of Alu Ghobi (Rps 130) you know you are in action. In England it’s almost unheard of to order a dish like this as a main, but the thick, spicy gravy and fresh chunks of potato and cauliflower make it irresistible, especially with a chilli cheese nan (Rps 80). A cracking alternative is a Vegetable Curry and Rice (Rps 180).
* At the time of the visit £1 = Rs 85, $1 = Rs 54.
Solitude beach shack, Patnem Beach, Goa, India. Tel: 0942 115 2153 or 083 9022 0005. E-mail: Nil7134@gmail.com. Open: from morning to about midnight in season.
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?
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.
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.
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
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).
Two of the diners sitting at our table said the same thing.
“My wife doesn’t normally like Indian food, but she is happy to come here and eat.”
There are two ways to take that comment. The first is that Babur serves excellent food (which is does). It has received many plaudits since it opened in 1985, including being named London’s best Indian restaurant in the Zagat 2013 guide. The second is to why wonder you’d come to an Indian restaurant if you don’t like Indian food.
Pot-roasted Mustard Rabbit, a broth with ginger and mustard, served with garlic roti
But like all contemporary Indian restaurants, you’re going to get more than the usual list of old-school favourites at Babur. So you can order Buffalo Lal Maas with steamed rice (£15.25), a dish where the meat is clove smoked and served in a dark Rajasthani sauce. Or you can go for Pickling Spiced Duck Breast (£14.95), which comes with a sweet and sour plum sauce and carrot mash. We are, of course, told the where our food is sourced – Laverstoke Park farm and Gressingham respectively, names sure to bring excited organic squeals from some quarters. We aren’t told where the rabbits come from but the pot-roasted Mustard Rabbit (£14.25) is a broth with delicate tastes of ginger and mustard. It comes with a garlic roti.
Chicken Biryani (£13.95), Chicken Lababdor (£12.95) and Chicken Chettinad (£13.75), the later with a fool’s cap dosa as a quirky lid, are there for those who prefer their ‘curry’ dishes to be more than meat with a sprinkling of spice.
Mixed starter of Chicken Tikka, Lamb Tikka, Beetroot Cutlet and mackerel
The starters (as recommended by the waiter ‘for large groups’) was a nice tasting mix of Chicken Tikka (£6.95), Lamb Tikka (£7.95), Beetroot Cutlet (£6.75) and pan-seared mackerel (£7.25), all of which get the thumbs up. And it was the right amount. Unfortunately, buoyed by our large table accepting his offer to choose the starters, the waiter hoisted way too many side and rice dishes on us when it came to the mains. The creamy Dal Makhani (£5.25) was the favourite side dish our up-seller came up with.
Service overall was friendly but a bit casual, which we didn’t expect from a restaurant of this calibre. One of the mains was wrong (“sorry, I can’t read my own writing,” we were told by the same waiter who could clearly read his own writing when it came to the extra sides), although in fairness this problem was fixed pretty quickly. And then the wait for the desserts was sooooo long that the chatty end of the table ended up asking for the bill and ordering taxis because they assumed the few sorbet lovers has eaten already. Your wife might like it but she will clearly have to be patient whether she is a fan of Indian food or not.
The Royal Curry Club 