The foot tunnel linking Greenwich with the Isle of Dogs was opened on 4 August 1902. Prior to that there was a ferry service. On 3 December 1999 the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) line linked the two places. The foot tunnel is free and takes about 10 minutes, while the DLR takes a couple of minutes (one stop from Curry Sark) and costs a bit more than a pound.
My friend tells me his grandad from Deptford never went north of the river in his whole life. And when it comes to curries the people of the south haven’t moved on much.
The Gaylord is a superb restaurant on the Isle of Dogs. Granted, it’s not in the most salubrious of locations but this place consistently delivers great food with friendly service and in a decent setting.
There is a large menu with all the old favourites (Murgh Madras, Murgh Korma, Murgh Dhansak, all £5.50), some even older favourites that have dropped off many other menus (Gosht Ceylon and Murgh Malaya, both £5.50), as well as specialities such as Bakhara (£6.95) with a heavily spiced herb flavour, or Shahi Jhinga Pakeezah (£10.95) charcoal-grilled prawns with diced onions.
It’s worth noting some interesting dishes. Fish lovers rejoice because the Tandoori Fish (£7.25), mildly spiced trout cooked in the tandoor offers a deep fish taste perfectly offset with some salad a bit of mint sauce. Mach Bortha (£5.25) is tagged as ‘exclusive’ and offers mashed mackerel (no bones), fairly hot (in spice terms) which can be served either hot or cold.
Bangladeshi telapia is well represented: Fish Tikka starter (£3.50) is a variation on a favourite, a classic Fish Curry (£7.95), or try Fish Massalla (£7.95) for fillets cooked in a massalla sauce.
But, why oh why is Aloo Bhortha (£3.15), a traditional Bengali dish, not on more menus? It’s worth a visit just to try this mashed potato with mustard, green chilli, fresh coriander and onions (would go well with the Greenwich Curry Club’s specially created curry sausages actually). Remember, people of south London, there is a foot tunnel and the DLR…
The Gaylord, 141 Manchester Road, Isle of Dogs, London, E14 3DN. Tel: 020 7538 0393. Open: daily noon-2.30pm, 6pm-midnight.
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).
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.
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.
Halal first opened its doors in 1939 (probably not the favourite year to be opening a new business in London, eh?) and says it is East London’s oldest Indian restaurant. Not sure how it was during WW2 but from current experience it’s no wonder it’s been going strong for so long.
There’s a touch of the old Raj about the place, with crisp, neat tablecloths, an old-style delivery hatch for the food in the middle of the room and waist-coated waiters who clearly do the job for a living and are not working their way through their studies. Knowledgeable, friendly and polite. But best of all is a superb wooden special’s board.
“It’s works like a cricket scoreboard,” explained one of the staff as he slid out one of the boards and flipped it over to show me what tomorrow’s special will (probably) be.
The menu itself is a no-nonsense list of what’s on offer. No flowery descriptions of the birth of a far off land of spices and wonder. No overdone descriptions of dishes and most certainly no little chilli icons next to dishes to help the spice challenged. I suppose they figure that if you haven’t worked out what’s what in the 73 years they have been dishing up curries you won’t now.
The samosas are legendary here (customers order them to take home for later munchies) so a regular we were with just ordered platefuls of Veg (£1 for two) and Meat (£1.20 for two) to get us going.
Not surprisingly classic dishes dominate and are decently priced, with Vegetable Curry starting off the mains at just £3.50 (or a half portion for £2.30), while you can enjoy Chicken Vindaloo for £5.50, Prawn Kurma for £7.25 and Meat Dhansak for £6.95. It’s also a nice touch that you can also order half portions of boiled rice (£1.40) and pilau rice (£1.60).
But there are plenty of interesting dishes to tantalise (in fact the waiter smiled a knowing smile at a bespoke request and assured us they can cook anything). The Meat Ball Vindaloo (£5.95) got the nod and it’s hard to remember a time when the tastiness of the meat itself fought through a vindy sauce. Meaty balls indeed.
This was scooped up with a, wait for it… egg nan (£2.50). How indeed do they get the egg inside the bread? The answer is they don’t – an omelette is laid on top of the bread. Apparently it doesn’t work to break an egg before cooking, although in true, “we can cook anything style”, I was offered an egg inside version (boil egg then break it up before cooking the bread).
Halal, 2 St Mark Street (Off Alie Street), London, E1 8DJ. Tel: 020 7481 1700. E-mail: info@halalrest.co.uk
Open: Mon–Fri noon–11.30pm, Sat–Sun noon–10.30pm.
Talk about wrong first impressions. And second ones. Situated just an onion bhaji’s throw from Westferry DLR station in Docklands, the Spice Merchants has long been on my curry radar. After all, how can you see a place so often and not be tempted to visit?
At first I thought it was shop selling raw spices – the word merchants threw me. Then when I jumped off the DLR to replenish my spice pots at home I realised it was a restaurant. And because of its size it was now a huge restaurant in my head.
In fact the Spice Merchants is not the cavernous size I’d imagined. It’s like walking into a Tardis in reverse. Whoever designed this circular, brick-faced building certainly wasn’t thinking of utilising space to its full. Downstairs there are a couple of overflow tables but this is essentially used as a waiting area for takeaways. There is also a superb bar. The main seated area, of about 50 covers, is upstairs via a winding staircase. Due to the layout the tables are nicely spaced. Add in the airy contemporary design and it feels more intimate than other spaces of similar size.
But enough of my audition for Grand Designs. This is a classy contemporary Indian. A great menu, with a few interesting specials, but without ditching the old-school classics we all love, plus staff that know how to achieve just the right balance between service and friendliness.
Classics like Sheek Kebab (£3.45) taste as you expect (why do some chefs in contemporary places try to prove their worth by messing with proven classics?) but with a nice flourish in the presentation. If you want something different it’ll be hard to resist the wonderfully named Magic Mushrooms (£3.95). Think spicy scotch egg stuffed with mushrooms. Delivery again was fun and clever – each ball was placed on a raw onion ring. Nice one.
The King Prawn Jalfreizi (£9.95) was probably the best I’ve ever eaten with juicy, good-sized prawns and very fresh strips of peppers and onions coated in a thick sauce. The waiter hardly blinked an eye when asked if we could order a dish not on the menu (‘No problem. We can cook anything you want.”) so an order for Keema Madras was dispatched to the chef.
Bet Doctor Who never gets service like that in his Tardis.
You deserve a good curry if you can find Papadum. People who regularly visit this small Spanish resort are likely to go years without knowing Centro Commercial even exists. Up a steepish hill, but only a 10-minute walk from the main centre, this small cluster of bars, restaurants and shops serves the many ex-pats who can do without the walk up and down for beers and food.
The restaurant is neat, tidy and modern but has a slightly empty feeling which was not helped by the lack of music. Who would have thought you’d ever miss that piped Indian music, eh? Once the bulk of customers had left, though, this was the first time I have ever heard football commentary broadcast in a curry house (Europa Cup Final between Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao).
The Tandoori Chicken Salad (€5.50) was something new. Slices of cold, marinated chicken on top of a crunchy salad of lettuce, onion and tomato that had been smothered in a spicy chaat masala sauce. Fresh and delicious.
I plumped for a rare forage into the vegetable mains and the Vegetable Jhal Fraize (€6) was just right, thick with sauce and a variety of veg and spicy to the core. It’s a shame a lot of us overlook veg so often as they really do absorb Indian spices so well. Add a generous portion of pilau rice (€3) – the waiter was honest enough to say they used tinned mushrooms in the mushroom pilau, which was the first rice choice – and a Lamb Bhuna (€9), coated in thick tasty sauce oozing with the meat’s sweetness for a decent Costa curry.
Papadum, Calle Acuario, Centro Comercial Las Terrazas de Miraflores Golf Local No 11, Riveria del Sol, Mijas Costa, Spain. Tel: +34 951 273 032. Open:5.30pm–late.
Lunch specials are sometimes a bit hit and miss. For a limited menu you get good value, but not necessarily great portions or quality. So it seems with Zaika, a pleasant curry house facing out to sea in the busy Spanish holiday resort of Fuengirola.
The special, offering a starter (Pakora, Onion Bhaji or popadoms), a main (Chicken Curry, Madras, Bhuna or Korma) and rice or nan. Not bad for €8.95, especially washed down with a large San Miguel.
But I always get suspicious when I see the chicken in a curry has been in the tandoor. I know it’s a bonus to some people but when the dish doesn’t normally include marinated meat I can’t help but think it’s just a way of using up unsold tikka from the night before.
Suspicions aside, the Chicken Bhuna was perfect in consistency, thick with tomatoes, onion and fresh coriander, but plenty of tasty ghee (ideal for me but maybe bit greasy for some) and the rice and nan fresh. But the Chicken Madras flopped, with the sauce some sort of spicy tikka masala, which would have been fine for a lunch curry fix had it not been for a bitter taste of uncooked ground spices.
But there are worse places to have a curry lunch, with a number of outside tables offering views of the sea (albeit across a road) and a large, nicely set out interior that deserves an evening try.
When the lunch special ends at 4pm, by the way, the evening special kicks in. Add €2 to the price and your selection of dishes rockets, and includes a number of lamb and tikka masala dishes. Don’t mind marinated meat in that one, thanks.
Zaika, Paseo Maritimo Rey de Espana, 18, Fuengirola, Spain. Tel: +34 952 462 695. Open: daily 1pm–1am (lunch menu 1pm–4pm)
Fifth wedding anniversary and Mr Plummy Mummy organises for his mother to look after sprog so we can swan off to Glasgow on Saturday for a spot of shopping, lunch at The Dhabba an award-winning restaurant dontchaknow, followed by a bit of culture via the Italian Art exhibition at the Kelvingrove Museum.
I was a tad amazed as my other half is not the first to jump at the chance to shop and even less keen on art. I looked forward to the day and even promised we would first go to Forbidden Planet to stock up on comics (normally this is the last stop in a shopping day out when no one is in the mood). But, argh ghastly, lucky I got tonsillitis the week before and things looked dodgy. But I’m a stoic old gal who wants her curry and wants it now so sickness aside, even the 7.30am wake up with no anniversary cuddle didn’t put me off.
We got to Glasgow so early that hardly any shops were open but eventually made our way to the comic store where hubby went a bit mad (so much so that we spent precious shopping time trying to buy a rucksack to carry his haul of comic goods). Then, yippee, it was time for lunch.
The Dhabba is in Glasgow’s Merchant City, close to Glasgow Central station. It was Saturday lunch, and though it was in the business end of Glasgow, I had expected at least a few other diners. The place was deserted. It was hilarious that we had a table booked but you just never know. Eating in an empty restaurant is awkward as you are missing the atmosphere that makes eating out fun – the hustle bustle of waiters, the eavesdropping of conversations, the fun of watching people enjoying themselves. You also don’t really get an idea of what portion sizes are like or have a nosey glance at what other diners are eating. I almost walked out. But I was intrigued.
Where’s the flock wallpaper gone?
Do you remember in the ’70s and ’80s when curry houses had flock paper and Formica tables? Those days are long gone and here we found neutrally painted walls with some large North Indian images, sculptures and musical instruments, a discrete bar, laminated floors and lighting that you didn’t hit your head on as you sat down…yes, like our homes, restaurants have had that Ikea-type touch. It’s all so modern now.
Another trend is the little story in the menu which tells you about the restaurant name (Dhabbas are roadside restaurants in India), the type of food (Northern, Punjabi, ie not your bog standard curry house – Bengali) etc. I skipped over that as I was really only interested in eating.When nervous I make jokes. In this case it was with the waiter about how empty it was and that each time a waiter came to our table, it was a different guy.
We did eventually get our original server back – a nice Punjabi boy (I’m just guessing here as he had a turban on) who had just finished a Business degree. He explained that the owners had another restaurant in the area specialising in South Indian food (Dakhin). We were told Punjabi people prefer to eat Punjabi food. Well this little Gujarati gal and her Scottish man also like Punjabi food. I was pleased to see a separate section for vegetarian meals plus plenty of options in other parts of the menu (eg starters and tandoor sections). Most of them were paneer which didn’t bother me as I love the stuff.
Helpfully, the menu had icons for hot and very hot meals. As it was lunch we decided to forgo the starters. I had a hot Kadai Paneer (£9.95) with roti and rice. Hubby had a main from the tandoor menu, Boti Kebab Badami (£11.45), which is lamb fillet cubed and marinated in an almond paste with a naan. He opted to have a kadai sauce with his meal.
The waiter was helpful in telling us that one rice would be more than enough with the naan and rotis. While we waited we had drinks – a delicious Mango Lassi for me, Kingfisher for hubby, and we ate some papads with a selection of chutneys. Surprisingly this was the only slight negative in the experience as there was a green dip that was very bitter tasting although the papads were very crisp and fresh and the two remaining options (a mixed pickle, and a tomato chutney) were tasty.
Hubby’s kadai sauce was a slightly different colour to the one in my meal but I soon forgot all about it as we tucked in. The spicing was just right for lunch – hot enough to enjoy but not to sit heavy in the tummy. The paneer was fresh and firm. I would have liked a few more peppers in the dish but in the end I gobbled up what I was given with glee. The rotis were quite thick but tasty. Hubby didn’t managed to finish his very large naan but happily ate up all his lamb (without making much of a dent in the accompanying salad stuff!) and we finished the rice between us. We decided not to have a dessert as we were full so just got the bill. Although it’s a modern place and the prices are high compared to your local takeaway they do deals. We were given a Weekend Shopper/pre-theatre discount of half-price main meals. A bit of a bonus really.
When we asked about the empty restaurant the waiter told us that the previous weekend the restaurant had covered 150 tables. I think the weather and the Celtic v Hearts footy game may have kept people away the day we visited. It is just the way it goes. I’m going to convince hubby we should visit again for an evening meal and I’ve got a feeling he’ll jump at the chance.
PS. Alas the tonsillitis got the better of me and after the meal, we gave the art gallery a miss and we went home.P.P.S. I mentioned to the waiter that my most fave restaurant ever is the Punjabin Neal Street, London. He asked how they were different. I can’t put my finger on it but it think it’s the old wallpaper, the old photos, the laid-back Punjabi owners, the carpet on the floor but most importantly the gorgeous food. It’s a close call so for now, lets say The Dhabba is now my fave Punjabi restaurant North of the Border.
I’m not sure how big your family is but chances are the Sartaj in London’s West End is used to welcoming very large ones. Its family nan (£4.95 plus £1 if you want it stuffed with garlic, onion, cheese, coriander or mince meat) is ridiculously large at something like 60cm long by 40cm wide but it’s worth ordering just for the experience.
At first glance it looks like a giant pizza and next time I shall order one and pile three or four different curries on it, so maybe it could develop into one eventually. Either way, the elephant ear – as it was dubbed – was certainly enjoyed by the Greenwich Curry Club’s special guest, Prince William, who made an appearance to confer royal status to the curry club.
"I hope you don't think I'm eating all that on my own."
In terms of value, when you consider a normal-sized nan is £2.50, the family nan is exceptional value. But there is good value to be found on all parts of the menu at Sartaj.
The Tandoori Mix for two (£5.95) has sizzling portions of chicken tikka, sheek kebab, king prawn and fried onions, which sends a delicious aroma around this smallish curry house, while the Tandoori Lamb Chops (£3.95) was nice and meaty (although it lacked that deep tandoori taste so it could have benefited from a longer period of marinating). One twist was that puree starters – Chicken Chat Puree and Kebab Bashiri (both £3.95) – were served rolled up in the fried bread, rather than being placed flat on the bread as in most other restaurants.
All mains were served in beautiful deep dishes – ideal, in fact, for dipping in chunks of the family nan (which never seems to get any smaller no matter how many bits are torn off it). Thumbs up go to the Bengal Crab and King Prawn Curry (£10.50), its sauce thickened nicely by a generous amount of shredded crab and good amount of fair-sized prawns, and Nawabi Lamb Massala (£10.50) with its soft meat falling off a shank into a thick and dark bhuna sauce. Both meals are fit for a Prince.
The Royal Curry Club 