Dublin Indian restaurant

(Still) in search of a green curry

3. Reviews (International)

Spicy Bite, Dublin, Ireland

Dublin is expensive. Curry is painfully expensive. So Spicy Bite, tucked away downstairs in the Moor Mall is the place to head when you want curry without a hole in your pocket. For just €6.50 (not short of the price of starter in a restaurant) you get a buffet of (at my count) eight non-veg dishes, six veg dishes, six sambals, three types of rice dishes, nan, plus chips and prawn crackers for some reason. Tuck in.

You can see the skewers of meat being dropped into the tandoor oven just behind the counter so my tastebuds were raging for tandoori only to discover the super-red meat was disappointingly sweet. But, hey, after plates and plates of great food, hey, who’s complaining? Vegetable kofta (also sweet) topped the dishes on offer along with the Mixed Vegetable Curry.

Spicy Bite is next to similar places offering good value – the Taste of Africa, plus a Mauritian place and another similar Asian buffet. The decor is basic canteen-like but there is a great buzz in the place thanks to the mostly immigrant crowd who know good food and value when they find it, plus you get to see Bollywood movies as you eat or the clothes shops in the mall should you get bored with the food (unlikely). It gives window shopping a new meaning.

• Spicy Bite, Moor Mall, Moor St, Downstairs Lidl City Centre, Dublin 1, Ireland. Tel: 086 197 1423 (in Ireland). Open: daily 10am–8pm.

Spicy Bite snapshot

Food ① ② ③

Decor ①

Value ① ② ③ ④

Atmosphere (Thursday afternoon) ① ② ③ ④

Service and friendliness ① ② ③ ④

In search of a green curry

3. Reviews (International)

Monsoon, Dublin, Ireland

.

After copious amounts of Guinness on St Patrick’s Day (yes, I did see the parade – it was on the TV), it seemed only fitting to wrap up the early part of the day with a curry.

There might have been something fittingly green on the menu but one look at the prices (Prawn Chilli Masala €18.95, Kadhai Gosht €16.95) had us quickly flicking to the Early Bird Special (starter, main, rice or nan and bottle of beer for €20, served 5.30pm-7.30pm). It’s a reduced menu, but amid talk of Cheltenham Racing (‘You must have had a bit on that one to be sure’ etc) from neighbouring tables it was still enough for us to share the most perfectly cooked Chicken Tikka and Fish Tikka, plus a traditional Rogan Josh (oven-cooked with whole cumin, cassia and cloves), a creamy Goan prawn curry and a Chicken Makhani.

Tim’s big on Chicken Makhani (although insists calling every incarnation of it he ever eats Chicken Balti Tikka Masala) but reckons the Rogan Josh was ‘just like a stew your mum would cook up’.

Mmm, I reckon he’s missing the great taste of those whole spices and that deep, rich sauce. I must admit I love the modern version of the Rogan dish (Lamb or Chicken) that uses lots of tomatoes but lately I’ve been searching out the traditional Mughal version, which is getting more common as people increasing seek out ‘authentic’ Indian dishes instead of the Anglo-Indian inventions most of us grew up with.

I think the ‘authentic’ argument is a silly one anyway (isn’t there a place for all variations of this great food?) but I’ve admiration for an authentic Rogan Josh mainly because I tried to cook it once and failed badly. A stew indeed Mr Chicken Balti Tikka Masala.

• Monsoon, 306-8 Lower Rathmines Road, Dublin, 06, Ireland. Tel: +353 1 491-1666. E-mail: info@monsoon.ie. Open: Mon-Thur 5pm-11.30pm, Fri-Sat 5pm-midnight, Sun 12.30pm-4pm (buffet), and 5pm-11pm.

Monsoon snapshot

Food ① ② ③

Decor ① ② ③

Value ① ② ③

Atmosphere (Wednesday night, St Patrick’s Day) ① ②

Service and friendliness ① ② ③ ④