Decor: Very smart although a bit conservative - had the feel of
an airy stately home. Strategically placed folliage.
Music: Indian wailing - very authentic. Ended prematurely
though.
Time to get served: Around 30 minutes.
Menu descriptions: All rather terse - no flowery language.
- Reasonably friendly although a bit slow to get waiters attention.
- Mark got a sticky menu.
- Atmosphere spoilt by farting clientele at the opposite table.
Popadums and chutneys: Four good dips.
Lime pickle: "Creamy, pretty hot but nothing to chew!" (Morcrette).
Onion bagees (£2.00): "Moist - enjoyable but bland" (Hogan).
- Vegetable samosas "crispy but not bursting with flavour; also not too oily which they are in some places" (Hodson).
MAIN COURSES AND DESERTS | Very disappointing |
Vegetable Dansak (£4.90): "Slop. Alright slop, but slop." (Allan). "Salty slurry, very boring" (Dixon).
Lamb Rogan Josh: "Adequate, but come to Bourne End for a proper curry" (Ellison).
Vegetable Madras (£4.50): "Strange veg - baked beans?" (Morcrette).
Thali: "Cool, in both temperature and spiciness; bland" (Challinor).
Vegetable Bhuna (£4.50): "Tinned vegetables, almost completely unspicy" (Hogan).
Garlic Chicken (House Speciality): "Mild: would expect a more potent sauce, but OK" (Holden).
Vegetable Vindaloo: "Tasty, but beaten spectacularly by the onions in the hotness stakes" (Felton).
Vegetable Balti: "Palatable but plain" (Pocock).
- "Anaemic curry colour" (Hodson).
- Rice "monochrome" but just right.
- Paneer naan not cheesy enough.
- Peshwari naan: no sultanas!! Persian naan is the same thing???
- Bindi Bagee "quite tasty" (Allan).
- Bombay Aloo "good, comparible with oop north" (Ellison).
Chicken Bhuna costs £4.70, King Prawn Bhuna £9.90
Buffet option |
Egg-fried rice |
Sweet Lassi |
Liqueur coffees |
Hot towels |
Sweets with bill |
Key: |
Yes |
No |
Too drunk to remember |
- Carlsberg on draught (thumbs up), but no bitters on tap.
- Hot towels: "plastic covered kleenex".
- After Eights with the bill.
Everything was going well until the main course came along: the
dishes were almost universally bland and uninteresting - my
grandmother could make a more spicy curry (although she might put
sultanas in it). A number of previous visitors had reported that this
was an excellent restaurant - perhaps the normal chef was sick (on to
our plates perhaps...) and they had to fall back on replicators. We
award the Saffron 2 Cobras: