A Friday Night Curry at the Kohi-Noor

A few weeks back we decided to go for a curry and as Phil and Jamie are our resident curry experts I let them choose. Phil chose recently awarded Kohi-Noor for our trip and here is what he found.

One can go and see the Kohi-Noor diamond at the Tower of London, set front and centre on the Queen Mother's crown. Whilst its appropriation from Punjab in 1849 was by no means the most significant event arising from our colonial ambitions, it remains to this day a symbolic one. Against a backdrop of English Defence League protests in Bristol, it felt like an appropriate evening to celebrate the benefits that multiculturalism has brought to our nation's dinner tables. 

Kohi-Noor the restaurant serves contemporary Indian cuisine from a smart premisis in the northern climbs of Whiteladies Road. It was recently awarded the title of Best Indian in the Bristol Good Food Awards, which piqued our collective interest and warrented a gentle climb up Blackboy Hill. 

So what of the food? In a word: excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed the Lal Mass; the tenderest of lamb pieces coated in a beautifully rich tomato based sauce, the tartness of which was offset by a melange of spices and chilli that livened the senses without numbing the palate. I also enjoyed the Mixed Daal; sweet, creamy and colourful, delicately finished with potent shavings of caramalized garlic. Of the other dishes sampled the starter of Adraki Lamb Chops were a real standout, once again very tendor and beautifully seasonsed. The Garlic Chilli Chicken was also tasty, if not quite hot enough for this writer's palate.

Adraki Lamb Chops

Romal Chicken

Lamb Lal Mass

Chicken Tikka Masala

Mixed Daal

Garlic Chilli Chicken

As ever, there is still some room for improvement. The obligatory papadoms were not particularly fresh tasting, and their accomanying chutnies relatively bland. The service was also not quite up to the standard of the food, a little rough around the edges. Quite unlike the Kohi-Noor diamond, one imagines. To check out the menu of the Kohi-Noor visit their website it has a few different choices to the usual Indian restaurant which are definitely worth a look.

Thanks Phil it really was one of the best curry's I've had in a while but am looking forward to our next curry testing. Upcoming reviews this week and next include, Bistro Biere, Atomic Burger, Cordial and Grace and The Hill.