Weekend Curry at Jubo Raj

Guest blog post from curry fanatic Phil where he gives you the low down on our most recent curry evening.

Lovers of curry are spoiled for choice in the vicinity of Cotham Hill, Jubo Raj, Garam Massala and Indian Ocean are all vying for your custom. After some deliberation we opted for Jubo Raj, which on a Saturday evening was busy enough to suggest it was worth trying but not so busy as to have to wait for a table.

Jubo Raj is at the more traditional end of the curry house market. The interior is pleasant enough, although the light is rather blue, and you will find all of your usual favourites on the menu. We opted to start with poppadoms and dips. They arrived warm and fresh and dips were fairly standard, although the raita was somewhat lacking in mint. Onto the main courses, Nehari Lamb was the standout dish, a lightly spiced masalla curry laced with slithers of fresh ginger. The ginger made for an interesting alternative to chili in providing the heat for the dish,  it was a cooked to perfection whilst maintaining a warming kick but without overpowering the rest of the dish.

Elsewhere the Deshi Lamb was less of a hit, advertised as a medium curry "slow cooked in lentils, green chillies, fresh herbs, spices and topped with egg and tomato" it certainly sounded the part, but ultimately it was a little bland for this curry lover. The mixed grill was described as "meaty" by the recipient, the lack of said meat left on the plate at the end of the meal suggests that it hit the mark. 

nehari lamb

deshi lamb

Lastly we enjoyed some complimentary treats with the bill, a delightful chocolate orange affair which scored very highly on my post meal chocometer. Whilst Jubo Raj may not be the best Indian restaurant on Cotham Hill, it's certainly in the top three. 

Next blog will be focusing on our visit to the Cyprus Kebab House, prepare to be amazed.

A Wednesday Evening at Bombay Spice

So on Wednesday evening I returned from my Jolates class somewhat weary, I had already done 40 minutes of hula hooping during the day and I was flagging. The idea of cooking just did not appeal so remembering that we had received a 50% off flyer through the door for Bombay Spice I thought, why not give it a go. Located in Clifton Village, an area possessing five curry venues, quite a number for a relatively small space, it is possibly sometimes overlooked for the excellent Brunel Raj but after Wednesday I urge you to give it a try.

A much larger dining room greeted us upon arrival and the welcome was warm and friendly, we chose a seat in the window and were given some menus. As well as the expected curry dishes they do a large number of specials and chef recommendations. After ordering our drinks we set about deciding what to eat out of the many choices. In the end we went for a couple of poppadoms each plus two of our favourites, a madras, but with lamb and Honey Chicken, which isn't a standard but we have found it at a couple of Indian restaurants, plus a peshwari naan and keema rice.

chutneys galore

The poppadoms were crisp, and when our waiter noticed the top poppadom had a big chip out of it he brought a replacement, which I thought was a nice touch. The chutneys were more or less the standard selection, the raita was a little different and not as minty which I personally preferred. Also was pleasing to be granted the rare presence of the fragrant desiccated coconut which is always a nice surprise on the chutney tray.  After we munched our way through the poppadoms we eagerly and hungrily awaited the arrival of the curries.

Lamb Madras and Honey Chicken

The curries arrived smelling delicious and we could not wait to get stuck in so we helped ourselves to spoonfuls of the thickly spiced sauces. We were blown away by the high quality of the curries at Bombay Spice, I was to be honest not really expecting more than your average curry house, but I am happy to report that I was wrong. The honey chicken was rich and sweet a perfect combination with the peshwari naan, it also was slightly better than my usual order of honey chicken from Roopsha, which is saying something. Rich and I usually order a mild and a hot curry to share and the lamb madras fitted that bill perfectly. It was hot but not blow your head off hot and had a pleasingly earthy flavour which you don't always get with madras. 

We were praising food all the way through the meal, which tells you just how good it was, in fact it will be first on my list to return to when I next fancy a curry. So if you find yourself looking for a new curry venue do check out Bombay Spice, the service and food far exceeded my expectations, it could possibly be a contender for Bristol's best curry. I am craving curry as I write up this review, practically drooling on my keyboard in fact. Bombay Spice also offers a takeaway service with 20% off, if you feel tempted check out their menu. 

A Sunday Curry at 4500 Miles From Delhi

Finally a new blog post, feels like it's been a while, I have no excuse, but I hope everyone has been keeping well and enjoying the typical unpredictable weather we have come to expect in Summer. So on Sunday we headed on down to 4500 Miles From Delhi with Jamie, Boz, Phil and Javier to sample the curry buffet. Curry is not something I generally eat at lunch time, it feels way more of an evening meal type of cuisine to me, but here I was ready to be tempted. My first impressions were good, they have done a lovely job of sprucing up the old La Tasca restaurant, which was so dark and gloomy, now the place is wonderfully light and welcoming. 

So after receiving our drinks order we headed on over to the buffet area to see what was on offer. The choices are not as plentiful as one might expect at all you can eat buffets such as Za Za Bazaar and Cosmo but this is not necessarily a bad thing, if it is cooked well. The first options you come to are a mound of poppadoms, chutneys and other starters like tikka chicken wings.

First signs were good, the chutneys are all home made and nothing was swimming in grease it all looked lovely and fresh so I helped myself to a load of poppadoms and mango chutney, some chilli chicken, vegetable pakoras, tikka chicken and seekh kebab. The mango chutney was lovely, fruity but not too sweet like ones from a jar, it was a shame the poppadoms tasted a little stale but I suspect they are quite hard to keep super crisp in a buffet style environment. The seekh kebab was a touch dry but nicely spiced but the tikka chicken was well done, not at all dry and actually had a bit of a kick to it. I think my two favourites of all my starters were the vegetable pakoras, they weren't at all greasy and you could really taste the cumin. The chilli chicken was also really tasty, almost like a sweet Thai chilli chicken. 

What was interesting about the food was that it actually had varying levels of spice in the dishes. It can be tempting for buffet restaurants to keep spice levels at a low to cater for people with a small tolerance for spice, but 4500 Miles for Delhi were a bit more adventurous and some of the dishes did have a good kick to them which was a refreshing change. 

After our starter plate Rich and I moved on to the curries, there were three vegetarian mains, as well as a couple of side dishes, and three meat main curries. I sampled all the meaty mains, chicken tikka masala, lamb rogan josh and chicken chettinad, I also had a spoonful of the palak paneer, a creamy spinach dish with big chunks of paneer. Again I was on the whole impressed, the chicken chettinad was the best of the meat curries but actually I still preferred the palak paneer over all, earthy yet still slightly creamy and it perfectly complimented the texture and subtle flavour of the paneer. What is a nice touch is they bring a bowl of freshly cooked chapatti bread to have along side your curry, and very nice they were too.

curry medley

fresh chapatis

On the whole I was pretty impressed with 4500 Miles from Delhi, the curry was of a good standard and the home made chutneys and fresh chapatis showed care for the small details, I still am not sure if I am a big lunchtime curry person, although the place in St Nicks has tempted me on occasion, but I would definitely revisit this restaurant but perhaps in the evening. As far as I am aware they also do a la carte in the evening which allows for wriggle room for customers who don't really fancy the buffet experience. Buffet prices for lunch are £10.95 for the three course buffet experience or £7.95 for the two. To see what 4500 Miles from Delhi has to offer check out their website. 

Goodbye Dinner at The Thali Cafe

The other week we had to say farewell to Carla for she was leaving Bristol to return to London. So her final meal was booked and she had chosen the Thali Cafe, the Clifton branch. This would technically only be my second visit to a thali, I once went many moons ago to the first cafe in Montpelier and although it was around 6 -7 years ago I remember it being very tasty. So I was pretty excited about making a return visit. The Thali Cafe (well the Clifton one at least) offers five main thali choices and a couple of sides and starters. I was pretty keen to recreate my first experience so I had already decided to have the Northern thali. This is their signature dish a vegetarian curry assortment including a curry with fried paneer.

Menu peek

decision making

Sarah, Rob, Rich and I decided to share some poppadoms and chutneys for our starters and we all amazingly went for different thalis. Rich picked the lamb kofta thali which was the one that almost swayed me, with spiced meatballs, in a coconut, tomato and cinnamon sauce. Sarah and Rob chose the Mogul thali and the Southern thali. With all the aromatic smells wafting round the restaurant our stomachs were practically growling in protest luckily the arrival of poppadoms and chutneys saved us in time.

chutney selection

You kind of expect to have mango chutney as standard when you order poppadoms and to be honest that is what I generally stick to because I am not a fan of lime pickle and slightly unbothered by raita. However The Thali Cafe offers little twists on the classics which were a welcome change. There was a tomato and tamarind one that reminded me of lime pickle but actually nice, slightly tangy but totally moreish. Even the mango chutney had an added zing with some chilli in it for a kick. As you will probably be able to tell we made short work of our poppadoms and chutneys, we were still hungry but we were now able to wait for our mains without wondering whether to steal some of the food on the table next door to us. 

Kofta Thali

Southern Thali

Northern Thali

Excuse the photo quality the light was not great but you get the general gist of what we ate. I sampled some of the sauce from Rich's lamb kofta thali and it was divine, so aromatic and the cinnamon really came through, this is definitely what I will be sampling next time I visit. Rob's Southern thali was a Goan fish curry but the fish had been coated in crispy crumb which made it a little bit different, it also looked really good. The paneer curry in my vegetarian thali was really light and the sauce was yummy I was impressed. However the winner I think for all of us, the one that stole the show, was the lentil dhal it was creamy and so well flavoured it made me want to make dhal at home and eat it more often. The only thing we all weren't keen on was the vegetable, mainly potato dish which I thought was a bit like a saag, it tasted a bit under seasoned.

I cannot wait to return to one of the thali cafes they are a bit different from what the normal curry house  offers and perfect for Summer because the curry is lighter and does not make you feel like you need to snooze immediately afterwards, dare I say it it almost feels like a healthy curry. Also it is the perfect place to feed vegetarians, vegans and gluten free people all together as it offers options for all. It will definitely be one of the options I offer up to my sister's vegan boyfriend when they next visit Bristol for dinner. So if you haven't already visited one of the cafes of this Bristol institution get thee to a thali cafe now. To view menu options and find out more about their origin story visit their website.

Friday Night Curry at Kathmandu

On Friday we had a mini blogger meet up at Kathmandu, diagonally opposite Colston Hall, and known for serving up Indian and Nepalese cuisine. I had visited this restaurant only once in the past but that was about four years ago so it was well overdue a revisit. Our party of 6 arrived at 8 for our reservation and we were quickly shown to our table. Eight is a bit later than I would normally eat dinner so I was starving by the time we were seated. 

I remember before enjoying the curry I chose (lamb saag, don't ask me how I remember I just do) but not being bowled over by it. This time I was very interested in the Nepalese side of the menu and as it turned out so was the rest of our party. We ordered 3 portions of mo-mos, Nepalese dumplings, and Phil went for the rashmi kebab, minced Chicken and lamb combined with onions, green chillies, mint and coriander and charcoal grilled.

Mo-Mos

Close up Mo-Mos

Mo-Mos are dumplings, very much like the Japanese gyoza in texture, filled with vegetables, chicken and spices. On the top is a nutty tasting sauce which apparently is made from ground cumin seeds, it tasted like a spicy satay to me, and I thoroughly recommend trying the mo-mos they were extremely moreish and delicious. It made Rich and I sad that we only ordered one portion to share. 

For our mains everyone ordered from the Nepalese menu again but standard curry dishes like madras, tikka masala and bhuna are available. I ordered the chhoyla, lamb flavoured with garlic and ginger cooked over charcoal and brought sizzling to the table. Rich chose the lamb kritipur a whole spices curry both of which we ordered with rice and a peshwari naan to share. 

Chhoyla

Rich's Lamb Kritipur (right) Kym's Saag Paneer (left)

The food impressed me a great deal more than I was expecting. My lamb was still pink in the middle, as it should be, and was fully flavoured with a medium level kick. Seriously tender meat and with the added bonus, for me at least, of plenty of ginger spears to up the flavour. I am quite the ginger nut so eating chunks of ginger is always a bonus. Rich's curry was very earthy and hotter than I was expecting when I sampled it, but the sauce was extremely fragrant with what I suspect was turmeric, cinnamon and pepper. 

Chholya with pilau rice

All in all I was extremely impressed with what Kathmandu had to offer us, I'd never tried Nepalese food before and I think I would be reluctant to return to their Indian menu because the Nepalese cuisine here is the clear star. The service was efficient but not intrusive and the prices for mains are around the £9-10 mark which makes it a great treat option without breaking the bank. I've had a recommendation from Jamie of Namaste Nepal behind The Hatchet pub so will aim to check that out soon. For a browse of the menu check out the Kathmandu website. 

Celebration Curry at Rajmoni

Last week was one of celebration, Rich had got a new job, with immediate start, after his first day and after a tough work out at Jolates, we went for curry with friends Claire and Katherine. The Rajmoni is right by the Victoria Rooms a venue that looks rather like a scout hut from the outside but is rather charmingly different on the inside. 'Banquet Night' is every Wednesday which for £10.95 you will get poppadoms with chutney, a starter, main and rice or naan bread.

We were seated under a brightly lit table, and given the banquet night menu. The rules are you can order any starter which is priced £3.50 or under and any curry under £8.50 which considering most of the classics are under the £7 mark gives you quite a bit of choice. The poppadoms arrived promptly and we were rather pushed to hurry and order our starter and mains which did seem a little rude, luckily I already knew what I wanted and I was hungry.

With half of us ordering onion bhajis I went for somosas and Rich the lamb tikka. The bhajis here are enormous you could easily share one portion. They are also some of the best bhajis I have had in Bristol so far. Crispy strips of onion contained with in a spicy batter and the size of a small fist, so if you like bhajis certainly give these ones a try. My somosas were well filled but nothing special, Rich's lamb tikka was fairly small but very well flavoured. I was the partial loser here as far as choosing starters goes.

Giant Bhajis

Lamb Somosas

Lamb Tikka

Recently I have been trying to branch out with my curry ordering, and tonight was no exception, I always tended to order either lamb saag or rogan josh so this time I decided to pick korai lamb, a spicy dish with ginger, chopped onions, pepper and tomatoes served in an iron korai. Rich chose one of his favourites, chicken madras, and Claire and Katherine went for, chicken tikka masala and chang saag ponir respectively. Although when the curries arrived mine was wrong this was swiftly rectified and my sizzling iron korai clad curry came smoking to join the rest of the set.

Chicken Madras

Lamb Korai

The lamb in my korai fell apart and was delicately flavoured, I was not expecting quite so much chopped onion but it had been cooked down for a while, and slowly so it was almost caramelised. I am glad I took a chance on something different because I was impressed, my only gripe was that on the menu it is labelled as medium, to me it was not in the least bit spicy, definitely full of flavour, but I was expecting a tiny kick. Rich's madras was pretty hot, although madras' can vary wildly in our personal opinion from one's we have sampled so far. It was a good madras though, a nice building heat softened by the yoghurt giving it a silky creamy texture.

Claire's Tikka Masala

Katherine's Chang Sag Ponir

Happy eating sounds hushed the conversation on our table for several minutes. The classic tikka masala was pronounced a perfect partner to Claire's peshwari naan. Vegetarian Katherine's curry was made up of chickpeas, spinach and paneer cheese and looked really comforting and homely. Curry is definitely one of the nicest things to eat when the nights start drawing in and if you find yourself looking for a bargain you can do no better than the Rajmoni. It is not the best curry house in Bristol but it definitely ticks all the boxes for a warming tasty curry, nice surroundings and a good deal. Check out their rather dated website for a browse of the menu.

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.

Pre Holiday Warning

So this weekend we are off to France for my friend Andrea's wedding. The area we are going to, around Bordeaux and Limoges is, I have been slightly reliably informed, known for truffles and fois grois. As I will be enjoying the beautiful weather and reuniting party of all my friends from University I shall also be having blogging withdrawal symptoms. So whilst my wonderful friend Jessie and I try to stop her husband blowing all the Euros on offal, I hope you have some beautiful weather also and some excellent eating adventures of your own, if you find any real gems please send us an email or comment on the blog. 

In the meantime here are two previously unpublished food photographs to make you salivate.

Caesar Salad from Goldbrick House

Wonderful Chicken Curry Special from Spice Up Your Life in St Nicks

Extreme Close up of a Pizza from Beerd

See you on the other side, Bristol I shall miss you, full French report week after next.