Eat in curry disappointment – is this the norm now?

I haven’t been to an Indian restaurant for over ten years although I’ve had plenty of takeaways. Last night we decided to eat in at our local balti house. We had some poppadoms with the obligatory pickle tray and all was fine. Then our mains arrived. Dish of curry, platter of rice, garlic naan and lamb tikka on the table. I was horrified. Where were the heating trays with the little tea lights? How was our food going to keep good and hot while we ate, chatted, had a breather?
The rice was on a silver platter with no lid and went cold very quickly. Are heating trays a thing of the past or is our local lacking? I know it might sound a bit petty but it really took the edge off it for me.

What goes around comes around, if you believe in korma. Perhaps raita angry letter to the management? Sorry that is samosa be funny

Were they tikka the piss out of you?

Standards have phaallen

You must be mad ras hell.

They should saag someone.

Sounds like you’re looking for a bit of argy bhaji

You can Goan all you like on here but you should have had a poppadum at the staff there.

Should have complained there and then. Otherwise you’re just shutting the stable door after the horse has balti-d

Is this samosa to be funny?

If you’re woried about a cold curry have a tarka dhal- its a little otter

Ues ime it’s the norm now. Decent ready-made curry from supermarket now better than many mainstream curry houses. What you have to do is find a good one, there are plenty but you have to seek them out.

You think that’s bad? Having moved to a new area (from Tooting in south London so spoilt for curry choices) I decided to check out the local ‘award winning’ curry house with a new chef previously at the Southhall branch of their other ‘award winning’ restaurant.
I ordered one of the chefs specialities, what I got was:

A few bits of chicken, 3 cherry tomatoes that were still a bit crunchy after a few minutes in an oven
3 small whole onions that were still a bit crunchy after a few minutes in a hot oven
Some kind of sauce that appeared to be made from some honey and a bit of Dijon mustard added to it.

I’m not over elaborating on the pathetic excuse for a curry, it really was that bad. Cost me £22 for the 2 of us too. 😡

That’s how it is now I’m afraid.
Gone are tea light tray warmers, naans often tiny and cut into quarters served in a faux basket, and lime pickle is still hideously sh*t.

Luckily my local in blackpool still true to its roots.. still get tealights and full size naan (chapatti the way foward) and different specials weekly.

I’d raita letter of complaint and take my lassi somewhere else next time we went out.

It’s ok. tea light warmers were considered a hazard and banned under euro directive 21.34.543.87a/5. They’ll be back soon.

My local still uses tea light warmers.

That’s where they peak though, the food is shit.

If you’re woried about a cold curry have a tarka dhal- its a little otter

Winner! 😆

Your curry Utopia doesn’t sound like any curry house I’ve ever been to, do you eat it with a knife and fork as well?

*not all curry houses are the same.

You should have complained at the time but if you were madras **** things could get methi.

WTF are heating trays doing in a proper curry house anyhow ?

Do those mad rastas give a chap a tea?

Home curries are better anyway. Served by your nan.

Yes, restaurant curry’s are so bad they sometimes make you karahi. And really bad ones go through you so quickly you better be close to aloo.

I’ve been saying for years now that standards have massively dropped in pretty much every curry house I’ve tried in last 10-15 years.
When I was younger we used a couple of local places (Hounslow) and I thought light fluffy and deliciously fragrant pilau rice, crispy delicious naan bread, big crispy bhajis, meaty fresh currys, and spicy Bombay potatoes all perfectly cooked were the norm.
Nowadays is a pale imitation. Usually Luke warm, swimming around in a nuclear coloured gravy for a morsel of meat, unfragrant, bland, un-spicy (I usually demand phal these days just to remember what spice was like). Even the mint dips barely taste of mint anymore!
I’ve tried to put my finger on why this has happened. Economy/ingredients? Generational standards?
It’s a crying shame. Curry used to be by far my favourite eat in and take out. I pretty much avoid them all now.

Glad someone else has mentioned it though, Its a bitter pilau to swallow but it’s good to chaat about it.

I wouldn’t tikka chance on a curry house these days, there’s naan that can do it well, crying into my Pilau here.

We only have 2 Indian options here, the sitty in or the takey out. The sitty in’s average & the takey out is crap.

This is the best Indian I’ve ever been to..

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But It’s a bit far away.

Home curries are better anyway. Served by your nan.

🙂 Certainly where for me but she was from Bangalore !

No complaints here whatsoever. Maybe the Amman Valley is the last bastion of decent curry. We have hotplates and tea lights. We have really good pickles. The tandoor dishes are top notch, nice and dry. Decent portion sizes too.

There is one exception though, one of the take always always seems to over salt the food. So I don’t use them any more.

I’ve tried to put my finger on why this has happened. Economy/ingredients? Generational standards?
It’s a crying shame. Curry used to be by far my favourite eat in and take out. I pretty much avoid them all now.

The answer is simple: the same has happened to curry houses as has happened to pubs; the food has been industrialised. Nobody cooks their own spices any more, they just buy big white plastic buckets of sauce from sauce factories, fry up the dish in a pan then throw in the sauce to finish it off. Pubs gave up cooking decades ago when the likes of Brakes, 3663, Ribble valley Farm Foods and a host of others started delivering the food in easy-microwave pre-packed portions.

There are still a few Indian places that do proper cooking but they tend to be the more upmarket ones in city centres; Swadesh in Manchester is a good example.

Buy your sauces here: http://khanjra.co.uk/catering/

Buy your ready pub meals here: http://www.brake.co.uk/products/meal-solutions/part-prepared-pasta/filled/meat

Thanks glo-balti 🙂

The answer is simple: the same has happened to curry houses as has happened to pubs; the food has been industrialised. Nobody cooks their own spices any more, they just buy big white plastic buckets of sauce from sauce factories, fry up the dish in a pan then throw in the sauce to finish it off. Pubs gave up cooking decades ago when the likes of Brakes, 3663, Ribble valley Farm Foods and a host of others started delivering the food in easy-microwave pre-packed portions.

Then your going to the wrong places, plenty still cook from scratch and serve good food. As with anything pick your places.

Went for a Chinese last night..
Terrible..
Pretty much every dish had that ‘open packet, drop in fryer’ feeling to it.
£22 per head.. Not impressed (wasn’t paying, and big family do so just ate it and moaned in the car on the way back!)

Local Thai place, however… Amazing.. Fresh, mental service, coke cans against the wall…just like Thailand 🙂

Street Thai food worthing,I salute you..

DrP

We have 3 curry houses near us all are excellent it makes it difficult to choose which one to use, there’s a 4th opening in 2 weeks it’ll have to be good.

Sorry can’t think of any puns.

thanks glo-balti

My favourite post this week!
Also globalti’s post very interesting too. Was trying to explain something less well informed and articulated than this to my kids the other day.
Slightly on and off topic, 12 years ago Mrs and I had a very ‘U.K.’ curry (they bought their ingredients from a wholesaler in Kent) just across the road from the European Parliament in Brussels- is it still there?

No they get asked to leave last week for some reason.

There’s apparently a massive shortage of properly skilled curry house chefs in the UK now. Not surprised if many places resort to quick and cheap options that anyone can just chuck in a pan or microwave to reheat.

Lime pickle, if they’re using the “new recipe” Sharwoods then it’ll be disgusting. They’ve made it far less oily, probably for health reasons, and now it’s just a mushy paste. Not that a decent curry house should be using a supermarket jar of lime pickle anyway!