All Comments

Neil - Good food, especially the Veg. Samosas starter, best I think I've had on a curry night. Chicken Bhuna main was also very tasty and the stuffed paratha met the Neil and Dom sweet spot of crispy on the outside whilst doughy inside. Waiters seemed rushed and not that friendly especially given our above average bill. I enjoyed the evening though and would go back.

Jon - If it had not been for the very nice pub over the road and the price, you could have been forgiven for thinking that we were back in Brick Lane.  A fairly shabby restaurant, decent food coupled with a serving staff that seemed more intent on getting us out of the restaurant as quickly as possible while consistently trying to upsell everything we ordered.  My food was generally ok although I marked the starter down mainly because raita was not served with the popadums by default, but it was pricey and the waiters just became annoying.

Graeme - I enjoyed meeting in The Victoria (a good traditional pub) where I partook of some lovely Oliver's Island by Fuller's. The restaurant itself and my meal were just OK and probably not worth the just over £50 price p/h. I had a Selection of Mixed Starters followed by Garlic Chilli Chicken (off menu) - it was very spicy, borderline too spicy for me. There was a counter top behind Dom that was piled high with rolled up napkins and stuff - it just looked untidy. I was unimpressed by the manager refusing our request for a complimentary liqueur and then partially relenting to give us three free if we paid for the other four. Dom treated us to the other four (thank you, Dom) but they were tiny.

Mark - Good pub to start but seemed to go downhill from there. We had hardly sat down when the waiter started to tell us what pops and mixed starters we wanted and could we order our main meal now. Attitude was impolite bordering on hostile even and would have got a lower mark if not for the digestif (update, I've just read Graeme's report). Once we had corrected the idiot my Sheek Kebab was fairly tasty. Chicken Biryani had good flavour but lacked much meat and the veg curry it came with was a congealed lump with a skin on top of the little sauce there was. This meant a very dry meal as a result. End result was a very costly not great meal with below par service. I would not want to return.

Jeff - Tucked away in an attractive corner, just north of Hyde Park, we met at the Victoria Tavern - an excellent and characterful old pub with plenty of beers on. Right opposite sat the Noorjahan, which has just one smallish room seating say 25 people. This may explain the severe lack of choice of beer, as we were offered only Cobra.  Orders were taken quickly and in general it was a promising start. Things went downhill for me with my starter, a simple onion bhaji, which was truly the worst I've ever had - dry and tasteless. I ought really to have sent it back, but in the general atmosphere of conviviality I didn't.  Then at least once they brought us beers that we hadn't ordered. My main was ok with plenty of chicken, but the rice was quite dry and the vegetables very average, and although the menu listed them as £8.50 a portion, hopefully that was for a main size. The highlight of my meal was the garlic nan which was fresh, puffy and tasty. With our silver-tongued Aussie at the helm, we were treated to a free liqueur at the evening's end. I was not surprised at the £50 price tag as members ordered starters and mains with no regard to price.

John - King prawn puree followed by the best chicken shashlik I've ever had! Shame about the hard selling though.

Dominic - Having first discovered this eatery back in the depths of time we call BCC, (before Curry Club … actually, 2002), I thought it was about time to nominate it. Especially as it is opposite one of the best boozers in London! It presents as an upmarket modern-ish eatery which was largely full as we arrived and stayed that way throughout our meal, albeit with regular table turnover, giving it a good buzz. For starter I chose the Lamb Chops which was one of the best I had being an extremely tender, tasty and well presented dish. For main I selected a "turned-up" Lamb Korai which didn't quite reach the spice level I was after, but was quite good nonetheless. Of the rest, the stuffed paratha was a standout for me so it will be interesting to see how Diggers rated it! A partial round of liqueurs was also a welcome treat. I'm a bit torn as to VFM as despite it being an excellent meal for me personally, I did think the overall price was a tad high. However, it was great to be back at what always proves to be a night of fun and equal share of interesting and "rubbish" conversation!