Whenever I'm back in the UK I have to have at least one curry, what with Vancouver not being particularly blessed with decent curry houses. Despite working in Abingdon for many years, I had somehow managed to miss this place - it is rather obscured from view round the back of a small collection of shops squished between the Ring Road and the school grounds. It was recommended by a colleague, who believes it to be Abingdon's finest. I had always given that title to the Dil Raj, so I was intrigued.
The atmosphere is what I like to think of as mid-90s revival curry house. It's not your original flock wallpaper, dark style - it's cane furniture, light colours and large, round tables. The staff were somewhat cold in attitude - the waiter who greeted us made it clear that in eschewing the buffet and choosing to select from the menu we had made the Wrong Choice. It also took rather too long to get the bill and settle up at the end.
The food is pretty good. There's an extremely densely packed menu with all the standard choices as well as some extras like a selection of duck curries. My benchmark for a curry house is the King Prawn Puri and this one was very pleasant - the puri was tasty and not too greasy, the prawns were tasty and firm and the sauce was a rich coconutty zinger.
We ordered a selection of main dishes which were generally tasty, spicy and distinct, although the Korma (which I would never usually order) was more than usually bland. The best of the dishes was a creamy, almondy duck thing whose name I can't remember (sorry) and the Chicken Jalfrezi which had just the right number of bright green chillis to cause the kind of mild discomfort that makes curries worthwhile.
All in all, it was a good place to have my ration of Indian food for this trip, although it will not stop me from trying somewhere else next time in the never-ending search for curry heaven. I still stand by my judgement on the Dil Raj, too. read more
