It was one of those evenings where I felt the Gods were conspiring against me. We'd planned to go to this place early evening for the first time on a living social deal. My date, my wife of 36 years. I couldn't get the coal fire to light at home, I'd left it late eventually succeeding just in time to add slack to back the fire up, close the air vents and leave for our meal. I blamed Andromeda; now I wasn't looking for the temperature of the nuclei of the blue snowball planetary nebulae but a shade above 15c would have been nice before we went out into 2c. Anyway as ever I digress; this deal was about £20 for two. The rating reflects this fact: we were the only diners and had 4 four excellent, fresh cooked, plain poppadoms with 3 fabulous dips; mint, spicy & mango chutney, the dips remained on the table to use with the two mains, two portions of rice (boiled & pilau), two side salads, two naan bread (garlic & Peswari) and a choice of two glasses of wine or beer. My wife took both quarter bottles of white wine on the deal (menu price £3.50 each) I had a 660 ml of ice cold cobra (£4.75). I'd be much happier had there been real ale choices but realistically this place is in a small village in the countryside and probably has no demand for my predilections. There were a few meals not on the deal - steak (I wouldn't have steak in an Indian) and tandoori king prawn dishes: fair enough. We both opted for the mixed grill served with vegetable curry. So rather than two veg curries we asked if one could be korma, this was no problem. They use a gas tandoor. The naan breads were very good, the two sauces were good with both containing similar vegetables, a mix of fresh & frozen vegetables. The mains were above average to good with a quarter of skinless chicken, tandoor chicken and lamb pieces and a piece of seekh kebab. The main alone would be a score of three. Being picky: the chicken quarter should have been deeply scored with a knife to allow the spice flavours to penetrate the meat to the bone, some lemon juice and garlic shards should have been added to the marinade as these make a big difference and add extra fresh lemon juice just before serving (or put a piece of lemon on the dinner plate), cut down on the red food dye and on a positive note, the balance of salt and spice in the lamb seekh kebab was just right. The quality of the naans, willingness to let us choose our sauces, the friendly attentive service and the cracking deal warrant excellent. I wouldn't have liked to pay the near £14 full menu cost for the mixed grill main as it would have been expensive for what was on the plate and I'd have been less generous in my rating. Then out to freezing point; a clear dark sky with Andromeda plain to see, as was Alpha Andromedae on its North East edge. The car radio came to life, radio two with a charming Michael Ball, as we drove off to 'Perhaps Love' John Denver & Spaniard Placido Domingo (means peaceful Sunday) one of our all time favourite songs. Then the angelic tenor Art Garfunkel singing 'Bright Eyes'. This was No 1 when our first son was born. Andromeda was smiling on us after all, lighting our way and our memories home over wet country roads. All we needed to top this winter night was John Denver singing 'For You' so at the push of a button off went the radio and on came John. If you have never heard either of these two songs go on you tube. They really are worth 10 minutes of your day and play loud. And home to a warm fire. Thanks after all Andromeda. read more
