The Magna, Bedford (6th October 2010)

Overall Score: Did not score please see review
Cost: Too much for the quality of food.

NOT RECOMMENDED

As you will see from the above, all curry club members felt that the meal we had at this restaurant did not merit a score as the food was so poor.

Following last weeks visit to The Curry Leaf we were told by the owner of the Magna that we should try his restaurant and he uttered the immortal words "if you don't like the food then you wont have to pay for it" - bear that comment in mind as your read our experience.

Arrived and our first impression was the smell as we were shown to our seats, a table for four, Lee's father in law joining us.

PICKLES
Adequate, nothing special, lime pickle a disappointment.

STARTERS
Starters ordered and not good, all of the dishes poor, every one of them had a problem. Simon's Prawn Puri was dry and had a very powdery taste. Tony's pepper much the same as was Lees - ate them hoping that the main course would be greatly improved.

MAIN COURSE
Unfortunately the mains were poor too, Simon's Chicken Korahi not nice, again the overriding flavour was one of a harsh powdery taste, not at all good. The Mutter Paneer was dreadful, overcooked frozen peas coated in a curry powder. Lee's meal so bad that he did not eat it nor have any for his lunch for the following day. Tony's meal not good either - the worst meal that the SLT Curry Club have experienced since their formation in 2008.

We made our complaints to the two waiters, the first one did nothing apart from say that no one else had complained and that he would tell the chef! The second waiter took the plates away as we entered into negotiations about the payment. We were adamant that the food was so poor that we were not going to pay - duly noted by the waiter, who returned with a revised bill of £65 (£20 discount). We reopened negotiations and after much deliberation it was agreed that we would pay for the drinks and nothing else. Interestingly the waiter informed us that there were 10 brain surgeons also in the restaurant and that they had not complained.

All in all an awful meal, which we did not feel we were able to mark as it was so poor. Unheard of for Lee to leave a curry - beer good.

Magna Tandoori
50 Tavistock Street
Bedford
MK40 2RD

Tel: 01234 356960

The Curry Leaf, Bedford (28th September 2010)

Overall Score: 7.950
Cost: £15-20

RECOMMENDED

Tony's belated birthday curry trip and we went local to try the food at the Curry Leaf on Tavistock Street in Bedford. Excellent offer at this restaurant - starter, main, side, rice and naan for £9.95 on any day of the week - exceptional offer!

PICKLES
Arrived and ordered our 7 poppadoms, 3 pickles offered by the attentive waiter and we also asked for lime pickle and mint sauce. Pickles let down by the lime pickle which was not enjoyed by either Lee or Tony - this reflected in the score.

STARTERS
Simon opted for the Prawn Puri, Lee going for the Vegetable Puri - both were excellent and served on a slightly thicker Puri than in other restaurants that we have visited. Tony decided on stuffed pepper, enjoyed it but would have preferred another colour from the green one served. All in all not a bad start to the meal.

MAIN COURSE
Tony decided on the Chicken Rogan and his side dish of Madra Samba, a lovely combination of spices which also had a nice little kick to it as well. We all had a taste and agreed that this would have made a really tasty main course. Simon went for the Chicken Korahi and Mutter Paneer as his side dish. Very good portion which contained a lot of chicken, excellent main course. Lee chose Vegetable Jalfrezi with Saag Paneer, again another excellent main course and side combination. Everyone enjoyed their main courses which is truly reflected in the score awarded.

No desserts this time as we had all eaten a fair bit of food - plenty left over for lunch the following day. In summary a restaurant that offers a very good deal and provides a good quality of food. Service good, only slight problem with the pickles, this brought the overall score down for The Curry Leaf.

The Curry Leaf
60 Tavistock Street
Bedford
MK40 2RD

Tel: 01234 328237

The Woburn Fort, Woburn Sands (13th May 2010)

Overall Score: 8.028
Cost: £15-£20

RECOMMENDED

We ventured to Woburn Sands with Lee's dad as the nominated driver. The journey took a while as Dave was unfamiliar with the route and was a little conservative with his speed on route.

PICKLES
With one more member of the group we had to settle for just the nine poppadoms, pickles arrived a good selection, which were replenished upon request. Better than some of the previous curry houses, but a little way to go to match the best, still scored a creditable 7.834.

STARTERS
Simon went for Prawn Puri, his favourite starter, Tony for bharjis and Lee for his paneer. All were good and scored a reasonable mark.

MAIN COURSE
Simon opted for a new dish, a vegetarian thali, excellent selection of food which provided a good variety of flavours. Tony went for lamb rogan, following advice from the friendly waiter who insisted he tried the lamb ahead of the chicken. Lee decided on his vegetable vindaloo and enjoyed the dish. Overall the main courses were good but not exceptional.

DESSERTS
Simon and Tony decided on desserts but were disappointed that they did not match the pictures on the menu - somewhat of a let down, hence the lower scores.

This restaurant was good and worth a visit and is in the top third of our restaurants but has some way to go to reach the top.

The Woburn Fort
37 High Street
Woburn Sands
Milton Keyns
MK17 8RB

Tel: 01908 282002

Koh-I-Noor, Horse Fair, Birmingham (1st May 2010)

Overall Score: 6.900
Cost: £15-£20

NOT RECOMMENDED

The second trip to Birmingham to try another restaurant in the heart of the midlands. Tony and Simon met up with Lee and Harry, they had returned from the Villa game in Manchester in high spirits after a few beers!

Following a visit to some of the lively bars in the centre of town, we walked to the Koh-I-Noor, whilst the rain poured down, Tony less than impressed with the distance we had to travel to the curry house. This is the only curry house that I have been to that has a tree in the middle of the restaurant.

PICKLES
The selection of pickles were disappointing, the onion salad arriving on a saucer and we had to ask for the lime pickle too. The poppadoms were not crispy and although the waiter would replenish the pickles, we felt that this was one of the poorer selections we have had, hence the low score.

STARTERS
Simon and Lee decided on the Mushroom Puri, exceptionally good indeed, both enjoyed this and awarded 9. Tony went for Onion Bharjis and was slightly disappointed with them, hence his score lowered the average for the curry club.

MAIN MEALS
Lee opted for his veggie madras, his option when in Birmingham as this is equivalent to the Vinda down south, Simon went for a Chicken Korai and Tony for the Lamb Rogan, on the recommendation of the waiter, who insisted that this was the best choice. All enjoyed their meals, Simon and Tony giving theirs a 9, while Lee awarded his a good 8. Main meals very good and were exceptionally tasty, Lee and Tony taking their left overs for breakfast.

All decided against the deserts, as we had all eaten our fill and the days drinking had made us a little tired. Overall this restaurant provides good food, the service is a little slow and we waited a while for our two courses. The value for money is very good and its worth a visit, but does not figure in our top selections.

Koh-I-Noor
28/29 Horsefair
Birmingham
B1 1DD
Click here for a map

Tel: 0121 622 2053

Asian Grill, Sutton Coldfield (27th March 2010)

Overall Score: 6.560
Cost: £20-£25

NOT RECOMMENDED

The second curry evening for the club members was locally in Sutton Coldfield. Following a few drinks in town and meeting up with two of Lee's friends we wandered to the Asian Grill.

PICKLES
A limited choice of pickles, only four to choose from was a slight disappointment to the curry club members. This was reflected in the scores given, a top score of 5 given.

STARTERS
Tony decided on a new starter, Chuza Pakora, which he thought was very tasty and awarded a very sound 8; Simon decided on his usual Prawn Puri and was disappointed with the lack of a salad garnish, not traditional in the Midlands apparently. Traditional or not, Simon scored it a 6, lacked a bit of spice as well which affected the score. Lee decided on the Vegetable Puri and was pleased with the spices and taste and awarded a 7.

MAIN MEALS
All members decided that as we were in Balti country we should all have our own choice of the famous dish. Tony went for the Chefs Special Balti which he thoroughly enjoyed, awarding it an 8.5. Simon went for the Chicken Balti and again enjoyed it, awarding an 8. Lee decided to have a Vegetable Balti Madras with Paneer, not the usual Vindaloo as the spices in Brum are a lot hotter than down south in the Home Counties. Lee awarded an 8.5. An overall impression of the main meals was that they were good, not exceptional, portion size very generous.

DESERTS
A poor choice for deserts so we all passed on those, decided to finish off our beer and move back into the town centre for more beers.

In summary, although the food was at an acceptable level we were disappointed with the style of service; the waiter we had was a little bit too overpowering and did not make us feel that comfortable, also had to wait for the starters. Value for money was OK but this is not one we would be returning back too, after all there are so many more to try in the Balti Triangle.

91 Park Road
Sutton Coldfield
B73 6BT
Click here for a map

Telephone: 0121 354 7491

Al Faisals, Birmingham (26th March 2010)

Overall Score: 9.250
Cost: £15-20

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

For many months now Lee has been going on about the curries of Birmingham & saying how great they were, so we decided to travel up there to find out.

PICKLES
A varied choice of pickles suited everyone’s tastes, refilled by the waiter without even asking, this went down very well with the boys nearly as much as the stack of popadoms which was given free.

STARTERS
With Tony's palate ever changing he decided on this occasion to venture for the Paneer Pakora, very rarely seen in the restaurants further south, his decision was justified with the perfect 10 given, with Lee deciding on the Paneer Tikka, commenting that his choice was one of the best he had chosen, so when a score of 9 was given there was no shock what so ever. Simon decided to score another 10 for his Vegetable Pakora we then knew that the food that we were about to have would be absolutely great.

MAIN MEALS
Moving swiftly on to the main meals, Tony now getting a little braver and wanting to put some heat into his meals it was no surprise when he asked the waiter if he could have some chillies with his Chicken Korai, topped off with mixed vegetables. Tony awarded a maximum for his main course. High scores were to follow from both Simon & Lee, Simon giving a 9.5 for his Chicken Bhuna, using the term absolutely gorgeous for this meal; Lee not to be outdone also scoring a 9.5 for his unusual choice of vegetable madras with extra Paneer instead of his usual Vindaloo, explaining that the madras was the equal to a Vindaloo here.

DESERTS
With only Simon having desert on this occasion & going for his much loved Gulab Jamon it was not surprising that once again another perfect 10 was recorded for this restaurant that was absolutely outstanding.

With this restaurant being rather large & an open space you would think that you might feel a little uncomfortable, this is definitely not the case, this is a great place to visit knowing that the food & the service is top class.

NOTE- Alcohol is not sold here on the premises but can be taken in with you.

136-140 Stoney Lane
Birmingham
West Midlands
B12 8AQ
Click here for a map

Telephone:- 0121 449 5695

The Maharajah, Sandy (19th March 2010)

Overall Score: 6.801
Cost: £20-£25

RECOMMENDED

This newly opened restaurant in Sandy was a definite must for the curry club. The Maharajah only opened five days before our visit, is a modern restaurant with lots of open space and allows you to feel very relaxed.

PICKLES

The Pickles will have to improve quite radically with just three choices, consisting of Mango Chutney, Red Onion and Yoghurt & Cucumber, very poor selection to say the least. Subsequently a low score of four was given.

STARTERS

Moving onto the starters, after waiting half an hour, these were worth the wait. All three starters recorded high scores. Lee having chosen Paneer Shashlik scored a nine, Simon the Prawn Puri which scored a respectable eight while Tony chose the Pongila Delight which was well worth the second nine.

MAIN MEALS

Moving swiftly on to the main meals, once again for a restaurant that had just opened we were in for a pleasant surprise. Lee chose his beloved Vegetable Vindaloo which scored a good eight. Simon and Tony in two different minds as what to choose, and at one stage were both going for the Chicken Madras. Eventually, Tony went for the Chicken Byriani while Simon stayed with the Madras, both dishes were given an eight.

An overall opinion of this restaurant was that the food was very good; however teething problems were in evidence. Service was a little slow; however the waiters did all they could to appease the diners and were very courteous. This restaurant will be well worth a return visit in another four to five months when the teething problems with service are ironed out.

22 Market Square
Sandy
Bedfordshire

Click here for map

The Viceroy, Biggleswade (27th February 2010)

Overall Score: 5.900

Cost: £25-£30

NOT RECOMMENDED

A journey to Biggleswade for our next curry club evening out. We decided on the Viceroy before heading off into the town to have a few beers.

The restaurant was very busy, seems to be a popular venue for a curry on a weekend night. Popadoms arrived with a selection of pickles, nothing that you could describe as out of the ordinary but an average selection, which was reflected in the score.

We ordered our starters, Simon went for his prawn Puri, Lee for his Paneer and Tony for his samosas. The starters were all OK, although nothing exceptional and again an average mark was given by all of the members.

Main meals arrived, all looked good, Simon went for his chicken dish, Tony for a Byriani and Lee his veggie vinda. Then the Naan breads arrived, one keema one plain, on the same plate. As you will all know Lee is a strict vegetarian and he asked for a fresh naan on a separate plate - after some chat this was sorted out. The food was, unfortunately just average and not that impressive.

No deserts for any of us, we just needed the bill. When this arrived we were shocked by the overall price as it came to well over £25 per person, that's without deserts; this is one of the most expensive restaurants that we have been too, and frankly the food was distinctly average. This is one that missed out on taste and value for money - one which we will not be going back to.

51 Sun Street
Biggleswade
SG18 0BY
Click here for map

Tel: 01767 316267

The Ruby Murray, Bedford (13th January 2010)

Overall Score: 6.529
Cost: £20-25

NOT RECOMMENDED

Following our first visit here and subsequent trip to the Ritzy in Potton, we were asked to return here to see if the opening night scores were a little harsh. The standard of the food had improved, although we still feel that this is a curry house that is trying to hard to impress. More attention to the food would be impressive in the club members eyes, rather than the fancy decoration.

Starters were a vast improvement on the last visit and scored a very healthy 8.8, the main courses were all good with everyone enjoying their own choices, however the deserts were a disappointment and scored a very low 4.

We still feel that the Ruby Murray needs to improve on their service and the VFM. As this is one of the more expensive restaurants we have visited it needs to improve to warrant the extra cost

17 High Street
Bedford
MK40 1RN
Get directions

Telphone: 01234 353419