There have been a couple of Chili threads lately so in a similar vein…
I’m starving… I might go and get myself a Dhansak - possibly even a Chicken Tika Dhansak.
Just wondering… any non-UK Doper ever eaten in a British curry restaurant and enjoyed the experience?
What did you have?
Excuse my ignorance - do other countries enjoy curry as much as the Brits? (apart from the Indian sub-continent and most of the rest of Asia of course…)
I hate it…and I’m a pretty fearless eater. There’s something about it…I don’t even get a “spicy” sensation from it. It’s mostly just a foul odor and aftertaste. I’ve tried…and I vow to try again. But for now, you can have my serving of whatever it is you’re ordering.
I absolutely love Indian food, but in my few trips to the UK, I never ate at a British curry restaurant.
There’s a wonderful restaurant in my neighborhood that my husband and I frequent (well, not so much anymore, since we’re on a diet, and cutting out things like rice and naan). The waiters know my order by heart (lamb vindaloo, “Indian Hot!”).
I know I can make curry at home, and I sometimes do… but the ventilation here isn’t all that great, and I don’t particularly like the smell that still lingers the next morning.
I hate it to the point where I won’t even try it as an adult.
Growing up, we had an Indian neighbor. She was a caterer, and no doubt a wonderful cook. But my mom and some of the other neighborhood moms were in an ethnic cooking frenzy, and tried some of her recipes on us poor unsuspecting kids. Wow, I don’t know what my mom did differently, but it’s scarred me for life. And several of the other neighbor kids. Although I think my sister did try it later in life and liked it.
But I still associate it with the smell of old socks and long dead things.
I’m another curry lover. Personally I think the places here in Auckland are better than London but that’s just my opinion. My daughter and SIL have recently come back from a couple of years in the UK and they agree. More meat. Even my son when he came over for the holidays from Australia, had me driving to our local mall almost daily to buy takeaway. He thought it was better than what he had been having at home too.
I absolutely love Indian food, though I’ve never tried it in Britain. I usually make it at home, but we’ll occaisionally go out to an Indian restaurant.
If that’s what passed for Thai curry in England, then you deserve your culinary reputation :).
A true Thai curry has delicious layers of flavor with coconut milk, lemongrass, chilli, thai basil, garlic, fish sauce and many other wonders. If it’s watery then something is definately wrong with it.
It’s certainly possible to have a bad curry in England. For one thing, steer clear of the vegetable options unless the restaurant clearly makes this a speciality. And yes, the tendency is to please ignorant Brits by going heavy on the sauce - urban legend has it that the Chicken Tikka Massala was created by a guy asking for some gravy to go with his chicken. I’ve eaten genuine home-cooked Bangladeshi food, and it was far drier than that of our host’s husband’s restaurant. And FAR hotter (The majority of ‘Indian’ restarants in Britiain are actually Bangladeshi, mostly Sylhetti - they’ll likely have a flag somewhere, green with an orange circle)
Nonetheless, most of my experiences have ranged from acceptable through to astoundingly delicious. MMMmmmmmm I’m hungry now…
The first time I had curry was in Thailand, back in 1969, and I fell in love with it.
I had some of the most incredible Indian curry dishes when I was in New Delhi. I couldn’t get enough. JavaMaven1 I like vindaloo too. If it doesn’t make your eyes water and your forehead sweat, it ain’t hot!
I also enjoy Japanese style curry, which isn’t quite as spicey.
Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson is a huge Indian food fan and has a nice intro to the types of Indian food here.
I used to like Indian curry but I had two pretty bad stomcah issues after separate incidents (at separate and good quality restaurants) here in Chicago so I stick to my preferred Thai curries now.
I make a pretty kick ass chicken curry and am working on perfecting my Panang.
The only decent Indian restaurants I’ve eaten in were in Uganda. It’s been my experience that complex spicery and herbery don’t translate well to mass production. Most Chinese, Indian and Thai restaurants are subpar at best, unless they are very small. I ate in a few Indian places in London and was disappointed, but that was some years ago.
I have indeed had Indian food in England, and enjoyed the heck out of it. Only twice, though, and it was chicken biryani both times. I enjoyed it so much the first time, it overcame my desire to try something new the next time. Oh, wait, a third time in the same town I had curry for lunch at a pub, and actually that was pretty good too.
There aren’t very many Indian places around here though they’re beginning to spring up and I’ve been meaning to check them out. On the other hand, there are tons of Thai and Vietnamese places, some of them excellent. Mmmm. Now I’m hungry.
I’ve only recently discovered curry but it’s probably my favorite food now, even beating out old favorites. My roomates usually make it once or twice a week and I can never get enough… it’s delicious.
Here in the Vancouver area there are a few areas that are almost all Indian, with the restaurants to match. Just across the street from work (in different directions) there’s a sweet shop that makes excellent samosas, two traditional Indian places, and a California-influenced one. There are at least three more within walking distance. Then there’s one that’s more Afghan, with chicken biryani that’s wonderful. Then there’s the perfectly ordinary shopping mall with a great family-run Indian place in the food court.
There are also two Thai places within walking distance of home.
I’ll have to dig out those recipes I have and see what I can do.
