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Eat: Chutney’s

Where to go… for a curry without the crew-date
Where: Chutney’s
Why: The kind of cosy setting you would describe as ‘intimate’, with a colourful modern interior. None of the usual paraphernalia of a curry house, ie BYOB sign, loud Indian music, darkened interior induced by deep red walls and minimal lighting. Chutney’s is seemingly lacking in crew date attendance, perhaps due to its slightly more expensive menu.
What to eat: Of course, start off your meal with popadoms, which are piled high in a basket and cooked in quite large pieces – so you don’t look greedy with an entire popadom on your plate but you get enough to warm the tummy up for some curry action. The usual chutneys and sauces are served in a big sharing dish which wouldn’t look out of place in Bar Med, but this is a good thing. Slather your popadom in sweet, smooth mango chutney, or lime pickle, or do as my sauce-loving fellow diner did and try the tamarind sauce with the yogurt together, a delicious combination.With such a huge array of vegetarian food, you’d be silly to order meat. Whether a carnivore or not, the pages of mouthwatering dishes will be enough to read through without even giving the meat a second thought. With such a vast array of ingredients, there is no standard vegetable curry with yesterday’s remains here; instead, delicious-sounding pumpkin, aubergine, chickpea and tomato dishes leap off the page. Go for the Mortar Baigan, and if, like my companion, you cannot bear the thought of a meat-less meal, go for the chicken tikka, which is a really different and tasty version of the British favourite. No sooner had the last popadom been munched down and plates cleared away than our aromatic meal arrived. The food was all well presented, the curries in little cast-iron dishes and naan nicely cut into quarters – although there would have been no space on the table for the usual slug shaped naan. The rice was really fragrant, with cardamon and cinnamon, and complemented both dishes well. The naan had ample coconuty filling, and was refreshingly light and crispy at the edges, not damp and heavy like so many.The tikka was creamy and lightly spiced with a delicate taste and reassuringly orange colour. Surprisingly filling, the Mortar Baigan had a warm heat, with good textures – crunchy onions, perfectly cooked chickpeas and aubergine which had soaked up a lot of the intensely flavoured sauces to make a perfect combination.
Where to sit: At the back by the bay windows, well lit and far enough away from the door and toilets so you aren’t constantly walked past. Upstairs is available for group bookings.ARCHIVE: 2nd week MT 2005

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