The Golden Curry Balti House, Bletchley
Friday, 22 December 2000
restaurant factfile   also reviewed 1 January 2008

The Golden Curry Balti House claims to be MK's 1st Indian Restaurant. If the reviews in the local press and on other (obviously inferior) websites are to believed it has a very loyal following. It was quite busy but not overly full when we arrived and we were seated at an extremely draughty table by the door. Fortunately, this was only a temporary holding area as after ten minutes we were shown to our booth table away from the draughts - and the lights. We hadn't seen a menu yet so had to order our lagers blind and trust that the bottled Cobra was not mega-expensive - as it happens, the beer bill turned out to be very reasonable. The waiter who took our order was very frightening - he was loud and abrupt and when we asked questions about any of the dishes, he was very shirty. He also made it very clear that he wasn't pleased that we hadn't ordered any veggie side dishes!

For starters we had onion bhajis or as the waiter put it "Argy bhajis, everyone orders bloody argy bhajis"! There were two very large balls in each portion - usually a bad sign as the centre tends to be undercooked but this was an exception. They were well cooked throughout, in some places burnt to a crisp and they all fell to pieces when touched by a fork. However, the overall taste was a little bland with the splatter struggling to make any improvement. The sheek kebabs (half portion - ask what that means at your peril!) were pretty good. A good solid texture and very spicy. Unfortunately, instead of being served on a sizzler they arrived on a cold plate and without any of the traditional fried onion garnish.

Being too scared to remember what he really wanted to order, IanD panicked and ordered a Chicken Pathia. This turned out to be a good choice - the sauce was searingly hot and although the chicken was a little stringy it was cooked very well. Due to IandD's panic, PhilS had to rethink and opted for the Chicken Methi. Again, not a bad choice. A reasonably hot and tasty sauce with the same stringy chicken, with some pieces being a bit on the dry side. The Medium Chicken Balti had huge chicken pieces (again stringy and a bit dry) which were not suited to being scooped up with nan-bread. The sauce had a good taste but was a bit watery. For once, we all ordered keema nans and for once they were of similar quality - plenty of stuffing (OK so it wasn't very evenly distributed but there was lots of it) and just about the right consistency.

The Golden Curry was a place of contrasts - the service was dire here to say the least but the food was generally good (except that stringy chicken - we could have upgraded to breast for 50p per head but by the time we'd remembered, we were too scared to call the waiter back!). The much publicised 'friendly staff' were nowhere to be seen. We had to ask for the bill twice and it finally arrived after a twenty minute wait. There was a good turnover of customers, who seemed to be regulars, so they must be getting something right - perhaps you have to be known to receive a warm welcome. We might find out on our next visit.

The Scores

Which gives an overall rating of 3 bhajis.