Pink Garlic, Bromley

Wednesday 11^th June 2014

It was Bromley’s ‘new’ Indian restaurant, Pink Garlic that we paid a visit to this month.  The added punctuation is because Indian food has actually been served here for many years but in its previous incarnations  ‘Ruby’  and the short lived  ‘Indian Ocean’.  Both were good but could not survive the competition with popular Shampan 2, almost next door.

Barabar, Petts Wood

Wednesday 14th May 2014

You could be forgiven for missing Barabar, tucked away as it is, off Petts Wood’s main high street and hidden beneath scaffolding but that would be a shame, as it’s a real gem.

The Urban Rajah

The Urban Rajah is a food writer, cook and traveler. His cookbook, Urban Rajah’s Curry Memoirs commissioned by Headline Publishing is out now and tells the story of his love affair with curry through over 80 familial recipes. A practical, easy to follow and inspirational cookbook, it expresses his family’s food story through the eyes of the men in his family and was nominated for the World Food Awards Cook Book of the year.

Curry Corner, West Wickham

Wednesday 9^th April 2014

Curry Corner is set amongst West Wickham High Street’s mini curry-belt and as the name suggests, is an old school curry house. 

Beckenham Curry Club

Wednesday 12th March 2014

We’re a bit late with this month’s Chilli Diaries review but on the 12^th March our connoisseur’s visited ‘Beckenham Curry Club’ in, er, Beckenham.   This is an unusual sort of place, it’s quite small and the décor is reminiscent of a yuppyish 80’s wine bar.

Chilli Diaries in the News

The Chilli Diaries has been in the news


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The Good Curry Guide's Pat Chapman

Pat Chapman is a food writer, broadcaster and author, best known for founding The Curry Club.  Since 1984 Pat has written 'The Good Curry Guide’, a regularly published guidebook, identifying the UK’s top curry restaurants.  A veteran television presenter, Pat has appeared on  "This Morning",  GMTV,  "The Big Breakfast"  and  the BBC's "Food and Drink"  and  "Good Food”.

To date he has written thirty-four books, with sales topping 1.5 million copies.  Pat is also a contributing editor to Tandoori Magazine.  The Daily Mail’s Rosemary Stark wrote that, Pat Chapman 'is responsible for Baltifying Britain'.

 

 Pat on Lorraine Kelly's GMTV show.

The Bombay, Green Street Green

Wednesday 12th February 2014

I arrived at The Bombay before any of my fellow curry clubbers, so was shown to the waiting area where there was a selection of newspapers to pass the time.  There was also a large bowl of Bombay mix on a coffee table - which doubles as a fish tank.  An early indicator that this would be my sort of place!

Brick Lane Brasserie

Saturday 14^th Dec 2013

After a day at the football, Beano and I decided to wander over to the East Ends famous Brick Lane to try one of its many Indian/Bangladeshi restaurants.  We made the mistake of not having a particular curry house in mind before trekking through ‘Banglatown’ and were at the mercy of the PR’s who all tried to entice us into their restaurants.

Outside Brick Lane Brasserie, we listened to some spiel offering us a free cobra beer and 20% off the bill and decided to give it a go.

The Chilli Diaries Awards 2013

2013; another great year for The Chilli Diaries and its group of curry connoisseurs in our search for the best Indian restaurants Bromley has to offer.  Fourteen more were reviewed this year.  That makes thirty-four out of seventy-six known restaurants in the borough that have had the Chilli Diaries treatment.  Just four more years until we’ve done the lot!  Anyway, after our exhaustive search, we can now reveal who was top of the poppadams in 2013;

'THE CHILLI DIARIES INDIAN RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR'

Cinnamon Culture, Bromley

 

 

Culture Club. Manpreet Dhingra accepting the award

Cinnamon Culture is not the sort of place we originally envisaged reviewing for the Chilli Diaries.  This is the kind of fine dining that you would expect to find in central London, not little old Bromley.  But seeing as we are fortunate enough to have a restaurant of this calibre on our door step, it would be wrong to fail to acknowledge it.  

Wild Mango, Beckenham

Wednesday 11^th December 2013

The final curry club meeting of 2013 was at Wild Mango in Beckenham. This was previously the site of another Indian restaurant ‘Café Royal’, which never had a particularly good reputation.  Wild Mango sets its sights much higher.

Kingfisher Beer

Originating in 1857, Kingfisher is the granddaddy of Indian beers.  It’s a brand that to many of us will always be associated with curry and for thousands of Britons, Kingfisher is the drink to order with their favourite Indian food.
Kingfishers packaging has been updated slightly but the distinctive logo and green bottle are as recognisable as ever. 

First impressions are good.  A pleasant golden colour with an ample white head.  The carbonation is steady and the appearance is inviting.

Bombay Blonde

29 November 2013

Bombay Blonde is the brainchild of stock broker-turned brewer Julian Hales.  He spotted the gaping hole in the market for ‘proper beers’ in Indian restaurants and his team at micro-brewery the Indian Summer Brewing Co. have developed this pale ale especially to match curry.

The packaging is striking.  With its distinctive yellow label and playful name, it’s a real ale that hopes to appeal to lager louts as well as beer snobs!

The beer is clear pale golden and slightly carbonated.  It provides a pleasant flowery aroma and its taste is crisp with a strong fruity bitterness.  With curry, its citrusy bite beats the heat and its refreshing subtle fizz cleanses spicy sauces from the pallet. 

Bangla Beer

25 November 2013

For the first of our product reviews, we take a closer look at Bangla Beer.  This is always popular with the curry club but is unfortunately much rarer than either Cobra or Kingfisher, who currently dominate the curry house beer market.

Bangla comes in a striking green bottle and its bright green and gold label features Bengali text and a map of Bangladesh on the front.  Quite rightly, it emphasises that its origins are Bangladeshi rather than Indian, as are most curry houses.  However, like almost all Asian beers found in this country, it is in fact brewed in the UK.

The beer is an attractive clear amber colour and there’s a good head which, as it dies down, leaves a nice foamy top.  Its smell is rich and grainy with a hint of spice.

As you would hope with a beer aimed at the curry market, Bangla has a crisp and clean flavour but it’s more than just a tongue cooling lager.  Its taste is dry and hoppy as well as refreshing.  There’s a full flavour and it’s actually more ale-like, than you might expect.

Curry House, West Wickham

Wednesday 13th November 2013

This month’s curry club came around with the minimum of build-up. Curry House doesn’t have much of a reputation and it was with less excitement, more trepidation that the curry clubbers approached this restaurant, possibly fearing the worst.  Instead, what we found was a little gem.

Dishoom, Shoreditch

Sunday 27th October 2013

Submitted by Murali Para

As someone who usually enjoys going to Indian restaurants in the London Boroughs of Bromley and Croydon, I was intrigued to see what the dining experience would be like at Dishoom Shoreditch in the city. Dishoom, after all, has been rated as one of the ten best Indian restaurants in London by Time Out quite recently, so my expectations were high.

The Darjeeling, Bromley

Wednesday 9th October 2013 

Last month’s visit to such a posh Indian restaurant was a shock to the system for a number of the club, so we got back to more familiar territory with The Darjeeling in Bromley.

Indian restaurateurs have been trying to make a go of it on this site for years.  It was formally ‘Café East’ and more recently the short-lived ‘Bromley Masala’.   So I was interested to see if this new incarnation has what it takes to become a permanent fixture on the Bromley curry scene.

First impressions were good.  It is all very smart and new but it has cool atmospheric lighting, cosy tables and carpet, which I always think helps create a warm atmosphere.  It looked like it could be our sort of place.

Vote London South for Curry Capital!

25 September 2013

The chance to vote for the Curry Capital of Britain is almost up - and of course, we’re waving the flag for London South!

Cinnamon Culture, Sundridge Park

Wednesday 11^th September 2013

 

Something out of the ordinary for the curry club this time as we visited the renowned Cinnamon Culture on Plaistow Lane.  Many of the club are staunch old-school curry fans.  They like no-nonsense British Indian restaurant fare;  ‘onion bhajis’,  ‘chicken korma’,  ‘tikka masala’,  -  but these are all missing from the menu in favour of ‘tamarind quail’,  ‘quillon duck’  and  ‘travancore lobster’.

I was very interested to see how this more sophisticated dining experience would go down.

Raj of India, Orpington

Wednesday 14th August 2013

Raj of India is one of those restaurants I always notice but never had the chance to try out for myself.  At the latest curry club I was finally able to put that right.

Back Cinnamon Culture to Represent us!

30 July 2013

The annual battle to become Britain’s Curry Capital is about to kick-off and for only the second time, ‘London South’ is one of the contenders.  Bromley is one of 9 South London Boroughs which make up the bidding team, so we need to get involved!

Belash Tandoori, Penge

Wednesday 17th July 2013

It was the hottest day of the year so far as we made the journey to Belash Tandoori in Penge.  First impressions were that this a proper old-school place.

Congratulations Andy Ruby Murray

7 July 2013

Well, he's done it.  Andy Murray has become Wimbledon men's champion.  Britain's first since Ben Sherman. 

In2 Papadam, Beckenham

Friday 28th June 2013

Submitted by Murali Para

On Friday night I went with a friend to In2 Papadam which is located on Bromley Road near Beckenham town centre. We often meet up for a curry and are always looking out for new Indian restaurants to try out, mostly in the borough of Bromley. So when it was suggested that we visit In2 Papadam - which I gather has only recently opened in Beckenham - I was very much interested.

Homesdale Tandoori, Bromley

Wednesday 26^th June 2013

The latest curry club outing saw some new recruits make their debuts, so we were hoping for a good performance from Homesdale Tandoori in Bromley.