How Clean is Your Curry-House?

After reading a few health inspectors ‘curry house horror stories’ recently, we decided to look into the food hygiene records of local Indian restaurants. 

High Standards: Aspara in India

 

 

Having checked data from the Food Standards Agency’s ratings for Bromley,  we were able to obtain the scores for 60 curry houses in the borough.

The results were surprising and to be honest, disappointing.  Over half of the restaurants we checked were ‘unsatisfactory’.  More than 40% were adjudged to require ‘major improvement’.

It was also a lesson in not judging a book by its cover.  Old-school curry houses,  Belash in Penge  and  Taste of India in Elmers End pulled off impressive 5 out of 5 scores,  while modern, smart looking restaurants Spice Fusion in Biggin Hill  and  Shampan 2 in Bromley fared badly.  They, along with a number of the club’s favourites, scored a meagre 1 out of 5.

Is The Term 'Curry House' Offensive?

Is 'Curry House' really an offensive term?  According to Sejal Sukhadwala from the Guardian, it is!  In an article for the paper, she claims that there's a growing clamour to do away with the term as many restaurateurs feel it's "out-dated and derogatory".  It's the apparent failure to acknowledge that there's more to Indian cuisine than curry that apparently causes offence.