49 South End Road, Hampstead, London NW3
Mixed Tandoori Grill
Salmon Bhuna, Khandani Gosht, Chicken Korai
Brinjal Bhajee, Sag Bhajee
Garlic Naan, Rice, Chapati
Salmon Bhuna, Khandani Gosht, Chicken Korai
Brinjal Bhajee, Sag Bhajee
Garlic Naan, Rice, Chapati
KateThis week's curry trip was to liberal Hampstead and that wasn't the only first for me. It was our first meal with two guests. I'm pretty sure it was the first restaurant with carpet, and it was definitely the first restaurant where the combine age of our table was less than the average age of the other diners.
By this point in the challenge I'm getting used to there being no lamb chops on the menu. So instead of choosing between the various types of minced lamb starters I suggested we go for the mixed tandoori platter. It was tasty and tender. On to the mains, we had a wide choice of lamb curries, and the one we went for had a good level of spice but the meat wasn't so tender, instead it was rather tough and chewy. Another lamb dish ordered by our guest SK was fresh and minty (well thats how Hanif will describe it) for a girl brought up on Sunday roasts, it would have been more at home at a Toby carvery. I do like fresh mint (in my mojitos and with bulgur wheat) but I think with lamb you need to be careful it doesn't end up being a generic mint sauce. Our other guest, S ordered a chicken dish. This was definitely the weakest dish in my opinion. The sauce was particularly bland, and the chicken hadn't been marinated before being cooked (although would it have made a difference in the blandest of sauces?) I think the chicken had been added after the sauce was ready, as it tasted pre-cooked. In what's becoming a good way of reassuring myself about the standard of my own aubergine cooking abilities, the brinjal bhaji was tasty but spongy in texture, which I thought meant it was cooked in a lot of oil and therefore went down in my estimation. For the leftfield recommendation - salmon bhuna. As you may know from reading my reviews, I'm a big fan of a white fish curry. I thought you could not go wrong with a fish curry. I have to reserve my judgement. I've decided that salmon should not be in a curry. Marinated and cooked dry in a tandoor, yes, but not slopping in a curry. Salmon's naturally sweet flesh was not complimented by the sweet taste of the bhuna. Please feel free to offer your spiced salmon recipes so that I can eat my words (or fillets). We had another spinach side dish, and again it was remarkably unseasoned. I think I'm used to it by now, but I'm still hoping the next spinach side will blow me away with taste. And if it doesn't at least I know what to expect. You'll be glad to hear my chapati was fairly uncontroversial - maybe a bit crispy, but there was no repeat of taking it away in my handbag. We were all ready to pay up and leave when we were offered a drink on the house. Apparently this was standard fare for first time visitors, and we were easily taken in by the offer. It may have been partly to do with the fact that when Hanif called earlier to confirm his reservation, they didn't have any record of his booking, but instead seemed to think he was called Keith. That amused us. I won't say too little too late, because this wasn't a bad experience - but it's not one that I feel I need to repeat again too soon. And I have to say it's making my appreciate my curry at Monsoon all the more. Paradise filled a hole on a cold Wednesday evening, but for fire in the belly I'm yearning for that first trip down memory (Brick) lane. For all that, I'm scoring Paradise a paltry Review 5/10. |
HAnifEverything was right in this place the attentive service, the charm, good interior, disabled toilet, the price, the cliental, the location; apart from the food well we cannot have it all. My mate Kate thought she was having Sunday roast at one point. It may sound like the food was appalling, it was not. If I was to take over any of the restaurants it would be this one and I would like the staff with it. They were pretty good and there was plenty of them.
Ok let us start with the food, for starters we shared a Tandoori mix grill it came with naan bread which was a bonus. This was nicely done all the meats were cooked just right, nothing over cooked, what seems to happen in many places. Great start but all downhill from here. We ordered a lamb, chicken and salmon for mains. Starting with the salmon, all four of us found this dish strange, it just did not work. Firstly I though it may because they used Salmon and curry and salmon do not work. Then I though it must work I have seen it several cookery books, it is the chef that did not make it work. The sweetness of the fish and the sauce of their Bhuna did not marry up instead it created a distasteful curry. Sorry Paradise you cannot go recommending that as your best fish curry - make a specific sauce for the salmon. The restaurant version of chicken Korai was a basic chicken curry served in a Korai. Although the descriptions mentions tomatoes and green peppers it did not resemble what traditionally has become to mean a Korai - large pieces of onions, capsicum, tomatoes stir fried with the meat of choice in a thick spicy sauce. In fact tomatoes and capsicum must have melted from the heat of the iron wok before it was served as we could not see any. The menu also describes this dish as “A spectacular Dish” – I could say it was anything but spectacular, it was not even half way there - it was disappointing. The chicken felt over cooked, the sauce tasted like some bulk prepared run of the mill sauce. I want to like this place but it is just not working. Moving on to the Khandani, I have not seen a dish like this at before – the sauce of this dish was made from mint sauce. When I tasted it I thought it was refreshing, it was new (to me). Unlike Kate, Sunday Roast Lamb was not a staple in my family, do not get me wrong I have had lamb and mint together not the deprived. Even though it was inspiring and I will steel the idea to implement it elsewhere – the menu describes it being cooked with fresh mint this was not the case and it was cooked with mixed sized pieces of lamb, which is weird. So moving on to the sides, the Sag Bhajee – the spinach did not seem fresh as described on the menu – maybe someone needs to tell the restaurant what fresh means. The Brinjal was doused in oil there was a small pool at the bottom of the dish. (Kate always checks.) So both were pretty poor. Rice is rice and Naan is naan. Review 5/10 |
Guest - SKParadise? Or Para-no-dice???
I'm a discerning sod when it comes to Indian restaurants, and I always resent paying something I used to have for free. My dad ran a Indian restaurant in Colchester that was highly regarded regarded according to all my non-Bengali friends, and my mum cooked wonderful Bengali food, as mum's do. All other Indian restaurants come up short in comparison. My Dad's curry palace was a traditional flock-wallpaper affair, with the usual selection of curry's on the menu, and Cobra's on tap. The service was attentive and the food was good. Any curry house goes below that standard... well it's only good for stomach-lining for sweaty drunkards. Paradise was like a posher version of my Dads place. Traditional but with 'premium' edge. A fairly classy, but conservative look Think cream colours, light coloured bare woods, thankfully uncluttered decor and low-level lighting. Situated in the main drag of Hampstead, they probably know the local market. With my culinary comrades I ordered off their speciality menu, a 'Magnus Gosht'. Slow-cooked lamb in a reduced sauce with lots of chilli. We shared the Saag and Brinjal Bhaji's, and the mixed grill that started proceedings . The mixed grill (tandoori chicken and lamb, and kebabs) were marinated unnecessarily in tandoori red food colouring, but the meat wasn't dry and fairly tender. With the salad it was pretty satisfying to nibble on. Nice chunks of meat to chump on before the mains. My Magnus Gosht arrived in good time along with the obligatory pint of Cobra. With this dish being a Paradise speciality, I was pleased that it wasn't a bog-standard lamb curry with a few more spices chucked in. The dish was evidently slow-cooked, and the sauce had a smoky depth to the spice that was comparatively unusual. This was a pleasant relief having eaten too many watery bog-standard curries where all you taste is spice and blandness. A few forkfuls of Saag Bhaji complimented very well. It tempered the spice and the heaviness of the meat. The Naan and Rice were nothing special. Fine, but nothing special. Didn't order Dessert. Either because the desert options looked the same as every other curry place (usual factory made Kulfi ice creams), or we were just too full to eat anything else. We did accept a free spirit of our choice from the manager who recognised us as newcomers. He cheerfully offered, and we cheerfully accepted. I had a decent single-malt scotch, a notch above the usual Jameson's. We sipped these as we got our bill and nibbled on the after dinner mints. Verdict? A cut above the usual curry joints. The place was smart, the service was good, the food was satisfying and better than most places i've ended up at. I didn't resent paying the bill this time. It's not so good that I'd traipse across London for though. But then I live in South London, and nothing in North London is worth traipsing for in my blinkered opinion |