Curry Lounge, Nottingham

...'Kitchen Nightmares' TV show - Curry Lounge. I must admit I was a little unsure whether I actually wanted to visit a place that was in enough of a mess that Ramsay had to sort it out, but I assumed that it would probably be fine after he'd finished with it. Besides, it was good enough to win second place in the curry of the year (for Nottingham, I think) beforehand, so it should be pretty good, I thought...

THE LOCATION

...above a number of the curry houses in the well known 'Curry Mile' in Rusholme, Manchester, with which I'm fairly familiar. The first thing you'll see when you enter is the water-feature, two sheets of glass with water cascading down the inside. To the right of this is the counter where we were greeted and seated on comfortable seats for a couple of minutes, before being escorted to our table. The décor is stylish and contemporary, with dark wood ... more

I found myself in Nottingham at on New Years Eve 2007 and, at the suggestion of a chum who is a big Gordon Ramsay fan, we went to a restaurant that the foul-mouthed chef had worked his magic on in his 'Kitchen Nightmares' TV show - Curry Lounge. I must admit I was a little unsure whether I actually wanted to visit a place that was in enough of a mess that Ramsay had to sort it out, but I assumed that it would probably be fine after he'd finished with it. Besides, it was good enough to win second place in the curry of the year (for Nottingham, I think) beforehand, so it should be pretty good, I thought...

THE LOCATION

Curry lounge can be found at 110 Upper Parliament Street, 2 or 3 minutes walk from the tram stop in Nottingham town centre. It's worth looking up the location yourself online, or at least make sure that the friend or other you get to do so is competent, otherwise you may end up walking in the wrong direction for 15 minutes, right out of Nottingham town centre! Sadly, I speak from experience.

THE PLACE

From outside it looks fairly up-market. That's not to say it looks like The Ivy, but a cut above a number of the curry houses in the well known 'Curry Mile' in Rusholme, Manchester, with which I'm fairly familiar. The first thing you'll see when you enter is the water-feature, two sheets of glass with water cascading down the inside. To the right of this is the counter where we were greeted and seated on comfortable seats for a couple of minutes, before being escorted to our table. The décor is stylish and contemporary, with dark wood tables, chandeliers, subtle lighting and numerous TV-screens set into the walls, tuned to an Asian music channel.

THE FOOD

I can't comment too much about the menu because on our visit we were restricted to the New Years Eve menu. This consisted of half a dozen or so options of starters and mains, with your choice of naan (regular or garlic) or rice and popadoms, all for £19.99. After we'd ordered drinks the popadoms were brought out, of which there were two each, with a choice of 4 sauces; mint yoghurt, mango chutney, lime pickle and, I think, horse-radish. It was all good, although the lime is one to avoid if you're not fond of creasing your face up at the hot and sour hit! Oddly enough, rather than coming on a plate, the popadoms were served on, rather than in, a round basket which was clearly too small for them - weird!

For starters, my two buddies both ordered the lamb kebab (I forget the actual name as it appeared on the menu) which was described as being made with 'baby lamb'. "Awww, baby lamb!" I said. Clearly, couldn't be so callous as to eat the flesh of a baby lamb, even though it was probably no younger than a regular lamb, so I opted for the samosa chaat, Punjabi-style samosa and spiced chick peas served with mint chutney, sweetened yoghurt and tamarind chutney. Our orders arrived after only a minimal wait. The kebabs were pretty substantial, which drew envious glances from me as I was pretty ravenous by this time and as my samosa looked lovely but not exactly a man-sized portion! The samosa, of which there were two of medium size, if memory serves, came in a small bowl with the yoghurt and chutney's already covering them. They were nicely presented and tasted good and within a minute or so they were just a pleasant memory, having done little to satisfy my appetite, but enough to tide me until my mains arrived.

Meanwhile, my buddies chatted and savoured their starters, much to my chagrin and apparently to the owners chagrin too; as he prowled like a caged lion into our area and back out regularly to check on our progress. I assume this was because they were heavily booked by parties yet to arrive, but surely he needn't have been so obvious about it and, if he was in that much of a rush, we shouldn't have been offered the time slot we were given.

I must admit that I'm struggling to recall what we all had for our main meals, which suggests I shouldn't have put off writing this review for over a month! I was pretty certain that I'd had chicken jalfrezi, but that doesn't appear to be on the regular menu, so I'm unsure now. Either way it was good and was just about the right level of spice for my tastes (medium-hot). My buddies received their mains equally well, but the naan, both garlic and regular, were a disappointment because they were so small. They came in the same type of baskets the popadoms have previously been balanced on and they were, I'm guesstimating, about 20cm in diameter, but cut into quarters. The portion of rice wasn't exactly large either, which meant that gluttony was not an option, though to be fair we were all comfortably full at the end of the meal.

Another gripe is that a lot of oil separated out from my curry, which I always find really off-putting. I expect that sort of quality when I'm in the Curry Mile, but I would almost certainly have been paying less had that been the case, so I was slightly dissatisfied with my lot. Furthermore, we were still being quite obviously rushed through our meal, to the extent of the naan baskets being whipped away whilst we were still eating. By this stage, all three of us were justifiably peeved at our treatment, to the extent that we deliberately left a meagre tip.

The oddest thing is that, after our plates had been cleared, we had to wait longer for the bill than we waited for any other aspect of our meal!

OTHER DETAILS

The standard prices are starters: £3-4 veggie, around £5 for meat (£10.50 for prawns), mains: £6-7 veggie, £9 meat (£15.95 for lobster). Sides are £3.25 and the various naan and rice variants are £1.50 - 3.

They offer facilities for business lunches, including projector, LCDs (TVs I assume, it doesn't specify), wi-fi access and a PA system.

Opening times are: Mon to Sat 5:30 p.m.-late, Sun 6-10 p.m.

You can make your booking online, although it seems a little pointless. You are required to leave your phone number so that they can ring you to confirm it and, if the time-slot you chose is unavailable, offer you the next best option. Is it not easier to just ring then? I suppose it's a fall-back option if they're not answering the phone.

website: www.currylounge.co.uk tel.: 0115 941 8844

SUMMARY

The place is stylish, from décor to condiment containers and food presentation. Whilst the starters were very good, the quality of the mains wasn't quite up to the level I'd have expected from the look of the place and the prices. Whilst the prices are pretty reasonable, on the face of it, the portions are less than generous so it isn't exactly value for money. I can't argue that the service isn't brisk, but it seems to have been quick for their benefit rather than mine. It's a decent enough place to visit once but, given that the menu isn't exactly extensive, I can't imagine I'd become anything like a regular even if it weren't around 100 miles away.

Based on my experience, I can't reccommend it, but I realise that there may be mitigating circumstances. 

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