Leigh Tandoori, Leigh > Reviews (1)

The receptionist at our hotel on the outskirts of Leigh cheerfully told us that the town had several Indian restaurants but a fifteen minute recce revealed only one; it was too cold to search for longer.

The imaginatively named Leigh Tandoori is situated just across the road from the town’s bus station, mere footsteps from the main shopping area. From the outside it looks like it’s a takeaway only enterprise but when we peered through the blinds we could see that there are also a few tables for dining in. There was no menu in the window but we guessed that the fare would be fairly standard and it certainly didn’t look expensive.

I had seen a lovely looking restaurant in Astley a few miles before Leigh as we came in on our coach from Manchester so the Leigh Tandoori, a bit down at heel and in need of refreshing, didn’t really excite me. I could see, however, that Himself was relishing the prospect of eating somewhere so shabby looking (he seems to take a perverse satisfaction from eating in places that most people would turn their noses up at) and so we took the plunge.

There was much hustle and bustle in the crowded doorway because a couple of customers were picking up a takeaway and were in the process of leaving, while an aged delivery driver was on his way out of the door. However, the latter was dawdling so much we asked to be excused as we tried to squeeze past and get into the warmth. The driver could be heard muttering under his breath about this, clearly affronted; it was hardly a friendly welcome.

There are, I think, seven tables in the restaurant and we were led to one that had been wedged into an alcove. We took seats opposite one another on the outside but had there been four, those sitting on the outside would have had to get out of their seat should the others have wished to be out.

A window in the back wall gave a view of the chefs in the kitchen. Unfortunately the height of the window meant that we could only really see their heads so it wasn’t very interesting to watch them at work. The décor is really quite tragic; tired old prints of countryside landscapes, a grim patterned carpet and a decrepit looking bar do not an atmospheric Indian restaurant make. The toilets were upstairs and whenever anyone climbed the stairs it sounded like a herd of elephants on the staircase.

The menu at Leigh Tandoori is very ordinary. You’ll find the usual dishes – various permutations (chicken, lamb, prawn, king prawn or vegetable) of kormas, jalfrezis, vindaloos and so on. There was a section for the chef’s recommendations but this included some rather common dishes such as sag ghosht (lamb with spinach) and there was nothing unusual we hadn’t seen or tried before except for the naga curry which himself picked out immediately.

The naga chilli is the in chilli (if there is such a thing) right now. It’s a really hot chilli (it’s also known as the Dorset naga because that is where it was first grown) and it tends to be used for sauces and jelly type chutneys rather than fresh in actual cooking.

In this case naga jelly had been added to the curry sauce. Himself chose the lamb version of this dish.

The heat strengths were denoted by asterisks with the naga having four stars. Four was too many for me so I risked a three, hoping that it wouldn’t be too hot, and chose a lamb dish containing lentils and lemon (but it wasn’t a dhansak as it did not contain pineapple).

Both dishes looked as if they might cause a geigercounter to implode; the colours were shocking but I remained postitive because I could see that the sauce on mine was thick with lentils. The meat was harder to see and I was a bit concerned that it might not all be cooked thoroughly because some pieces wrere much bigger than others. In the end it wasn't so much a case of some pieces being underdone, but the smallest pieces being too tough.

My initial concerns were realised. The sauce was too hot for me - acrid rather than hot

is probably a better way to describe it - and there was an underlying flavour of burned garlic. Although the lentils were cooked down to give the sauce a good texture the sauce was not enjoyable. Himself liked his curry and approved of the heat level - lively but manageable.

We ordered a portion of rice and two chapattis which were nothing special, the chapattis were a little dry and the portion of pilau rice was a bit mean, even for one person.

Himself drank pints of lager and I asked for Diet Coke in the absence of any type of lassi (actually a jug of lassi would have been possible, but not a glass). The coke was almost flat and tasted pretty awful, most likely some kind of Rolacola brand.

The bill for two mains, rice, chapattis, two drinks each and some poppadoms and pickles came to approximately £24; not expensive but still too much given the standard of the food.

The Leigh Tandoori was almost empty when we visited on a Saturday evening but I'd be willing to bet that it was packed later when the pubs chucked out; at that time people just want a curry, any curry and they're generally not fussy about the quality.

Perhaps I'd be less critical if I'd chosen a milder dish, but I'm not convinced. This is your really basic curry house and they don't even do that very well. If I'm ever in Leigh again I'll keep walking no matter how cold it is and find that other restaurant.