NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Purasia, as you would probably guess, is a range of packet sauces that allow you create Asian (Chinese, Thai and Indian) meals in your own home, in 3 easy steps. They produce 6 type of sauces at the moment, 2 of each cuisine.
These are:
Chinese - Black Bean and Szechuan
Indian - Royal Korma and Tikka Masalla
Thai - Green and Red Curry
My review is of the Purasia Black Bean mix but the rest of the range work in exactly the same way.
The packaging is eye catching, with cut-out sections on the front of the cardboard box that gives a tantalizing glimpse of what you are actually buying.....an attractive plate of food is featured, along with the details that many of you will be wanting to know already - the nutritional details (see the end of the review!), how many it serves (3) and what it actually is - a trio of spices, oils ...
Advantages: Brilliant food, good service Disadvantages: Desserts not brilliant
plate high with various pakoras, both vegetable and chicken and plump delicately spiced tandoori chicken pieces. There was chicken in a tikka masalla sauce which melts in the mouth. The haggis pakora deserves a special mention, as you know us Scots love to batter and deep fry things and the spicy haggis was divine in a fiery Indian batter. We made our way back to the table to munch through our pile of goodies and enjoyed dipping them in a variety of sauces.
Then it was time for our main course. While we headed back up to the buffet, our dirty plates were cleared. Despite my belly now feeling rather full I again filled my plate with a spoonful of fried rice and sampled several of the curries. There was a good selection of chicken, lamb, beef and a couple of vegetarian options. All of the usual options were provided such as korma, bhuna ...
Advantages: Fantastic leisure facilities, comfortable beds, reasonably priced drinks and food for a 4* hotel, cash machine in reception Disadvantages: Very thin walls, late check in and early check out
of withdrawing cash.
EATING
The hotel has a choice of Salingers restaurant, or the village pub, we chose the latter. Being a Sunday, the bar was busy upon arrival. A 3 course Christmas meal was on offer for £9.95 or there was a choice of a la carte menu offering typical starters such as Garlic mushrooms and prawn cocktails, main courses such as steaks, salads, curries, veggie meals and deserts.
Two meals, a single starter, a main course Christmas dinner and Chicken Tikka Masalla (half and half) set us back £16, not bad for what is supposed to be a 4 star hotel. The service was slow considering the crowd had, by now, thinned out, the Christmas dinner had no roast potatoes (eek) and the masalla had evidently been cooked in the microwave and not stirred, the chips were undercooked and the rice was soggy ? the naan bread was very stodgy ...
