Topic: bombay cottage hamilton apr 2013

[acrabat]

Visited this place today for the first time in over ten years.
Has its own car park which is a bonus. Initial impression is that it has not changed one bit since my last visit. This is a good thing for me. Flock wallpaper, dull lighting, pink velour seats. Its a stereotype, but I like it. Staff were all very pleasant,  the place was very busy but the staff all had a smile and someone passed by at least every minute responding to our requests. So service and atmosphere gets a thumbs up.
The food however was a mixed bag. Started with mixed pakora that was a mix of veg, cauliflower, chicken, mushroom and one piece of fish. Accompanied by two dips, one radioactive red the other mucky brown. The cauliflower was superb, the veg was too small and dry, the chicken like all chicken pakora- tasteless-, they had managed to find the worlds smallest mushrooms to batter but they were ok. I did'nt try the fish but my wife thought it was ok. The dips were tasty enough but not memorable.
My group ordered four main meals. Chicken bhunna, chicken chasni, chicken korma and lamb rezala. To me they were all disappointing. They were all clearly based on a base very close to bb1's glasgow base sauce. While I do like this base and expect its quality from takaways I do expect better from a place positioning itself as a good quality sit-in. The bhunna had so much dried fenugreek it was bitter, the chasni was sickly sweet to my taste, the rezala was better but the lamb had been cooked so long it was beginning to break up and needed some fresh green chilli to lift it, the korma I would'nt like to comment on because its a dish I never like. Overall lacking in bir taste and a bit too greasy. We also ordered rice, garlic nan and chapati. The rice and chapati were spot on but the nan was the garliciest thing I have ever tasted, the cooks had dumped about a chefs spoon of raw blended garlic on a nan and spread it about, it was revolting.
This may sound very negative but I must just be a fussy customer as everyone else in the place seemed extremely happy with their orders. I also cannot fault the cost, we went for their express lunch and the bill for four was thirty five quid including two drinks (not each). Overall, good service, average takaway quality food, very reasonable price.
Overall 3 out of 5