Topic: Not "highly recommended" but most definitely not "really bad" either ...

[Peripatetic Phil]

The Clay Pot, Hurst Green, Sussex

Excellent ambience, friendly owner and staff, food variable

I visited the Clay Pot for the first time shortly after they opened for evening service yesterday. I ordered a Coke and a couple of popadom initially, and was advised that the popadom would take about ten minutes as they would first need to be heated, which I took as a good sign, and when they arrived they were excellent -- one plain, one masala, with a four-pot pickle tray. The onion salad in the pickle tray was clearly freshly made -- beautiful white onion, no signs of discolouration, and the mixed pickle was good too. For a starter I ordered the reshmi kebab with a chapati, and that too was excellent. Sadly the main course did not live up to my expectations. I ordered the Riposhi murgh, described as marinated chicken and minced lamb cooked with egg in a medium spiced sauce; the description was reasonably accurate (although the "marinated chicken" was actually chicken tikka) but the dish just did not gel. There was no synergy between the ingredients, and I found it bland and uninteresting. I tried livening it up with some onion salad and mixed pickle, but even that did not help and in the end I left about two-thirds. Normally I would have asked to have this packed up as a takeaway to eat later, but I really did not think it worthwhile. Would I go there again ? Yes, definitely, but next time I will try a classic dish such as Chicken Madras, and will make a point of asking it to be adequately spiced. 4/5, I think -- 3/5 would be rather mean, given the friendliness of the front-of-house team and the excellence of the starters. Oh, and coffee is served with cream, which always influences me favourably. Total bill including a couple of Cokes was less than

[Onions]

Shame, the starters and service sound good. Is it a new place? -thinking, perhaps they've- uh uh -bitten off more than they can chew?

[Peripatetic Phil]

Both the web site and the TA reviews date back to 2012, so it has been there for at least five years.  Prior to becoming the CP, the building was a pub called the Black Dog, but I have not as yet been able to find out when that business folded.

** Phil.