How much would you be willing to pay?

[Cory Ander]

you cant do it, its in the fabric...
you need to buy the carpets and furniture.

shut up graeme :-) okay i hear you.

  :-X

With respect Graeme, I was rather thinking of smelling and tasting their curries rather than their furniture 

...though, in some cases, I'm sure one might be hard pushed to tell the difference! lol  ;D 

[chilli head]

what ive seen on this site starters wise is as good as a cir and a bir.what you will find is the way things are presented makes it that bit better.the little things in cooking the meals,like cooking at a high temp with ghee and using fresh things.The chef where i worked made his own garamasala this is very important,also in hot currys use chillies blend them in water to a paste then freeze in ice cube tray then use a cube or two in the meals do not use to much chilli powder as this can make a curry bitter/sour use a little peprika.
    andy

[Graeme]

I am 99% with extrahotchillie on his point.

My last visit to a BIR was C*** and now the bottles
of Cobra are going for 4.50 each (nov 2007)

The prices they are now demanding is too much
for a very average (on or off) the high street BIR, often
we deserve better food and service,
if the toilets are dirty don't go back.

Last year I walked out of our local BIR.
I asked how much the Cobra was, I then asked the size
of the bottles he gave me a load of sarcasm in front of
other customers about it not being a social club ha ha !

my point being - thats 18.00 quid before we even order
our meal.

I got up and told my guests were leaving,
the manager was gobsmacked, and off we went.

This week i was informed the pub just 50 mts away
from the one i walk out off, has been bought by indians
(or what ever) they have "let go" all the local staff
and are turning the upstairs function room into a BIR.

Well said extrahotchillie.

[Cory Ander]

Hi guys,

I take your point that there are some poor quality and poor value BIRs around, but there are also many excellent ones aound too, I'm sure you'll agree? 

I assumed the question (and certainly my offer of a contribution!  ) pre-supposes that we're able to reproduce those from the best of them (hence the "verification and validation") and not the worst of them!   

[Graeme]

Hi CA and all curry monsters,

I have yet to find a good BIR that produces
quality food like the 1980 - to early 1990
with quality service. i often find the vindaloo
like a red soup.

I was going to talk about a main meal i cooked
but its going a little off topic again, sorry
about that.

[slimboyfat]

I agree 100% I don?t know what happened to all the decent restaurants I ate regularly in a place in shepherds Bush in the 80's it was a little hole in the wall type joint what I would call a "proper curry house" having recently moved back to London I thought I would pop in .the food was dire the place looks like an operating theatre laminate flooring and everything white,,, walls table's bring back the 80's !

[Cory Ander]

All sounds rather depressing guys! 

Even in the 80s I had great difficulty finding a decent curry in several areas.  Bedford (Cranfield area) and Huntingdon spring to mind.  I had my worst ever curry (overseas excepted....but maybe not!) in Sheffield at that time....it was dire!

But I've had curries to die for (the ones my "share" eludes to  ) in many other areas of England, then, and since then.

I think we need a "Recommended BIR" section Stew?.  I know of several which I would recommend without hesitation. 

[Graeme]

Hi CA and Slim :-) and all curry monsters.

Yes bad ones then, sure :-(

But at least you could find your hidden gem :-)

I go to a bir 1-2 times every 3 years or so.

If kids eat Kebab Meat and poor quality pizzas on a Saturday
night i am sure they will enjoy the BIR slop shop, so the BIR
is going to be around a long time,
along with the munchies group etc

[lorrydoo]

I think if there is a enough of us who would be willing to stump up 100 quid each then that would be a good start to finally put our quest to rest. 

The next step would be to "advertise" our venture and if any BIR chefs bite then someone like Admin and/or Cory Ander would be needed to see if we were buying into the right genuine high quality BIR recipe we are looking for.

The simplest way I can think of doing this is to actually try before we buy.  But we might end up kissing a lot of frogs before we meet our prince, so to speak.


I would definitely put up 100 GBP and I think Cory and SBF have also indicated they probably would.   Anyone else?

[Secret Santa]

I think 1000 quid...is cheap for genuine tried, tested, VERIFIED AND VALIDATED, reproducible BIR curry recipes

You know what the real problem is? Well let me tell you

I've been doing the rounds of several restaurants in various places over the past few weeks. There are two reasons why I did this, the first is because the "other" place has many members who are ecstatic over the authenticity (BIR wise) of the curry recipes there, the second is because I can't find a curry house that makes curries with the smell and taste I remember any more.

Now these two things sort of mesh. The "other" place makes curries which are like some restaurants I have been to, but the point is that these are what I would consider second rate BIRs. I wouldn't revisit these BIRs if there were ones which still made curries like I remember them. The really devastating point for me is that there were no restaurants that had the smell or the taste. Seriously, none.

A point in case would be the Bhuna. Now this used to have a very distinct savoury flavour. If you've never had it you wouldn't know what I mean, but it is a unique flavour which you wouldn't forget if you had had it. Every recipe and restaurant version now seems to assume that if you put onions and peppers in a standard curry then that's a bhuna. No, uh uh, no way. People have forgotten how to bhuna and it doesn't seem that my cravings will be satisfied anytime soon.

So when people now say that they can reproduce their local BIR flavour or better it, I believe them. But, you poor deprived people, you have to know that there was a time when there really was a "smell" and "taste" that went with every restaurant or takeaway curry that totally shadows any forum recipes or real restaurant recipes, but it appears to have disappeared!

So how much would I pay for the BIR secret...absolutely nothing, zilch, zero...unless I can find just one restaurant that can make curries like they used to be made.