Hi Santa,
On Tuesday this week I made one of CA's Tarka Dhals. I went out with my friend to my favourite BIR that evening and took a take away container with me. I asked the manager if he would heat it up and taste it with us, to which he did.
He said it was very nice but too spicy, more like the kind of thing they would put in a dansak. When I told him there was ketchup in it he laughed and said, we never ever use ketchup, and our tarka dhal is much less spicy than that, but did agree on the use of a whole bulb of garlic and some chilli powder.
We also got talking to him about BIR's in general and he said there is no money in it anymore, everyone is producing cheaper curries of far less quality than ever before and he went on to say that he doesn't think the BIR will be around in 10 years time, it will change completely.......
This is a very very good quality Indian restaurant. He also said that they don't use much base sauce but cook each dish fresh, and I can see that from the varied menu they have.
I'll try and scan in there menu over the weekend for everyone to see.