Topic: One BIR - varying standards

[George]

Mid week I tried a take away which was offering a good discount. The place was so quiet that the main man (order-taker as well as being head chef) was out the front reading a newspaper. I asked if I could watch my biryani and naan bread being made. He said OK and I was impressed with what I saw. The naan bread definitely started as dough and certainly went in the tandoor for just 2 or 3 mins. The biryani and accompanying sauce had many dips of what seemed like a multitude of ingredients - more ingredients than in most recipes.  I was standing too far away to have much of a clue what anything was. The whole meal was excellent, and probably as good as anything from a similar takeaway the 1980s.

It was so good that I went back on Friday evening and ordered another naan bread, a 'special' chicken curry and a pilau rice.  This second meal was not in the same league, despite it definitely being cooked by the same chef. They wouldn't let me watch because he said they were too busy. They certainly had at least two more orders, on top of mine but I suspect the real reason is that the naan breads had been pre-cooked and were simply being reheated. That's what the second naan looked like and tasted like. The curry was a bit bland and boring, too.

[haldi]

Can you go back again, mid week
Maybe you'll get another demo
It doesn't make sense does it?
Perhaps someone made a poor gravy?

[emin-j]

Tis a bit strange that George but I have had the same experience with a couple of T/A I use,seems to me if you don't complete the Curry ' Jig Saw ' in some way the result can be disappointing 

[George]

Can you go back again, mid week
Maybe you'll get another demo
It doesn't make sense does it?
Perhaps someone made a poor gravy?

I wouldn't really want to spend any more money there, and doubt if I'd learn any more, to be honest. They told me to stand well back and they weren't the types to say much, like explaining what each ingredient was. Overall I learned it's possible to make a superior (1980s standard) curry or inferior (2011) curry using the same ingredients, by the same chef. My hunch is that it wasn't the base but the time and effort allowed by the chef. Mid week, last week mine was probably the only order within a 30 minute slot, so they could focus on it and do a good job (i.e for the main curries). But by Friday they had a few more orders - not what you'd call frantic but just a few orders, and that was enough for the naan breads to probably have been made mid-afternoon, for reheating in the evening. The pilau rice is always reheated in a microwave, of course, and was OK. As for the special chicken curry, I think the head chef was rushed off his feet by having, a few orders every half hour, and my curry suffered as a result. I bet this sort of thing goes on in many places, throughout the UK.

A key thing I learned was that you really can make a first class naan bread in 2 minutes flat (or just a tad longer) in a gas fired tandoor. He made the naan from dough and cooked it just as seen on certain, instructional youtube videos!

Could I make a curry and naan better than the Friday one?  - yes

Could I make a curry and naan as good as the mid-week one? no

[Razor]

Hi George, good report.

I wonder though, perhaps if you would have raised the issue with the owner, maybe he could have offered an explanation?

At the very least, he could have offered you your next order at a good discount?

Ray