Memmingen ist geschlossen!

We arrived, courtesy of Mr O'Leary, early enough for at least a Carry Out Curry-Heute from The Tandoori before the first of five trains to Hilpoltstein.

Sadly, this excellent restaurant is no more.



Stadtinformation Memmingen [info@memmingen.de]

sorry it took a while to find out what happened with the Tandoori Restaurant. I made some phone calls and got the information that it closed. I'm very sorry but we cannot offer you other restaurants with Indian cookery. Hope you will have a great time in Memmingen, although.

Garden Party held today: Chicken Patia

There was the bacon roll (of the singular variety : then there was the Curry-Heute!

Chicken Patia is usually described in restaurant menus as 'sweet and sour'.



It is some time since Hector cooked this dish. Perhaps once it is discovered there is the temptation to repeat the pleasure - too often.

Craig admits to not liking his Curry to be hot and so in today's version the 4 green chillies were omitted.

The audience were appreciative : the food was eaten : the recipe lies in the adjacent column.

If it's Tuesday...

A solo visit to The Village (129 Nelson St, Glasgow)

Hector looked at The Board: Aloo Gosht, that had to be the dish for today.

This was truly one of the most sublime Curries Hector has ever eaten. Sheer perfection!

The Lamb on the bone was in the exact quantity to complement the sauce, not too much bone either. The sauce was rich, full of flavour and not too oily. Every mouthful was a moment of absolute pleasure. The accompanying Vegetable Rice was straight from the kitchen: steaming hot.

This is what The Village is all about.

To absent friends, and Hector

In Hector's absence up north, 7 of us gathered at the Village for a Saturday afternoon curry.

Although one of the best places for a curry, I have to admit that the Village is not exactly a byword for fast and efficient service - as Craig and Yvonne will confirm, having waited for an hour to be served their meals!

The delay was not the worst of it, however. 5 desi kormas were ordered - regular readers will know that this dish can vary substantially - unfortunately, the variation on this occasion was to forget it was meant to be "desi"... 5 very ordinary kormas were delivered, much to the disgust of most of us (Howard seemed happy with his...)

A sign of a good restaurant is how it deals with complaints. The offending dishes were removed, and fairly quickly replaced with something closer to the usual. The accompanying rice dishes were also replaced, and a fresh naan bread was provided (a bonus, as the original was being shared between Howard and Tracey).

At the end of the meal, we were offered complimentary desserts by a somewhat embarrassed waiter. When these were declined, we were presented with the bill, which had been substantially discounted. All in all, in my opinion, the Village redeemed itself well!

The Nazma at last!

What goes around…

The Nazma Tandoori (62 Bridge St, Aberdeen, AB11 2 JN, across from the station) is where Hector had his first Aberdeen Curry. OK, The Jewel In The Crown did take me away for the last few years, but this has become the focus of Hector’s ambition when taking summer or winter residence in Aberdeen. Needless to say the Curry I had here last December was truly outstanding. So, nothing to live up to then…
Sister Cath took us the Sushi House, other sister, Marion normally takes us somewhere quite ‘safe’; it was a great surprise when Marion decided that she and Graeme would ‘permit’ Hector and Marg to visit this renowned establishment.
Marion eating Curry-Heute? It is a pity that the two of them are out of focus and on the dark side. We shall rectify this in October in York. Good Curry Houses in York, anyone?

There were some new creations in the Starters: Aloo Dom was irresistible: potato in cumin seeds with coriander and fried in batter. This was to share. It was a bit of a mish-mash (sorry), a more crispy outer casing and warmer potato on the inside and this could have been perfect.
Graeme had the Fish Tikka starter and described it as ‘refreshing’. Hector realises he has not had a Fish Curry for some time now, this must be rectified soon.
And so to the main courses.

The Green Herb Lamb had to Hector’s dish, the menu described it a Bhuna variant but slightly hotter and covered in fresh coriander: sounds perfect! When the waiter brought it he muttered ‘Chicken Vindaloo’ I suspect just as his little joke…
Hector was not amused.
There was far too much sauce, the ‘covered in fresh coriander’ turned out to be a small blob of green stuff spooned on top of the dish at the time of serving. The taste was nothing like as impressive as the December version. Were they too busy, a different chef?
Marg had the Lamb Rogan Josh: she described it as ‘safe’ but did think the taste was rich. Or was it Marg’s choice that was ‘safe’?
Graeme had the Lamb Dansak and getting into the spirit of everything is recorded stated that there was definitely a kick and the quality of the Lamb was impressive.
Marion chose the North Bengal Fruity Chicken, described as mild on the menu. It certainly was. Marion loved it. Perhaps this was the first time Marion had ever found something to her taste in a Curry House? This was seriously sweet! May I draw one’s attention to the ever so modest recipe for this dish on the accompanying pages. Hector had offered to order her meal at the start…
Marg ordered a coffee whilst others consumed the demon drink. What a nifty serving system this is.






The bill came to £106, Hector thinks that a significant percentage of this was not food related. The management offered us more AND free drinks on the way out (nice gesture given the profit they had made) but this was declined.
Hector wanted a real Bier today.

Hector does Sushi

...for the first and the last time...

OK, Sushi is not Curry, but Hector does not eat Curry in every meal, surprisingly (?).
This was Barbara’s last night working at the Sushi House in the Union Square shopping development in Aberdeen. It was decreed that this is where we would have our next Aberdeen meal, in the company of the dear mother of said employee, Cath.
Hector will eat anything, except durian. Hector takes his food very seriously. There was clearly much preparation involved in this nouvelle cuisine style of ‘fast-food’. One of my favourite Woody Allen lines: “The food here is terrible.” “And yes, the portions are so small…” ..did not apply in terms of the food quality, but come on, how is a man meant to survive on this? This was not sparrow sized portions but portions commensurate with the appetite of a newly hatched sparrow.
The bill came, fortunately Cath was able to claim a 50% discount. Had she not, Hector would have been carried out on a stretcher.

More photos may follow… and no I did not go for a fish supper afterwards.

The Jewel In The Crown, Aberdeen

Hector has been monitoring the Aberdeen Curry scene for ten years now.
Jonathan will no doubt have much more to add in the coming months.

There have been a significant number of new openings in the last five years or so, some have been recommended, and some of these have disappointed: too pretentious pour moi!
The Jewel In The Crown (145 Crown St, AB11 6HP) is an outlet that Hector found for himself. It became a firm favourite instantly. However, and why is this always the case?, there was a dish approaching Hector’s Bradford idyll but it is no longer on the menu.
An important piece of advice
Never order a bottle of sparkling mineral water at this establishment. Two pints of Bier are probably cheaper! Yes I did take the empty bottle away with me and evidently I retain it to this day!

Thanks to a grid-lock in Glasgow’s Charing X area, it took Hector and Marg two hours to clear the city. This meant that our arrival in Aberdeen would be somewhat tardy. A carry out, or ‘Takeaway’ for our foreign readers, would be the only option.
Hector has three Aberdeen Curry Houses in his phone memory; all are listed in the recommendations list. The Jewel In The Crown was en route. Without the aid of a menu I negotiated a Pakora for Marg and a Lamb Methi with Vegetable Rice for myself. It turned out that the Lamb Methi was not on the menu at all. Why not?
The building was covered in scaffolding, not an attractive state of affairs for a basement premises. However, the place was stowed as the very poor photograph shows. They had said twenty five minutes, they meant it. At over £17 for this purchase one has to consider the Clydebank tea-time special at the New Café Punjab to be even more excellent value.

Marg assures me that her Pakora was freshly cooked and was crispy.
Yes, that is seven pieces of Vegetable Pakora!
The Vegetable Rice is possibly the best I have encountered for some time in the UK, an array of interesting vegetables.
Ah, the Curry-Heute, it was more than adequate in portion size but it was nothing special at all.

Home, home again, The Village, of Course!

Too oily...not green enough...
Despite contacting the usual interested parties for a 17.00 rendezvous, other people were apparently too busy to join Marg and Hector. But surprise , surprise, John was in situ, his peace was about to shattered. John is at the Village (Nelson St, Glasgow) as often as Hector but this was the first time we have ever been simultaneously.

John was awaiting the Saag Gosht, a dish he had thoroughly enjoyed on Sunday. As is typical tonight’s dish was not as green as he had 48 hours previously and was described as being too oily.

The dish was completed and John was gone before Hector’s Village Lamb Desi Korma and Marg’s Lamb Tawa made their appearance. An Aloo Paratha and the Vegetable Rice were the accompaniments.

This was very much a homecoming meal.
This week The Village Lamb Desi Korma has a distinct yellow hew.
The Tawa was exceptionally oily, indeed there was a lake of oil left at the base of Marg’s dish.

Later we made a rendezvous at the Society Rooms for the promised Jaipur. Neil ordered food: it was NOT a Curry!

Israeli Curry

This was the last night of the Grand tour of Sinai and Israel.

The self cooked curry at the Kibbutz had acted as a stopgap. Jerusalem was a washout. Yes there was a Tandoori in the Crown Plaza but Google Maps does not locate this accurately. This was a branch of the Tel Aviv outfit, so the source was more appealing. Then there is the phantom location that Google Maps will take you to, but there is no curry there.

My last Curry in Tel Aviv was in 1985 overlooking the Mediterranean at Jaffa. The setting was splendid, the starters were excellent, the bread out of this world, the Curry was so bland…
Before finally deciding on the Tel Aviv Tandoori (2 Zamenshoff St, at Dizengoff Square), we did check out the cheap and cheerful Bombay on Allenby, alas it was closed and perhaps not appropriate for our final big night out. And as for the colour of the façade, well…
So, Mr Google took us efficiently to Dizengoff and the Curry House was easy to locate. This was an impressive restaurant, but the question would be: is it Kosher? A pizza in Eilat with three cheeses and no meat nearly finished me. Aha! a menu with Meat Curry and the option of creamy dishes. Not that I wanted one, but one does enjoy the choice.
The chap taking our order appeared to be the head honcho. There were new names so clarification was sought. In the end Hector ordered off the Specials Board: Masa Koddi (Goan beef). I told him I wanted it hot, he understood. Marg ordered a more traditional Chicken and Mushroom. The Garlic Nan and the Vegetable Rice are our usual. However the starter was going to be different: Chicken Chat. The Chicken was served cold with a salad. This was indeed mountainous and very different from our norm. Hector to this day worries when the starters impress.

The main courses arrived after a suitable gap. Marg enjoyed her Chicken and Mushroom, Hector’s Masa Koddi was outstanding. The sauce was minimal and very thick. The Beef was magnificent. I have never had Beef so well cooked. There was a kick. Marg had a taste and instantly regretted it. This was what Hector had needed.

Kibbutz Curry #1

Having found no Curry Houses in Jerusalem, despite a twenty minute walk following a route to a phantom location courtesy of Google Maps, there was a distinct desire for a Curry. There was also a need for some home cooking. A couple of hours after arriving at Kibbutz Ashdot Ya’akov (Me’uchad) where I had spent many summers between 1980 and 1996, I found myself in a supermarket in Tiberias.

Somehow all the spice ingredients for a curry materialised in my basket. The Chicken did look strange, it cannot be Halal, but it was certainly Kosher! A cauliflower was purchased at the Ichud shop as an ‘interesting vegetable’.

As guests of Orit and Chaz there was a simple way to thank them for their hospitality : a Curry was to be cooked, Orit was far from enthusiastic. Hector held back with the Chilli, there is no point making a meal if nobody can eat it.
Chaz appears to be finding it hot, Orit was surprised that she could eat it. Other family members appeared and the kids especially got torn in .
The famous Israeli herb mix ‘Za’atar’ was used, this could be a feature of all home cooked Curry henceforth.




A feed at last...and after the meal five baskets were filled with leftovers...

Egyptian Curry

Hector and Marg : The 2010 Summer Vacation

There were to be four nights spent in Sharm El Sheik so a curry had to be found for at least one of these. Hector spotted signs advertising Indian restaurants but the locations meant little. The Dragon Group operate a chain of Thai/Sushi/Indian curry houses, outlets for which were spotted at the old market in Sharm itself at the Tiran Centre and in downtown Na’ama Bay. Tony Blair has been there more than once it would appear. What does he know about Curry-Heute? Where is his curry blog?
Other sources suggested that the award winning (why does every curry house win an award?) Tandoori Restaurant in the Camel Hotel Na’ama Bay would be worth a visit. This became Hector’s choice for the first curry of this trip.

The Bier Today
In the spirit of Bier Today, let it be noted that the Heineken here was the first draught bier of the holiday and the first truly cold one served anywhere…

The Onion Bhaji was strange, onion rings gone wrong could be the best description. It was neither Bhaji or Pakora. It tasted fine and was probably the last onion to be tasted this evening. The accompanying Popadoms came with the minimal of sauce.
Hector ordered the Lamb Madras and noted that lamb was appreciably dearer than the chicken. The sauce had never seen an onion, it was nowhere as bad as a Greek made curry experienced in Zakynthos some years back which was meat in Bisto, but it was getting towards this.Marg had the Chicken Kurkach ( this is a Polish word!?) which was more of a stir fry. Lots of Capsicum and very oily, just what Hector did not want. Marg occasionally tries to have something very different, sometimes this backfires.

The accompanying Vegetable Rice was sold as a Vegetable Biryani. The Garlic Nan was presented sliced.


On our second visit to Na’ama Bay we found another place on the front, The Maharaja, but this was after we had a wonderful meal at The Authentic Egyptian Restaurant.
And if wonderful meals are to be remembered, then there was a Curry in Luxor in 2008 at a restaurant in the south of the main drag and owned by a Yorkshire couple. This was memorable and should be sought out by anyone visiting this part of Egypt. Sadly Hector cannot verify the name but I believe it was located on El Madina El Monaora. Perhaps this is why all Curry-Heute is blogged.

But we still have the Photo...