Plastic, fantastic: Nazma Tandoori

By Justin

My good friend Mark's excellent review of the Nazma Tandoori below was somewhat tainted by his strange views on celebrity. Doesn't he know that famous people are more important than us "normals", and that by including their praise on the menu (click on the picture to read just some of them) the Nazma lets us bask in their reflected glory? I, for one, enjoy my curry a lot more when I know that the S Club (Juniors) have eaten there.

This blog is, ultimately, about food though. Although the actual cuisine is irrelevant in a celebrity hangout such as this, the Nazma is double-blessed in that it also serves some excellent food. The room has, since my last visit, been "classed up": gone are the cheesy colour-changing lights, and in are modern tables and chairs that make the room a lot more stylish than your average tandoori. Most significantly, the terrible muzak hits of the Beatles and other popular artists were gone, replaced with barely-audible jazz featuring (as we were assured by Claire) a muted trumpeter swan. The meal followed the standard tandoori flow: poppadoms, starters, mains with rice and naan, Cobra beer, and a snubbing of the straight-from-the-freezer dessert menu.

My starter was really nice: a breast portion of tandoori-roast chicken. The marinade gave an excellent flavour (I could live without the red dye, though), and the hot oven had charred the outside to give a lovely barbecue edge. Mark suffered, however, from a bland dish with an unusual garnish of a blue plastic shaving. My meal stayed entirely plastic-free (as far as I am aware...), which was no bad thing.

Mains were a hit all-round. I had eaten the Redfort prawn here a couple of times before, and returned to the old friend again this time. It's a mild dish, with juicy prawns and a really flavoursome sauce given a sweet edge by ground and whole almonds. I did wish, though, for a bit of heat to round the flavour off: the lovely initial taste kind of died away into nothing without it. A sample of Niall's and Mark's dishes showed that Mark had made the best choice with his nicely flavoured and spicy herbed chicken.

Service was fairly attentive: the tabletop food-hoovers deployed wherever possible; Niall's fork, when dropped, appeared to disappear before it even hit the floor and was swiftly replaced, and the prices were good. Mark's plastic "treat" was the only real downside, and I'm not sure that it was dealt with fully. In a star-studded place such as this, I will leave the final words to Cheryl Baker, of Bucks Fizz (and TV) fame: "Many thanks to the Nazma for a fantastic meal with superb service!"

Nazma Tandoori
62 Bridge Street
01224 211296

Nazma Tandoori

By Mark

What have Art Malik, Steve Davis, Aberdeens favourite son Calvin Goldspink (of S club juniors fame.....but you didn't need me to tell you that, did you?) and Mullet Hunter Simon Varwell got in common?

Not much actually, apart from the fact that they've all had a good curry at the Nazma Tandoori. How do I know this? Well, apart from Varwell, they're names and photos are rather prominently displayed all over the place. I don't really have a problem with this (although the list of the semi famous and local heroes on the front of the menus is a little excessive) but, the fact that Willie Miller likes a place doesn't necessarily make it any good. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that a restaurant should be confident about its product and service and therefore wouldn't feel the need to remind us that other people, superior to ourselves, have enjoyed food there in the past.

And Nazma Tandoori really ought to have that confidence. Gone is the tacky 'top of the pops' lighting, and in its place is a pleasant, sophisticated dining room which looks a lot more elegant than your average curry house. The service was generally good, with one or two minor hiccups, (more on that in a mo), and with poppadoms, starters and mains coming in at roughly £25 per head I felt it was pretty good value.

So, what about the food then. To be honest, I was a little let down by my starter, a minced lamb kebab which was a little bland, but everyone else seemed to enjoy theres an awful lot, so I'll put it down to a bad choice. The main course though, was spectacularly good. I had a green herb chicken curry, which was like a spiced up, jazzed up bhuna and washed it down with equally good garlic and keema naans and some rice, which was, well, ricey. Not only was mine delicious, but everyone else's choices were real winners too, so on the whole, it really was a great meal.

My only grumble of the evening was when I found a small piece of plastic in one of the minced lamb kebabs. Nothing dangerous or sharp, but a piece of plastic, all the same. I'd be pretty seriously embarrassed if someone made that complaint to me in a restaurant. The waiter I mentioned it to seemed both embarrassed and concerned, but didn't really know what to do, so went to speak to his supervisor. Fair enough. The supervisor rather brashly swept the whole thing under the carpet and suggested I need not worry, as the plastic was probably from the salad!

So, to sum up.....Nazma Tandoori...a thoroughly enjoyable curry, but I'd give the salad a wide berth if I were you!

Nazma Tandoori
62 Bridge Street
01224 211296