May 11 - The Spicery, Irchester

So, this months visit for the Curry Club was to a new establishment in Irchester. The Spicery hasn't been around for long and is still offering an opening special. As usual Bill had done some negotiating to enable us to take advantage of the deal on our usual Thursday night. Most of the gang left the church car park and made a way along the short journey for the nights eating pleasure. When we arrived the main man was hanging around outside ready to greet us. One of the first things Mohamed said was "Can I join the club!". We've never had a host ask us that question, so we were caught off side a bit. Of course we are open to anyone coming along and joining in.

We were seated in the small but clean restaurant and spaced out nicely. We waited until a few of the guys turned up and then we were all in and ready. It should be said, as some of the members didn't realise, the Spicery does not sell alcohol. You are of course welcome to pop to the local shop, buy your own and take it in. Our drinks orders (cokes, juice, tap water and Lassi) were taken. Now the deal is like this, you pay one price and then you can order as many items as you can eat. Sounds fair to us curry eaters. However, this is not a buffet with everything cooked and ready to troff. We ordered starters and then got on with talking. Some of the drinks were late arriving, but no big issue.

Now they say, or someone said anyway, that you should never discuss religion or politics. Well, as many of us had been down to vote for numerous things in the day, the obvious discussion ensued. Now Swiss Pete, not being English on account that he is Swiss, which is why we call him Swiss Pete and not because he has a passion for Swiss Rolls, though he may have and I just don't know. Where was I, oh yes, Swiss Pete had strong opinions on the old AV (to me that's Anti-Virus, but I gather it stood for alternative vote) which differed from those around him. So a reasonable discussion was had. So you either vote for a process that enables minority groups to have an impact on the end result, that will cost the tax payer a lot of money and is generally not understood by the populous or you vote the right way. There, sorted. Then of course we have the odd discussion about religion. But neither of these discussions had the best impact. It was sport that took the headline on one table. It came to light that Tony and Colin support what one could say are strong rivals football teams. Tony, being born and brought up around Chelsea, supports the club of his childhood. Colin, being touched by the Munich air disaster supports Manchester United. Both reasonable reasons for supporting a specific football club. Now it would be too easy and unfair of me to abuse my editorial control of this blog to sound off about one of the teams. So I won't. Instead I'll mention the fact that we all agreed that football is being spoilt by what is maybe the majority of supporters now. I'm not just talking about the mindless thugs that go just to cause trouble. I'm including the so called parents that encourage or allow their kids to use abusive language and signs while sitting in the family seats. Why can't supporters of opposing clubs just sit next to each other and enjoy the game? I know the players on the pitch are using every tactic to cheat by rolling around on the floor as though they have been stabbed, or tripping over their own feet and claiming it was the 4 and half feet long leg of the defended that caught them. But at the end of the day, they all do it, they all get away with some stuff and all get caught with others. So it's a level playing field as it were. Lets just watch the game, get annoyed with the players, enjoy the players, get annoyed with the ref when he plays 16 mins added time when there was one small stoppage - or is that just at Man U games when Man U are losing? Oops I'm sorry. Yes Chelsea get their fair share with the odd goal or two that appear not to cross the line. Anyway enough rambling, so what was the food like at the Spicery?

Well, the quality of the food was excellent and reflected in the high score of 4.6 out of 5! However, as anyone knows quality food takes time to prepare and this means waiting. Now, those that know the curry club members know that they don't like a long wait. One of the things at the Spicery that was obvious was that the guys were waiting for us to finish before considering whether we wanted anything else to try. This meant that after a reasonable wait for the starters, we also waited a considerable to for the main course. Then when we finished it, we sort of thought, do we want to wait another long time to try something different. Mohamed did come and ask us, after we had finished whether we wanted to try something else, and as we had paid for a kind of buffet, we ordered another sharing dish. Again the quality was excellent.

The general feeling was that instead of taking individual orders from everyone, we should have ordered a few dishes and then once they had come out and been half eaten, ordered some other dishes. This way there would have been a steady stream of different dishes to try. Something to think about. I do have to say that the variety of dishes on offer is fantastic, with ... wait for it, curry pizza's!! We must go and get one from the takeaway menu that they have.

So to the scoring, the quality and quantity got good scores. The staff ( which includes speed of service) didn't do so well. But that's the price you pay for quality. Ambience got a reasonable score as did price. The final score was 21.3, which puts the Spicery mid table. A good effort for this new establishment. I'm sure that if the items mentioned are taken on board, the score will go up and who knows there is a very real chance of topping the leader board some time.

Before I end, we must just mention 2 specific curry club members who were not with us due to illness. We hope they both return to full health to enjoy another curry with us.

As usual the opinions expressed here are entirely personal and represent 13 blokes views on the night. So until next month, curry on with out us.

Mar 11 - Eastern Spice, Irthlingborough

Who would have believed at the turn of the 3rd millennium there would be such a fight for the top spot at the mission curry club - well the heat is on.The M.C.C. went to Eastern Spice in Irthlingborough and it's a pleasure to be the collateral damage in this war, (well I'm running out of rennies)!

Let me explain, with only .03 of a mark between Cafe Bangla and Eastern Spice that is close! It's not a perfect system of marking, and it is very subjective, but that's the joy of it, it's what we individually think, collectively.

So to the evening. It was a cold night, and we had to park some distance away - therefore it was a pleasant surprise that a warm curry house awaited us. A very small foyer (double doors, to keep in heat, good idea) was let down by the fact that two big men and fluff (the shorty one) were almost trapped in there ( I could imagine Paul and I having to hold fluff above our heads so we could open the second door as the first had closed behind us).

Eastern Spice has recently been decorated to a modern contemporary design, a well stocked bar to your left as you enter,and again we were sat at one long table, this is fine but if you sit in the middle you won't hear what is being talked about at the ends.

Thursday is their normal banquet night. Any starter, any main, any side dish between two, (I found that really annoying), rice or nan, coffee.£8.95.

I had momo to start very nice, made a wrap with the flaky bread and momo, and made a mess over me. Still that's what washing machines are for. Then Murgh Dil Bahar, yummy until a green chili would have vaporised my tonsils if I had any, this for me, just made it better. Now to the side dish. Colin was looking at me as if to say, we can share a side dish. OK let me explain, I don't like vegetables and I now I hear Colin say some thing about cauliflower AH! Quickly I buddy up with Paul and say "Ian likes cauliflower Colin". Haven't a clue if he does or not, as long as I don't have to eat something I don't like.(Child hood story). Paul and I had Chana Masala.

The coffee at the end was good, but if you want a cup (may have been pot can't remember) of tea be prepared to take out a bank mortgage, £1.90 wow U.C.B.S.

Now to the chat, as I have said I was in the middle of the table, so I can only refer to the things said around me. Fluff had to get out new phone to phone wife. Really bad etiquette, just showing off. But a big discussion about Rushden and what's going on with the town, i.e. what is moving into the Oakley pub? Possible relocation of reptile shop, more wild life along Wellingborough road. And what's going on along Bedford road, car park, flats, shop, all were suggested. Not to mention Tescos. I think people had a positive feel about changes, like a least something is happening in our town ,but we need infrastructure on the housing estate on Bedford road.

One story was a man who complained that his son insured his car for £180. Now to me that sounds rather cheap, and therefore worrying. Perhaps because of the gaiety of the evening, or that he is now retired (and brain goes sleepy byes) Keith tried to order Bamboo Aloo (this was obviously a side dish for him and his Panda).

Colin eventually gets his meal, this is not to say that we were waiting for food, no the service was very good, just that Colin saw everybody else eating and WHERE WAS HIS FOOD?

Restaurants were mentioned, Wagamama, Rat n Parrot, all in MK.

Must say about Tom's birthday, happy 18th Tom. A big event in the M.C.C. Tom can now buy US a drink YES!! His mum got him a Top Gear cake ah. Stig on top ah.

So all in all a very good evening. I should just say that Tony and I had a long talk about voting system that we have. Although I can't agree with him he may have a point.

Next time at the Chapel I think, so those who like to eat Chinese, fish and chips or any of the food outlets that are around the church would have a chance of coming. No excuses not to be social!!

One final point .... the score, wait for it ...... a brilliant 23.72!!!

Bye, Bill the organiser

Feb 11 - Joytun, Raunds

Finding the place was no easy thing it’s set back from the road a bit and a strange shop in front of it, (it had something to do with clothes I think (I didn't like to look to closely) and I was getting hungry.

The place is well set out bar as you enter tables to your right and a large fish tank set into the rear wall. Don't remember seeing any fish though (perhaps they were on the menu yesterday). Having done a deal with them on the price two weeks earlier, (curry club members know what I mean) possibly there may be trouble ahead.

But no, good as their word, deal ok even chef specials, which included lamb shank not often seen on menus.

I went for chicken chat starter very nice. Chicken Madras, Bombay aloo, and keema naan it was all really nice, not special but nice (somewhere you would take the wife to). Allen sitting next to me had green chilly chicken as his main course I know I have a problem about eating things that are green but that was to much for me, I was coached into eating a small portion (a very small portion) and yes I am right leaving green things alone. Can’t say much about what went on talk wise I was at one end of a long table. I did get into the four Yorkshire men sketch with Paul but it was about scars and stitches (you know what I mean, "you think that's a scar when they stitched my arm back" yes you know how it went) mind you I could not compete with a story about his brother, my eyes are watering even now.

Didn't have a beer, staying off alcohol, seems to give me headache ,and I don't drink much anyway.

So, anyway to the scoring, Ambience scored 3.9, Quantity scored 4.8, Quality scored 4.6, Price scored 4.4 and staff received 3.6. This gave a total of 21.3

Bill the organiser.

Jan 11 - Fordham Arms, Sharnbrook

A return to a favourite for us to begin the New Year. Well I don't have much to say here as we are still trying to get back on track with the blog. However, what can be said that hasn't already. This is a fantastic pub to get a curry in, the other meals are great too. The chef really loves his cooking and pulls out all the stops for us.

I'll just jump straight to the score shall I ..... 23.3!!! Oh so close to a new record for all establishments we have visited. Of course they seta new record for the pub league.

Well done guys a great result.

Dec 10 - Bangla Cafe, Rushden

TBC when I ask the lads if they can remember the score.

Nov 10 - TBC

The lads need to help me here and confirm where we went and if we know the score :-)

Oct 10 - TBC

The lads need to help me here and confirm where we went and if we know the score :-)

Sep 10 -TBC

The lads need to help me here and confirm where we went and if we know the score :-)

Aug 10 - Fusion, Northampton

Despite Bills directions we all found our way to Fusion in Northampton for this months curry club. In attendance were;

Ian (rev), Jim, Bill, Tom, Alan, Phil, Paul, Colin M, Alan P, Alan B, Julian, Adrian and Ian T.

As well as a restaurant Fusion also has a nightclub situated on the ground floor. It was quickly decided that as there were no takers for dancing we would make our way straight up to the restaurant located on both the first and second floors. On arrival we noticed that the restaurant was ominously empty (maybe they heard we were coming?), that was until we were taken upstairs and found that in fact the place was heaving!

Fusion is an all-u-can-eat self-service buffet incorporating many different styles of food including; Italian, Indian and Chinese. You could take your pick from a selection of starters, mains and desserts (or should that be deserts!?!) in any order you like! So basically we all got up and helped ourselves to as much as we could cram onto our plates!

Tom complained that his plate wasn’t big enough and went back for several rounds more - he later admitted that he is attempting to take on Nathan’s (we still miss you) mantle as the human dustbin. The usual random chat ensued over dinner notably; about half-way through the meal Bill announced that Ian was a decent chap – for a vicar. An image Ian went on to tarnish slightly when he revealed that following a return to Victorian values he was looking for a small child to sweep the manse chimney. The burning question of the evening (and possibly the next day) was ‘what is the difference between a korma and a royal korma?’(– any answers on a postcard to Bill please).

Clearly we couldn’t complain about the speed of service – you have only yourself to blame if your food arrives slowly at a self-service buffet. Although crowded Fusion felt really spacious and we had plenty of room to navigate around the table. The only minor incident of the night came when one of our number discovered a broken toilet an issue that was swiftly dealt with by the staff who apologised for our inconvenience .

Fusion scored as follows;

Quality 4.31, Quantity 5, Price 4.31, Ambiance 4.23, Staff 3.48

Total Score: 21.43

Not a top scorer but a respectable result nevertheless.

As usual all opinions expressed are entirely our own and are reflective of our experiences on the evening.

Till next month ……………….

July 10 - TBC

The lads need to help me here and confirm where we went and if we know the score :-)

June 10 - TBC

The lads need to help me here and confirm where we went and if we know the score :-)

May 10 - TBC

Apologies for not updating the blog for so long. Holiday's and then a family matter has lead to me losing the enthusiasm. However, I am trying to coax some of the members to provide updates. So keep watching as stories will get put on and the all important scoring will be resumed.

The lads need to help me here and confirm where we went and if we know the score :-)

Apr 10 - Curry Garden, Rushden

This month the Curry Club decided to visit a local curry house that we haven't eaten in for some time. In fact the last time we ate here was pre-scoring and pre-blog! We recall that the speed of service was not great and so looked forward to see how things might have changed.

A 20 strong Mission Curry Club visited the restaurant with more names than I can remember or indeed even knew. The core of the club were present lead by Bill the organiser, Tony the treasurer and blogger, Pastor Ian, Alan, Colin M, Julian, Tom, Keith and a host of friends. When we arrived we were about the only people in, with perhaps one other table with a couple wondering what was going on. We sat on 4 different tables which was a first for the club and had many advantages. To start the staff did a bill per table, which made collecting money very easy, though we are not sure if Bill got his table correct.

We arrived at 7:30pm sharp and after taking our seats ordered the first drinks. It took a while to receive the drinks, but we all got served. At just around 8:00pm our food order was taken, which didn't bode well for speed of service. The first starters arrived around 8:30pm and as we were on separate tables it was clear that each table would receive their food at different times. Some had opted for a house special which was outside of the great deal Bill had secured for us (£10 a head for starter, main, side and rice/naan) and decided not to have a starter for fear of being too full or wasting their main course (this was to prove to be a mistake).

So some discussion; early topic was the on / off train strike and as we had one amongst us who used to work in the industry, we had some sensible conversation and it did not end up with who could run the best service using a Hornby layout. Pastor Ian told us about his beloved Morris Marina Coupe he had some time back. This got us started on driving and Tony offered that the age should be raised to 21 like in the USA. This brought some debate from those that had been driving since 17 and never caused any problems etc. We then got onto the subject of marriage and how it appears to be too easy now to swap around once it gets a bit tough.

At this point, Alan B, who had opted not to go for a starter was threatening to go to the Bangla Cafe as it was now just gone 9:00pm and he hadn't eaten anything since arriving at 7:30pm. Actually, that's not quite true as he was offered and readily accepted a piece of Chicken Tikka starter. Anyway at around 9:15pm the first of the main courses arrived to one of the tables. The early signs of quality and quantity seemed good and the first table tucked in.

Conversation continued and at this point I must mention Nathan. This was a sad Curry Club for Nathan and for the rest of us as Nathan is moving on. He is off up north to start a new job and is moving his young family some way away. We will miss Nathan not for his great conversation or his wit or his friendliness or his kindness, all of which are true. We will miss Nathan because though he is about 7 feet 2 inches tall and weighs around 7 stone 4 lbs, he can in fact eat for Britain. So he is our benchmark when testing the quantity of food. If Nathan says he is full, then you can bet that everyone will be scoring a 5 for quantity. Nathan, we wish you all the very best and hope that the job works out. You will of course be welcome at any time to the curry club should be around this way. Can I just ask that before you leave, you return your curry club key fob ... no, just kidding, you are now a lifetime member.

So, where were we with the food, oh yes, some of the tables had eaten their main course but the one containing the organiser still hadn't been served. One diner sent his rice back because it was cold and others did comment that their food was only luke warm. I should note that Kumar, the manager should have been on his day off, but came in we believe because the curry club was in. Not sure whether he was overseeing the service or not or dealing with take-aways. Conversation continued with someone saying they had a friend who went out with Hilary. Now we reckon this must have been when Hilary was about 10, because we know that she met Bill when she was 14 and they got married and have been ever since. Bill's ears pricked up when he heard his wife's name being mentioned. Not sure he got the story or probed deeper into who it was etc. Now chances are he never will as I'm not even sure he has ever read this blog!!!!

Anyway, let's move straight to the scoring. It was very interesting because we had 4 different tables and of course each had a slightly different time frame for receiving their different courses. So, ambiance scored 3.85, which personally I think was a bit low as we were reasonably seated, it is a clean establishment, there seemed to be plenty of talking and laughter. Next up quantity which scored a good 4.2. Quality was slightly lower with 3.95 and price 4.15. Again, personally I thought price was a bit on the low side considering we got a full meal for a tenner. But I'm sure one or two of the guys have found somewhere where you can eat all you like for £1.50. Finally the score for staff, this got 3.45, the lowest mainly because staff includes speed of service. Now we know that if you want good food cooked fresh etc, takes time. But the Curry Garden does seem to still hold on to its title of a very slow serving establishment. So tips from guys who have eaten almost everywhere, take the drinks orders quick, use two waiters so the other one can take the starter orders. Offer free poppadoms, they are very cheap and keep people going while the starters are being prepared. 50p for 1 poppadom and 55p for the chutney, is really too much. They are also salty so people will drink quicker and buy more beer, though £4 is expensive for a pint of larger. When people have finished, if you are going to offer a clean up towel and chocolate, do it straight away, not 10mins after the plates were cleared as it was on one table.

Oh, nearly forgot, the final score was 19.6, which is mid table in our league. Of course the opinions expressed here are entirely our own and represent our view on the night. You may have a completely different experience. The Mission Curry Club have been treated to some excellent eating experiences over time and so local restaurants have to really go some to get great scores. We will no doubt return at some point to the Curry Garden, but alas the speed of service has to be much better.

Until next time, don't lets your kebabs get cold.

Mar 10 - ?, Wellingborough

Report and scores coming soon

Feb 10 - Red Hot World Buffet, Northampton

So here we go, Feb's curry club. Meeting at the church were Paul, Tom, Tom's GD (Alan), Bill, Tony, Alan B, Colin M, Big Col, Phil (welcome mate), Prof and Keith. A disappointing turn out as we had been invited to a curry night, but that's just the way it goes with busy people, families, meetings and operations.

We left the church car park and made our way over to the Red Hot in Northampton, over by the six fields stadium. Never have been sure what goes on in that big stadium. Maybe a large car boot sale. I managed to come off one of the roundabouts on the wrong turn, so had to make a swift dash to the M1 and back! Eventually we all met up and went in.

We were shown to our table and initial thoughts were here we go the seats look nice all pushed together but how do you actually get in. However, the staff were soon on hand and provided another table enabling us to spread out. So once seated we considered drinks and for some reason going to the bar and ordering drinks was not an option as it has been on other visits. The waiter took our drinks orders and we paid each bill as it came. This was fine as it makes the end bill easier for us to work out. So then, what next? We weren't too sure what the plan was so Tony grabbed a waiter and said "We are from the curry club what is the process?". We noticed that this evening was the same as every other evening in that it had various people in and the food on offer appeared to be the same as usual, so what was going to be different. The waiter told us that we could help ourselves to starters and the usual Indian foods. However, he said that other Indian specific dishes were going to be brought just to our table.

So we got up and headed for the starters. It should be pointed out that our back row of people were up against the wall and this makes getting in and out difficult. Basically everyone has to get up at the same time. So once re-seated conversations began.

There was a bit of discussion about Big Col's Internet Access and how he has changed providers (not a good idea, in my experience) and was awaiting a wireless router. When quickly changed the subject and discussed the latest films. Several of us have been to see Avatar (in 3D of course) and agreed it was a great film, even if it was just Dances with Wolves in space. Bill said he'd seen Sherlock Holmes and that was also great. There was discussion about the Gadget Show and photography. Big Col is looking to buy a new camera, even though he hasn't mastered his old one yet. Bill said he was a technophobe. Now I thought that was someone who feared technology, but who am I to disagree.

During conversation dishes began to appear on our table. First some rather fetching meat balls appeared, at this point we remembered one of our missing members who couldn't be with us due to an operation. Then some sausages, that were spicy with a strong lemon taste. Both were very fragrant dishes. Then some lamb and chicken arrived. We continued conversation and someone noticed that Bill was taking small portions. Apparently he is on the diet again as all the good work he did last time (and money in sponsorship he took off us) was lost as he has put back on the weight he lost. Someone said they wanted their money back, but Bill said he would be around soon asking for more! There was a discussion about Sat Navs and comedy voices. Someone said that he would dread having his wife's voice telling him to turn left. Colin M commented that they have these devices and they are called Sat Nag's.

More food continued to pour onto the table, with a vegetable dish. One of the highlights was a fish curry that the Prof, who is a regular visitor to India, said was about as authentic you can get outside of India. Well done chef Swapnil!! SO we ended the meal and was brought a nice shooter which most people downed in one. Couldn't tell you what it was, just that it was in 3 sections.

... and so to the all important scores ... Ambiance = 4.0, Quality = 4.3, Quantity = 5, Staff = 4.4, Price = 4.9, giving a total of ............. 22.60!!!! At last someone has challenged the Cafe Bangla. The Red Hot had posted the third best score of all time. So where did they lose points? Ambiance lost some because of a few items, the backs against the wall seating, the level of general noise in the restaurant was high (yes it is a big place with lots of people), there was also a gas heater stationed very close to some who did move it away a bit but still felt the heat (or was it the curry). Quality in general was good, the dishes brought to the table were excellent. The main dishes from the normal selection are let down a bit by mass production, but nevertheless still good. One numpty from our membership gave 4 for price, which shows they don't eat out much, never did find out who. But overall an excellent score. As usual the opinions expressed here are our personal opinions on the night, you may have a different experience.

The question remains now in terms of where do Red Hot see this going? They want to start up a curry club. Are they going to advertise a special deal where you get the usual food plus some extras to your table? What would the price be as, while I won't disclose the price we paid, it was very good. In fact for the benefit of one missing member it was a snip of a price. How are they going to advertise it? How are they going to take it forward? One thing is for sure, the Mission Curry Club (MCC) were reduced in numbers this month and I know those that were missing would have enjoyed the night. So we would support a return visit to give Red Hot a chance to topple the Cafe Bangla.

Until next time, ta ta masala.

Jan 10 - Cafe Bangla, Rushden

Hey, here we the night before the next curry club and I'm making a post. Not only am I on time this month, but we usually don't have a Jan meet. The story is that we have been contacted by a reasonably local establishment and invited to come along for a special curry evening. I won't say who now as we will wait until next month. We had considered going this month, but time was short to get people together. So watch out for next months post. Anyway, having thought a few of us might be out this month we decided to go local to .. yes the Cafe Bangla. There is a bit of snow around and so we thought keep it to walking distance. Funny, I spoke to a curry club member this week on the phone who said it was snowing heavily and that he had some on the ground. I opened my door and saw a clear sky and not a flake around. Weird thing is this guy was about 4 miles as the bird flies from me. Talk about localised weather.

So Tony, Alan, Keith, Colin M, Paul, Tom and Tom's Grandad, Julian, Nathan, Lindsey, Nathan, Steve & Steve, Keith's mate, Bill and someone else who's name I didn't get made their way down town in the ice and remains of snow.

We were seated quickly and ordered the usual first round of drinks. Cafe B is consistently a good scorer and they are striving to better the score every time we meet. One issue for us is that these guys are local and give a great service so we tend to go back often.

So early discussion included Baxters soup and smoked beachwood bacon. Now I'm not sure how much beer had been drunk at this point, but I just don't know what this was all about. While we were choosing our meals there was loads of discussion about side dishes and what they contain. We got in and sat down at 7:15 and were asked for our order at 7:45, which is not great. Most of these places assume you will have 47 popodums and various chutneys followed by 3 pints. As we don't tend to have the pre-starters, mainly due to cost, it does mean we feel that we are waiting a bit longer than we should. The starters came at 8:10, so that does mean we waited nearly an hour and there were some hungary men.

We had the usual cars conversations and someone raised the issue of why people have to drive in the middle lane of the motorway when the inside lane is clear. I think it is just a lack of confidence and they feel safer in the middle of the road rather then near that dangerous hard shoulder. Someone disagreed with me and said they just shouldn't have been given a driving licence. I guess there is one school of thought that if they are doing 70mph, then no one should catch them up anyway ...

I wonder if we should have lanes on the pavement? Have you noticed how some people wander along and you are stuck behind them needing to get past. If we had lanes we could have the slow walkers in the inside lane and the faster ones on the outside lane. You'd even have an overtaking lane. Though I wonder how long it would be before those people that hog the middle lane on the road start walking along the fast lane! As I recall some swimming pools have lanes for fast and slow swimmers. I might try swimming slowly up the fast lane next time :-)

Some other conversations were Bill trying to find a piano player with no teeth, one of our members admitted to playing Father Christmas, eating Indian food in India, Chilli Chocolates, having a fat boys at the Red Lion pub in Weldon (maybe we should go there) and at one point far too much church talk. Pastor Ian wasn't there so we missed him bringing real world issues to the table like which is best, the Nintendo Wii or Playstation 3?

Anyway main course arrived and were great as usual and so when we had finished we did the scoring. I'll start with Ambience for a change, that got 4.1, Quality 4.7, Quantity 4.7, Price 4.7 ... bit of a theme here and finally staff 4.2. I think staff might have got more if we had scored later as the boss man came in after we had scored and we had loads of banter with him. Great guy down there. Of course we were offered the usual night cap of any drink. So the final score was 22.4, the 3rd highest ever and giving Bangla Cafe the top 4 places in our restaurant league.

Of course as usual the opinions expressed here are entirely personal and represent our visit on the night. Next month, we are going to the Red Hot in Northampton (no this is not a strange night club around the back streets), it is the world buffet bar. I have a feeling the guys there might just break up the Bangla's dominance. We've been invited specifically as they want to start a curry club. I no I've given the name away ....

Until the next post, kit fit and don't let your aloo saag.

Dec 09 - Eastern Spice, Irthingborough

So the guys decided to visit the revamped Eastern Spice this month. The establishment has been heavily advertised in the local paper and so it was only right to see if it could challenge the current top place to eat curry.

We met at the church car park as usual and the convey made their way over to Irthlingborough, that place made famous by the local football team, Rushden United. Oh, I'm in trouble now. You see once upon a time Rushden was a flourishing small town and had its own footy team called Rushden Town, now it's just a growing expanse of housing and reducing infrastructure to support it (listen up local council, time to bring some shops and entertainment to the town - cinema, bowling etc). Then there was Irthlingborough who also had a footy team called Irthlingborough Diamonds. Someone made the decision to bring the two together. Formally the team is called Rushden and Diamonds, but locals depending on where you sit and outsiders call it "The Rushden", Rushden Town, Rushden Football Club, Irthlingborough Wheelers and all sorts of things. If you go, they also have a special name for the Referee. I never could understand how some normal human beings go to a football match and turn into a ranting raving lunatic. Don't get me wrong I love armchair football, but it's just a game. Anyway where was I, oh yes, so a load of us (around 18) descended on the Eastern Spice. The deal was a full meal at a set price.

We sat down, ordered so drinks and got talking. Discussion included jobs and why we can't work 4 days a week and have 3 days off. Or even better, like Pastor Ian, just work 1 day a week - now I'm really in trouble from the man that probably works 7 days a week! We also discussed the Wii and in particular the Wii Fit. It seems that several of the members have one and there maybe a challenge in the new year.

The starters arrived after a while, a bit delayed but the restaurant was filling up I guess. Nathan necked a pile of Pickled Lime and then confessed that he thought it was Cucumber. Just shows it never touched his tongue, let alone the sides of his mouth.

The having finished the starter and drank more pop, waited, and waited, and waited. During which time Tony decided to referee and game of spoons. Now I have to try and describe this to you. Picture the scene, Tony is sat between Nathan and Luke (Luke is Tony's 10 year old son). Nathan starts by holding a spoon in his mouth. Luke bends forward and Nathan hits Luke on the head with the spoon. Try this, you will find that you get no power from just a flick of the neck (nodding as it were). Then it is Luke's turn and with Nathan now bent down, Luke inflicts a powerful whack on the head. Sitting opposite is the audience including Alan and Simon. Nathan protests at Luke's obvious technique and powerful nodding ability. They each had another 2 goes until Nathan decided to surrender with a sore head.

Now, the audience could see what Nathan could not ... every time he bent down for Luke to hit him with the spoon, Tony sitting in between using perfect time whacked Nathan on the head with a spoon in his hand! We did tell Nathan the secret and he was most put out and attempted to attack Tony with various items left on the table.

Anyway, eventually the main course arrived. Everything was complete and nothing missing. So to the scoring .. Ambiance got 4.2, Quantity got 4.5, Quality a useful 4.4 and price 4.5. All set for a reasonable score, until the staff score came in, which includes speed of service. Here it went a bit wrong as only 3.6 was awarded. Total score 21.2, which was let down by keeping the guys waiting. It was over an hour between courses, which is not good. Anyway, as usual the views and opinions expressed here are entirely our own and represent the experience we had on the night.

We paid up and left for home having had good quality food, but just taking a little too long to arrive. Until next time ...

Nov 09 - Fordham Arms, Sharnbrook

A visit out to Sharnbrook for this months Curry Club. Tony S, Pete, Nathan, Julian, Pastor Ian, Prof, Bill, Alan B, Tony R, Swiss Pete, Tom, Keith, Paul and Ian R made the short trip over to this lovely pub. This was a return visit to an establishment that served us well last time. The chef prides himself on his curries.

We were seated quickly following the ordering of drinks. Early discussion was centred around overalls and wearing nothing underneath them. No I don't understand why either? Maybe we were having a YMCA moment. Oh I remember, it started with talk about work clothes and whether you had to wear a suit. Conversation continued with what you can't feed dogs. Everyone agreed about chocolate, but then someone said you can't give them onions. That's bad news as my dog loves to finish off the left over curry.

When then had a session talking about renaming football grounds which was topically. Then for some reason there was discussion about tigerloo and shooting star. I thought they were characters from a Disney film, but apparently they are motorbikes. After a motorbikes we moved on to cars and tried to think of cars that had bench seats. We came up with the Zepher 6 and a Worsley.

So, let's get onto the food. First we had some poppadoms with the usually chutneys. However, we were treated to the chefs special home made chutney (lime as I recall). Then out come the food and what a banquet of curries, rice, naans and side dishes. Let me just leave the scores to speak for themselves.

Quantity got 4.8, should have been 5 but a couple of guys clearly need enough for a couple of elephants. Quality was 4.4 which is excellent for a pub. Price, 4.7 good scoring. Staff got 4.5, on the low side if you ask me as we always get a warm welcome. Ambiance was a 4.5 also. So total score of 22.90, making it the top scoring pub. Well done chef!!!!

As usually these notes and our opinion is purely personally and represents our view on the night. We would certainly recommend the curry night here to any curry lovers out there.

Until next time, all the best.

Oct 09 - Cafe Bangla

A small contingent from the curry club visited our old favorite to see if they could top their previous scores. There is some confusion over who actually came and I put this down to our usual organiser being absent attending to a family matter.

As usual we were seated quickly and began ordering drinks. Early discussion was about Nathan's pending baby. It centred around photographing the birth and moved onto video. We weren't too sure about that and what rating it my get. There was soon discussion about you tube and loading photos on the web.

Now for some reason I have rent boy written down in my notes. Given all that has happened over the last couple of months and I am writing this blog nearly 3 months after the event, I've no idea why I was referred to as a rent boy. It was something to do with selling myself and my new job. I'm sure someone will tell me.

Anyway soon the food arrived and it was up to scratch as usual. Quality got 4.71, quantity 4.57, price 4.1, Ambiance 4.5 and finally staff 4.5 giving a total of 22.38. Not beating their other top scores but still a great score and something we have come to expect now.

As usual, the opinion expressed here is entirely our own and represents what we found on the night.

Until next time ...

Sep 09 - Thai Inn, Rushden

First of all, to all our regular readers, a big apology for not getting this on sooner, how does time slip by so quickly? Anyway, on to the evening. Ian, Colin S, Paul, Brian, Alan B, Pastor Ian, Swiss Pete, Tom were joined by Big Steve for his first curry club. This week we went, with a certain amount of trepidation to the Thai Inn in Rushden. As you will see from our blog history the first time we went to the Thai inn we were blown away and raved about it, so much so that we chose it for our Christmas meal which traditionally is a revisit to our favourite establishment of the year. This was a great disappointment as the regular chef was absent and our experience was not as favourable (read the blog for more details) So the question was, how was it going to be this time? We were having the deal where you pay a flat price (£11.95) and you can order anything off the menu as many times as you like, drinks extra. SO on arrival the first orders for starters were placed and we were soon into the usual discussions on cars and hideous music choices. The layout of the Thai inn was such that we were not all able to sit on the same table, a select group of Paul, Brian, Bill and Colin were at their own. Soon the food arrived and I have to say that it was brilliant. We had a mixed starter which was closely followed by a host of main courses, and they kept coming for as long as we wanted and could eat. It was about this time that it was noted that the “select” table appeared to have installed a conveyor belt which kept bringing food to the table, Bill and Colin both blamed Paul but I have my suspicions! The staff were very helpful and cheerful, nothing was too much trouble and they took time to explain anything on the menu that we wanted clarification on.

So now to the scores, The total was 22.0, which is a great score for a restaurant. This was made up of 4.6 for Quality, 4.7 for quantity (how anyone can score less than 5 for quantity when you get to choose how much you eat is beyond me, but someone did!) 4.1 for Ambience, 4.0 for price and 4.6 for staff. All very good scores. Until next time.