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[Food] The Exhoribitant Price Of My Curry.



Paxton Dazo

Up The Spurs.
Mar 11, 2007
9,719
Balti express are brilliant, but even they’ve had to succumb to inflation recently. Sounds silly given their name, but their Balti is the best.
Agreed. It’s gone up a fair bit since you put me onto it during lockdown, but Balti Express is still one of the cheapest and best Indian takeaways in Brighton & Hove.

Spice Tandoori on Old Shoreham Rd is very good & reasonably priced too.
 




portlock seagull

Well-known member
Jul 28, 2003
17,780
I have never ordered take away pizza as I just think it's a complete rip off. Just do the sums on the ingredients. My Daughter worked in Pizza Hut & PJ'S and it's made using frozen processed ingredients.
With currys they are very cheap to make and it was always a cheap eat out so can't understand why they are charging £10-£15 a dish now. A breast of chicken costs about £2 and spices next to nothing.
It's a shame as I do like to eat out but choose where I do eat very carefully these days.
WorkED. She workED. If hasn’t workED in foodservice in last few months then that experience is so far out of date now it’s without credit. Food inflation is reaching Weimar Republic status, with 20years in Foodservice and hospitality including procurement, IMO people are ridiculously out of touch with reality and always have been re: understanding of where their food comes from, how made etc. For something people put in their mouths 3 times a day and drives their very existence, I’m constantly amazed how ignorant the general public are about food. As highlighted by endless stream of food programmes trying to educate those that eg haven’t worked out own brand supermarket comes from the same factories as branded often with the same ingredients and recipe. You don’t need to work on inside like me to know this though. Just keep eyes and ears open in general. Greg Wallace will get you at some point…;)
 


Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,734
The Fatherland
Not for me, Clive. Its disgusting cold, and re-heated rice never comes out right. I end up feeling I've bought too much and wasted money.
You need to increase the beer consumption the night before then. Keep trying and at some point you’ll reach the hangover sweet spot where you open the fridge door and think you’ve arrived in heaven when you see last night’s left overs.
 


Easy 10

Brain dead MUG SHEEP
Jul 5, 2003
62,428
Location Location
You need to increase the beer consumption the night before then. Keep trying and at some point you’ll reach the hangover sweet spot where you open the fridge door and think you’ve arrived in heaven when you see last night’s left overs.
I rarely get that drunk these days, and I don't generally eat in the mornings. If I tried to chow down the remains of a cold curry first thing in the morning with a side-order of hangover though, then I would be greeting that curry all over again, and quite rapidly.
 


Seagull58

In the Algarve
Jan 31, 2012
8,516
Vilamoura, Portugal
We have a PJ's round the corner which is an emergency go to (it's shit pizza but I can pick it up in 15 mins). You can order online or off the app outside the store. Never paid more than £20 for a family of four :shrug:

As for the OP you need to move oop north. Curry for two hungry blokes in York on Tuesday was £25 each - Chicken Chilli Masala, Paneer Jalfreezi, garlic naan, dhaal, mushroom rice and two beers each :drool:
Did you go the Evil Eye after for Johnny Depp's favourite tequila-infused beer?
 




Bakero

Languidly clinical
Oct 9, 2010
14,908
Almería
Me and the Doris are quite regular patrons of the Indian Cottage in Shoreham. Always found it decent value there, but whenever we have a starters and a curry each, we invariably end up taking a whole load of it home with us.

Both of us are absolute SUCKERS for the lime pickle / mint sauce / onion / chutney carousel with a few papadums. So now, we just PIG OUT on that for (effectively) our starters, then order 1 curry to share between us with rice and some sides. A glass or two of wine, a couple of draft Cobras, and the bill comes in south of £40. Both of us are well stuffed after that, and we don't have the rigmarole of doggie bags.

I just find I can't tuck away the papdums+starter+main+sides any more, so ditching the starter, going big on the carousel and sharing a curry with a couple of sides works out just right for us., and saves a packet on the bill.
That's the way to do it. A curry and a rice per person is madness when you have sides as well. Also, charging the best part of a fiver for rice, as many places do nowadays, is daylight robbery.
 


Sid and the Sharknados

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Sep 4, 2022
5,722
Darlington
I rarely get that drunk these days, and I don't generally eat in the mornings. If I tried to chow down the remains of a cold curry first thing in the morning with a side-order of hangover though, then I would be greeting that curry all over again, and quite rapidly.
Wait, what you write on here are your sober opinions?
Oh God. :facepalm:

:lolol:
 


Tom Hark Preston Park

Will Post For Cash
Jul 6, 2003
72,362
Deliveries or collections only, Balti Express. They cover the full array of Indian dishes.

We’re eating one right now! £30 for the 4 of us, sometimes far less.

https://www.baltiexpressbrighton.co.uk/

We’ve been using the for 10+ years.
Heads-up here for the open kitchen at Red Chillies in Preston Drove. Watch the food be cooked in front of you or go and have a swift pint across the road in the Park View while it's prepared. No matter how little food you think you've ordered, you'll be gobsmacked at both the quality of that food and the quantity of extras included at no extra charge. It's gotta be one of the best in Brighton shirley
 






nordicgod

Top banana
Jul 21, 2011
914
polegate
Presumably you mean Raipur? In which case they are £3.95 according to their menu.

Well sitting in restaurant it said £8.95 for them unless it was a typo but I reckon they don’t sell many whilst sitting inside . The poppadoms were £1 each then they fleece everyone another £1 each for the chutney tray ?? 3 of us went and my daughter who just had a coke and a portion of rice . The part I didn’t like was on the menu it says minimum spend of £20 per head . Cheeky feckers . Won’t return there anyway and go up the K2 instead
 


BrightonCottager

Well-known member
Sep 30, 2013
2,771
Brighton
My wife's family are from the North of the Indian subcontinent so we eat fantastic home cooked rubies (although obvs not called that at home). The core ingredients are very cheap, particularly if you stick to veg (the chickpea is the Prince of Pulses, closely followed by the humble lentil). The only restaurants we go to or get takeaways from are Planet India (veg), Chilli Pickle and, for a treat, Dishooms. There are many cookbooks but if you are a novice I recommend Easy Indian by Das Sreedharan.
 




Tom Hark Preston Park

Will Post For Cash
Jul 6, 2003
72,362
Me and the Doris are quite regular patrons of the Indian Cottage in Shoreham. Always found it decent value there, but whenever we have a starters and a curry each, we invariably end up taking a whole load of it home with us.

Both of us are absolute SUCKERS for the lime pickle / mint sauce / onion / chutney carousel with a few papadums. So now, we just PIG OUT on that for (effectively) our starters, then order 1 curry to share between us with rice and some sides. A glass or two of wine, a couple of draft Cobras, and the bill comes in south of £40. Both of us are well stuffed after that, and we don't have the rigmarole of doggie bags.

I just find I can't tuck away the papdums+starter+main+sides any more, so ditching the starter, going big on the carousel and sharing a curry with a couple of sides works out just right for us., and saves a packet on the bill.
Indian Cottage in Shoreham is well decent food and also excelente value (having first paid obligatory visit to that daft-but-sweet F1-themed pub practically next door). My main gripe with the Indian Cottage is always the collateral damage next morning. Invariably involves a jarred knee/twisted ankle on account of sunken steps and/or sore head on account of that f*cking low doorway that catches me out every damn time. Still, no pain, no gain eh?
 


Questions

Habitual User
Oct 18, 2006
25,514
Worthing
Had some cold Pad Thai for lunch today that Mrs Q didn’t finish last night… Actually better cold today than last night.
So 2 Chicken Pad Thai’s , 1 Duck noodle thing for young Q, 8 mini spring rolls, 2 chicken satay, 1 prawn crackers and a can of coke for 52 nicker. Not bad I thought,
 


Questions

Habitual User
Oct 18, 2006
25,514
Worthing
Indian Cottage in Shoreham is well decent food and also excelente value (having first paid obligatory visit to that daft-but-sweet F1-themed pub practically next door). My main gripe with the Indian Cottage is always the collateral damage next morning. Invariably involves a jarred knee/twisted ankle on account of sunken steps and/or sore head on account of that f*cking low doorway that catches me out every damn time. Still, no pain, no gain eh?
It’s my arse that normally hurts next morning when I go there…. It’s alright though.
 




Paulie Gualtieri

Bada Bing
NSC Patron
May 8, 2018
10,643
Indian Cottage in Shoreham is well decent food and also excelente value (having first paid obligatory visit to that daft-but-sweet F1-themed pub practically next door). My main gripe with the Indian Cottage is always the collateral damage next morning. Invariably involves a jarred knee/twisted ankle on account of sunken steps and/or sore head on account of that f*cking low doorway that catches me out every damn time. Still, no pain, no gain eh?

not the collateral damage I was expecting to read but fair enough
 


vegster

Sanity Clause
May 5, 2008
28,273
Last night, on whim, neither of us could be bothered to cook, Mrs. CS & I decided to pay our favourite curry house a visit, a restaurant many of you local to the Horsham will be well aware of, the Akash, we know one of the owners, and have been regular diners there since his late father owned it thirty odd years ago.

Anyway the point of all this is, l was really surprised to see how much the evening cost me. Neither of us ordered starters, we both simply had curries, a King Prawn Dhansak for me, Chicken Tikka Balti for the wife, a Lemon Rice each, two side dishes, a Saag Panner and a Brinjal Bhaji, a glass of wine each, then two coffeess at the end of the meal.

So bearing in mind we were basically just paying for two main courses, and a couple of drinks, no starters or desserts, the cost? a whopping £79.00. It really brought it home to me how quickly, and my how much, prices are incresing now. We ate at the very same restaurant no more than a couple of months ago and the bill was no more than £60 odd pounds then.

Plenty of people were willing to pay these prices though, everytable was taken last night, and as we exited a large group were waiting to be seated. Cost of living crisis? it doesn't exist in Horsham.
The increased energy costs have not quite kicked in yet, been a mild autumn so far so we have been lucky. Expect food inflation to continue plus the energy bills will be going up, people will then cut down on their eating out. Additionally, I think there is still a little bit of drinking in the Last Chance Saloon, we know its coming but lets have a last bit of fun before it arrives.

For reference, bog standard butter in Lidl has gone up from £1.45 to £1.99 in the last six months ,a 37% rise and, close to my heart, 4 cans of Scrumpy Jack has gone from £4.00 to £4.50 , a 12.5% increase....plenty of other increases are happening.
 




mikeyjh

Well-known member
Dec 17, 2008
4,607
Llanymawddwy
My wife's family are from the North of the Indian subcontinent so we eat fantastic home cooked rubies (although obvs not called that at home). The core ingredients are very cheap, particularly if you stick to veg (the chickpea is the Prince of Pulses, closely followed by the humble lentil). The only restaurants we go to or get takeaways from are Planet India (veg), Chilli Pickle and, for a treat, Dishooms. There are many cookbooks but if you are a novice I recommend Easy Indian by Das Sreedharan.
Yeah, I cook my own at least a couple of times a week and like you say everything other than the meat is really cheap - I have to rely on my trips back to Derby to get the rarer ingredients but doing that shop is a bit of a treat!

As an aside, I bought the Dishoom book after a visit to their place in Birmingham, it's fantastic although you do have to clear your diary a bit...
 




Guinness Boy

Tofu eating wokerati
Helpful Moderator
NSC Patron
Jul 23, 2003
37,358
Up and Coming Sunny Portslade
I have had plenty of York pub recommendations, if you want any.
Yes please.

One of my colleagues loves rock and heavy metal and we have to walk right past the Artful Dodger to get into town, so we've been there more than I would have liked. I'm assuming there are some very decent places in The Shambles.
 


gazingdown

Well-known member
Feb 26, 2011
1,072
Last night, on whim, neither of us could be bothered to cook, Mrs. CS & I decided to pay our favourite curry house a visit, a restaurant many of you local to the Horsham will be well aware of, the Akash, we know one of the owners, and have been regular diners there since his late father owned it thirty odd years ago.

Anyway the point of all this is, l was really surprised to see how much the evening cost me. Neither of us ordered starters, we both simply had curries, a King Prawn Dhansak for me, Chicken Tikka Balti for the wife, a Lemon Rice each, two side dishes, a Saag Panner and a Brinjal Bhaji, a glass of wine each, then two coffeess at the end of the meal.

So bearing in mind we were basically just paying for two main courses, and a couple of drinks, no starters or desserts, the cost? a whopping £79.00.
Just had a quick look at their menu, what you’d ordered is about £46, the rest would be drinks I assume.
So, food only (and your dishes are more expensive than typical), £23 per person seems reasonable.

Just seen someone else replied with same, please ignore :D
 


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