New Tikka on the Block

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Bombay Bistro impresses our guest reviewer Max Easterman

At the time of ordering (May 14th), Bombay Bistro had been open for just a week. We’ve used several local Indian take-aways and home deliveries over the years and the food has varied from very good to indifferent – sometimes from week to week from the same restaurant.

One of the major drawbacks for us has been the tendency to over-salt some dishes and to use too much oil and fat. So my wife and I were curious to try out Bombay Bistro's delivery menu, and see how, as a newcomer, they compare.

We’ve used a 5-star assessment for individual dishes – but we do want to point out that the top rating would be for an exceptional level of cooking, so 3-star and above is for us a very good standard of food.

We should also say that we don’t eat lamb or duck, so that did restrict our choice to a degree. 

DISHES ORDERED WITH * RATING

STARTERS:      
Scottish Salmon Tikka [marinated with dill leaves & roasted gram flour] ****

Onion Bhaji ****

Achari  Paneer Tikka [low-fat cheese on a bed of sautéed red cabbage] ****

MAINS:           
Chicken Makhani [in a creamy tomato sauce] **

Baigan Aur Mirch Ka Salan [spicy baby aubergine in coconut & sesame sauce] ***

SIDES:                
Sweet Potato & Butternut Squash [in coconut milk with curry leaves] ***

Dal Panchamitra [5 types of lentils cooked in garlic and turmeric] ****

Pilao rice and plain naan 

We ordered at 7:25pm, and were promised a 30-minute delivery. The food arrived 5 minutes early, which, for a Friday evening, is pretty good going. 

Overall, we thought the food was very good, with a refreshing lack of both salt and fat: in fact, the only dish that showed obvious signs of oiliness was the Baigan Aur Mirch Ka Salan, and it was well below what we’ve experienced elsewhere.

The salads, which accompanied the two tikkas were, unlike most that we’ve had from Eastern restaurants in the past, really good. The complimentary poppadums were excellent. Great flavour: mango chutney and raita were also excellent, though the third sauce they included (for the salmon?) was rather ordinary and too sweet.

INDIVIDUAL DISHES : All the starters were very enjoyable. The salmon was tender and the flavour not overpowered by the marinade; the onion bhajis were crisp, dry and not at all oily; best of all was the paneer, subtle spices, lovely red cabbage - a winner.

The Chicken Makhani was OK. The meat was tender and perfectly cooked, but the sauce was bland, a bit too much like cream of tomato soup; though, to be fair, the left-over portion tasted much better the next day.

The Baigan was very good, but extremely hot and it was hard to tell the chilis from the baby aubergines in the thick sauce, with predictable results. That said, the flavour was excellent and the consistency of the baigan good. A little less chilli would have made this more enjoyable, though.

The Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash was creamy and tasty, and the Dal  a real treat, spicy and thick. The pilao rice was flaky and cooked just right, whilst the naan was soft and  - which was a plus – it stayed that way, even after it had been given a quick heat-up in the oven.

In summary, we enjoyed this meal. The style of cooking is individual, quite different from the average restaurant of this type, and there’s genuine flair in the choice of spices for dishes like the paneer, dal and salmon.  We shall be trying them again.

Max Easterman

May 20, 2010