Tag: curry

Chicken Phal – in a supermarket near you…

Getting your large supermarket shop delivered is a double-edged sword.

You don’t have to go to the supermarket, which is a plus point. I also think it means I save money, even after including the delivery charge, as I’m not having to pay for petrol and I don’t make impulse buys.

But, you do miss gems such as this…

Sainsbury’s did some relaunching of their curry ready meal range since I last actually browsed around one of their shops. They haven’t significantly changed things – the quality is still the same, they make one of the best supermarket curry ranges, I think.

They have repackaged things and added a few new dishes… including a Chicken Phal!

For the uninitiated, a phal is a notch up from a vindaloo on the strength-o-meter, a scorching hot curry allegedly invented by British curry chefs to satisfy the macho desires of pissed up lads who enjoy eating their curry while bathed in sweat, crying.

For those of you who don’t believe me, here it is…

This probably has to go down as the hottest supermarket ready meal available. I wonder how it’s selling?

A table for 25? Not currying any favour with me…

Many of you will know that I’m involved in organising the UKNOF meetings.

Some of you will know that I don’t understand this obsession that many UKNOF attendees have with going en-masse for a curry (usually with someone’s employer picking up the tab) the evening beforehand.

What is the attraction, apart from maybe not having to pay for it yourself, of sitting at a big long table, when all it achieves is you having to yell at the person next to you in order to have a conversation while receiving iffy service of usually disappointing (sometimes downright poor) food?

It’s no good for mixing and networking, one of the attractions of going for dinner with industry colleagues, as you can only bellow your conversation at your immediate neighbours, either because everyone else is pissed and shouting, or just to make yourself heard over the loud sitar music.

Sitting in tables of 6-8 would help a lot with conversation, and probably improve service as well!

It’s also not a good dining experience. The most recent curry being a particular lowlight, when a) I hardly ate any of what I ordered because it was so unpleasant (and it wasn’t as though I’d ordered a phall!), and b) I was later unwell in the middle of the night. I should have seen the warning signs when they handed us each a sticky, laminated menu card, I guess.

While I don’t think of myself as entirely Grumpy Old Man as yet, I still don’t really see the attraction…

I also can’t talk about drunken behaviour in curry houses without a link to Rowan Atkinson’s Indian Restaurant sketch… It is a tricky bit of floor. Deceptively flat…