Opened in August 2004, this take-away has taken over from the Curry Express, which occupied the premises since about 1997 (and before that it was Simla). The new take-away is under different ownership (the Curry Express was owned by the same people who run the Meopham Tandoori and India Palace in the nearby village of Meopham) and not linked to any other restaurant. I found this rather surprising, as their menu uses precisely the same wording and description of dishes (with numerous spelling mistakes, though) that is found on the restaurants run by those connected to The Gandhi, but I was assured there was no connection. Perhaps they just copied it! 

The waiting area has been smartened up, with light-coloured wooden flooring and light-coloured arm chairs (how long will they stay that way, I wonder?), and I was hoping the food was to the same standard as the former Curry Express, as apart from an occasional glitch, it was usually good.

When I visited shortly after they opened I was reassured. I tried Chicken Tikka Pathia, Chicken Tikka Dhansak and Ginger Murgh as main dishes and they were all good and well spiced, although very oily. Vegetables also been good - Tarka Dall very well spiced and the right consistency, Aloo Gobi and Mixed vegetable Bhaji nicely cooked without being over-done. However, over the months the food became more 'standard, and even downright poor. I suspect the chef in the early days was brought in for the opening, and now they are established has moved on.. 

I also question their reliability as in the spring of 2005 I ordered a take-away  to be told it would take 40 minutes. Aften an hour I rang to check and they said 'it's on it's way'. Fifteen minutes later I rang again (as it clearly hadn't been on it's way), to be told it would be there in a couple of minutes.  Another fifteen minutes it hadn't arrived, so I rang to cancel it. I reported at the time that if they can't get their act together on delivery times, then it will fall from my list. However, after not using it for three months - an age for me as I used to have at least one a week from this one - I relented and ordered another. This time it was delivered on time, but it was dreadful! Once again the Bayleaf was placed to the bottom of my list. After a year I relented again, but although not 'dreadful' the curry really wasn't very good.

Malcolm Wilkins - September 2006