Apart from a couple of restaurants in Lower Bridge Street, and a relatively new one tucked away in Pepper Street, the main centre of Chester seemed to be distinctly lacking in Indian restaurants. Perhaps not surprising given the large amount of historic Tudor buildings and up market shops where planning permission may be a difficulty.

Those in Lower Bridge Street first caught my eye as there appeared to be three next to each other. On closer inspection one - Shangri La at number 23 - was well and truly closed.

Next door at 21 is the Balti House which can be seen above the more mundanely named "Dave’s Chippy". Prospective diners have to go through the small fish and chip shop to gain entry via stairs at the back, and both establishments are run by the same people. If it is the size of the fish and chip premises then it must be fairly small. I also imagine that the ‘chippy’ (which appeared to be run and staffed by English people - one Asian face amongst five), operating directly under the open stairway would make it highly likely that the smells of fish and chips would waft up the stairs to the Balti House. I decided to give it a miss.

Next door at number 17-19 is Chutney Blu, which was open at lunch time which enabled me to make enquiries. I spoke to the joint owner, a friendly but extremely talkative French colonial gentlemen (I would guess from either Mauritius or Reunion judging by appearance and some of the dishes on the menu). He was extremely accommodating to my enquiries, doing a very good salesman’s job on his new restaurant. He said they have only been open 4 weeks and the owners were attempting to introduce a slightly different and up market style of restaurant. He willingly showed me round. I didn’t eat there but a superficial report is given below.

The other Indian restaurant we found near the centre, tucked away in Pepper Street, was the Shere Khan, one of the chain that operates in the Manchester area - notably the one in Rusholm. This is one of the new ideas of Indian restaurants being modern, large and run on the design of fast food restaurants so we opted for this for a change. A full report is given below.

The Bombay at the end of Upper Northgate Street near the ring road but had also closed. Another one bites the dust.

The main area for Indian restaurants in Chester is in City Road and Brook Road, two streets which are near the station but just that little bit too far from the centre for a comfortable stroll. City road has two - Al-Quraish and Gate of India which are bang opposite each other. The nearby Brook Road contains Taste of India, The Spice Balti, and The Chester Tandoori as well as Ahmed’s Take Away. All looked traditional Indian restaurants with standard menus. !

Chester is a big city and there are bound to be some that I have missed. For example, I believe there are a couple in Foregate Street which I didn’t visit. There are are clearly many more on the fringes of town, such as the cosy looking Hoole Tandoori Take Away tucked away in the small Charles Street just off the Hoole Road with it’s lines of Hotels and Bed and Breakfast establishments (ideal if you can sneak a take away into your room), and those already mentioned in Foregate Street. However, hopefully this overview will give a picture for visiting curryholics.

Malcolm Wilkins - April 2001