MASUM'S (Take-Away), 196 Rochester Road, Gravesend

September 2001 saw yet another addition to the burgeoning Indian restaurants in town with this opening. Interestingly it occupies the same premises as an already established baker's shop (The Lion Bakery) and I was told that the bakery operates during the day whilst the Indian meals are prepared and served during the evening. The take-away had its own separate counter and kitchens behind, so they appear to operate quite independently, although I was told that the bakery now belongs to the take-away owners. They make strange bedfellows, but no reason why it should not work, particularly as it is owned by the same family group who own the Gandhi and Cafe Taj, two of the best restaurants in town (although I do wonder how long the bakery side will last).

The menu offers all the usuals plus a number of different dishes amongst the specials. It also offers a good selection of vegetable main dishes - something that the other two restaurants in the group do well. However, I have stuck to my favourites on the occasions I have used it, mainly to compare with other take-aways in the area. I compared reasonably well and after it opened I used it fairly regularly. On those occasions the Chicken Tikka Pathia was always tasty, fairly hot with a nice sweet/sour flavour, while the Ginger Murgh had plenty of sliced fresh ginger cooked into it. Mixed Vegetable was always fairly standard, and Tarka Dall good, although Sabzi Tarka Dall (a main dish) made a very nice alternative. Sabzi Dhansak (again a main dish) was delicious. A good Vegetable Pillau to accompany it made a good change from ordinary Pillau Rice, and all in all it always provided a good formula curry.

In 2004 they started to take much longer to deliver than most others for some reason - I don't know why as it wasn't substantially better than the competition and they couldn't be that busy. It reached the stage when they were quoting an hour and a half to an hour and three quarters for delivery (it was so long that I became suspicious that they didn't actually want the business), so for this reason I stopped going. There were plenty of alternative sources for a good take-away curry to be delivered more promptly.

After a break of over 2 years I tried again and was quoted a more standard 40 minutes for delivery, which they adhered to on the dot. The food was as I remembered - a good formula curry - so it will return to my list of take-away sources, although in the intervening period the competition has greatly widened and improved with most restaurants now offering a take-away service, so I won't be using them as regularly as before.

Malcolm Wilkins - June 2007