PRINCE OF INDIA, ST MERRYN HOLIDAY VILLAGE, ST MERRYN

Another new addition to the Cornish curry scene, opening in the summer of 2006. It is situated in the surprising location of a (predominantly) holiday village about a mile outside the village of St. Merryn in North Cornwall. It is off the road (more of a lane really), so although its lighted sign is visible from the road, it’s not likely to attract any casual or passing trade.

It is operated by the same people who run the Bash Baigan in Wadebridge (and the even more recently opened Indian restaurant in St. Columb). Although decorated in modern style of wooden flooring, it is not what I would describe as a cosy or enticing restaurant. It is in a large new building complex (which also houses a new Chinese restaurant), and the dining area is like a large hall with tables in long regimented lines. It looks a bit like a posh canteen. The waiter told me it seats 85, although the menu states that there is seating capacity for 192, which is probably nearer the mark. Whatever way, it can hold a lot - but not when I visited. On a (midweek) evening in season (first week of September), when the weather was good and holidaymakers seemingly plentiful, only two other tables were taken (both holidaymakers it seemed), giving a cold and cheerless ambience. 

The menu offers all the usual suspects, and at least the food was more warming than the atmosphere. Tandoori Chicken was the best, being plump, succulent pieces of very well marinated (Cornish?) chicken with a good flavour, while the Chicken Tikka Pathia was also of reasonable standard, although nothing outstanding . The vegetable dishes were not so good – all a bit soggy and lacking any definitive vegetable pieces or taste, with the Vegetable Bhaji and Aloo Gobi tasting virtually identical.

Portions and prices about average, and while the service was efficient in conveying food from the kitchen to the table, it was not particularly friendly or welcoming (or otherwise. Indifferent would best describe it, which surprised me in a place that needs to sell itself to customers in order to attract repeat business).

All in all a fair to average meal - the main dishes being better than vegetable ones – but not a place I would go out of my way to visit again. I am left wondering whether a restaurant of such size (and presumably overheads) will last where it is. I did speculate whether it was only opening on a seasonal basis given the location, but the waiter assured me it was an all-year-round enterprise. “Will you get sufficient business all year round?” I asked the waiter. “I think so – I dunno,” was his succinct if honest reply. Well, I don’t know either. It’s undoubtedly handy for people staying at the holiday village (which does, I believe operate all year round) and local villagers. It may also be handy for people in Padstow, which is only a few miles away and probably the only principal holiday centre in Cornwall that remains without an Indian restaurant (and likely to stay that way unless something like The Hindu-Stein opens!) But whether there is sufficient trade for 12 months of business, given the paucity on the night I visited, only time will tell (although I noted it was still there a year later in 2007).

Malcolm Wilkins – September 2006