RED LION TANDOORI, RED LION PUB, 44 FORE STREET, ST. COLUMB

NB. This restaurant is now closed, and apparently ceased trading not too long after my visit. However, I have retained the report as the closure of the restaurant seems to bear out the scathing nature of my report. I'm not in the least surprised it didn't last!!

Malcolm Wilkins - September 2008

This restaurant opened in September 2006 and is run by the same people that operate the Bash Baigan in Wadebridge, and the more recently opened Prince of India in St. Merryn, near Padstow.

It seats about 36 and is situated in the former lounge bar of the Red Lion pub in the centre of St Columb (potentially an improvement to the pub, as the lounge bar was never used), but unless you know it’s there it’s not easy to spot being in the pub, as it does not have a separate sign.

I was not expecting too much when we visited, as the other restaurants in the group, while acceptable, have not provided much incentive to return. My concerns were heightened as, when ordering, I asked the waiter the different between Vegetable Bhaji and Niramish. “Nothing – just the name” was his commendably honest but less than inspiring reply.

Well, let me get to the point early on. This was one of the worst, if not the worst, Indian meals I can remember. Not only were the dishes lifeless with little definitive flavouring, but also all the dishes were simply swimming in oil. Even when the oil was spooned from the top they remained an unappetising oily sludge. The obvious exception was the Tandoori Chicken, but this was dry, poorly flavoured and small in size, (which was a disappointment as I recall that the Tandoori Chicken dish was the best of a relatively poor bunch at the sister restaurant in St. Merryn the previous year).

The Chicken Tikka Pathia comprised six small pieces of chicken nestling in a brown, oily sauce that invites misrepresentation under the Trades Description Act given the menu description of  ‘fairly hot, sweet & sour…and well spiced’. The Dall Samba (main dish) had no lentils that were discernible, and was simply an oily mishmash of vegetables. The Niramish was equally poor, being a bowl of similarly porridge-like oily vegetables. Neither dish was particularly spicy, and both had a peculiar taste of over-cooked cabbage. If I had to say something was acceptable, then I suppose the rice was about average.

Having lambasted the food, I am afraid I can’t balance that by saying it was cheap or generously portioned. On the face of it the prices were about average, but the difference between Chicken Pathia and Chicken Tikka Pathia (which was not on the menu but they did it for me) was an extravagant £3.20p! Now most restaurants I visit - and I visit a lot - charge about £1 extra for chicken tikka rather than plain chicken, and since returning home I’ve reviewed a sample of some twenty of my menus to check my facts. I found that the additional charge for tikka varied between 45p (the cheapest, although a few charged only 50p) and £1.50 (only one at £1.50, and that a much better class of restaurant than this), with most charging about £1 extra. When I queried it the manager told me that it was expensive to ‘tikka’ the chicken! Well, it certainly was expensive, and even more so when you consider that there were only six pieces of chicken in the dish. Outrageous!

The portions were small (perhaps fortunately, as it meant less waste than there was!), but at least the service was efficient (although not particularly friendly, particularly after I had queried the £3.20 extra for the chicken being tikka).

Well, what more can I say? It’s experiences like this that make me seriously question why I bother to pay good money for such rubbish rather than have a steak and kidney pie at the local pub. And as my long-suffering wife - who enjoys a good curry but doesn’t quite understand my drive and perseverance in visiting new and potentially dodgy Indian restaurants for the purposes of experimentation and providing a report – inevitably has to join me in my culinary investigations, it doesn’t provide for harmonious post-meal ambience. Still, at least she can be assured that we won’t be visiting this one again.

Malcolm Wilkins - September 2007