SILKA, CANTERBURY ROAD, CHARING

Situated in the country on the A252 Charing to Canterbury road about 2 miles from the village of Charing, this restaurant opened 'about 6 months ago' (which would make it early 2007) in what was a former country club. Standing back from the road in extensive grounds it has a sizeable car park, which it needs given its location.

It is a commodious restaurant, with a spacious (if austere) reception/bar area and seating for 150 beyond in contemporary style. Its presentation is certainly different, if possibly giving the impression of pretentiousness, advertising itself as offering 'a contemporary angle on Indian dining' , and 'having an emphasis on healthy eating inspired by the Ayuredic (sic!) tradition - a holistic concept'. The menu has sections headed 'Ayurverdic (sic!) Platters'; 'Degustation Platters', and 'Adventurous Show Bites' (whatever that means) as well as 'Silka's Own Selection', and 'House Specials' (and, of course, most of the usual dishes under their appropriate headings). These grandiloquent headings found on some menus are usually there to impress (and I suppose sometimes they might do) but usually only serve to confuse. For example, why are some dishes listed under 'Adventurous Show Bites' and not others? - what does it mean?; what's the difference between ' Silka's Own Selection' and 'House Specials'; why do some dishes merit the label 'degustation' and not others?: and  why do some menus (not this one) have certain dishes under 'Gourmet's Choice' and others under Connoisseur's Choice' - what's the difference?, and so on. I am rarely impressed by such showiness, finding it generally to be pure unwarranted hype, and this case wasn't helped by the restaurant advertising itself as offering food in the Ayurvedic tradition yet spelling it three different ways on their menu, two of which were incorrect. If you can't spell what you sell, then it's not a good start.

Having said that however, the restaurant does present an interesting angle on Indian food, and the menu offers many different dishes as well as the usual favourites. Furthermore, as the Ayurvedic concept is from Hinduism ( and therefore Indian) I was gratified to learn that the chef is Indian, which gives some authenticy to their claims.

The menu was tempting, offering such things as stir-fried baby squid, lemon sole wrapped in banana leaf, and cashew nut roll amongst the starters, with apricot lamb curry, Kerala fish curry and chicken chilli fry just three of the different main courses. Sod's Law dictated that my wife was not hungry on the evening we were in Charing, so I was unable to sample as much as I would have liked. However, most of what I did have was good. Particularly to my taste - in fact it was superb - was the Chicken Chilli Fry, which was a good authentic Indian dish of sliced chicken fried with green chillies and onions and pungently spiced. Absolutely delicious (if you like decently robust curries). The vegetable side orders are curiously listed under their English names rather than the more usual Indian spellings (for example, Potato & Cauliflower rather than Aloo Gobi, Yellow Lentils rather than Dal or Dhal, Chick Peas rather than Chana and so on). Anyway, the Potato with Cauliflower was Aloo Gobi as we know it, but very much better than most, again being well spiced. The one disappointment was the 'Seasonal Vegetables', which I was told was a dry dish but different from a Mixed Vegetable Bhaji ('very different and very nice' according to the waiter). Well it was different. All it consisted of was thinly cut French beans cooked with fresh coriander and a little thinly sliced onion. There was a faint tang of something sweet, but too small to detect what it was. It hardly merited the plural of 'vegetables' in its description.  It was delicately spiced - almost too delicate given the robustness of the other dishes, and the portion was very small (my wife accurately described it as "two tablespoons full"). However, notwithstanding this I found it to be an excellent meal overall, and certainly different from the everyday high street curryhouse fare, which must be a good thing.

I enquired whether they were linked to any other restaurants, and the manager told me that they weren't. However, it seemed an ambitious project for 'first timers' so on returning to my 'curry office' and doing a little research I find that they not only share the same name as the Silka restaurant in Southwark Street, SE1, but also have a virtually identical menu. Why they were reluctant to admit this link I don't know (I've never been to the one in Southwark Street, but it can't be that bad as to deny all connection!). Also, the manager was very familiar with most of the restaurants in Gravesend, which I happen to know well, so what the link is there I don't know.

All in all a very welcome addition to the Indian restaurant scene in Kent, and I will certainly go again, even if I don't have Seasonal Vegetables. I just hope my wife is hungrier next time so that we can have a wider sample.

Malcolm Wilkins - August 2007