Will writes...

Aubergine, Southsea (March 2007)

WARNING! this report contains several exclamation marks and is mildly sensationalist!!

This week I let my instincts guide me to Aubergine Indian restaurant on Albert Road, Southsea.  The PLACE has opened in the last 4 months and looks new from the street, arctic white, creaseless table cloths, immaculately folded napkins, red roses, purple cream wallpaper, high back leather chairs, bla bla bla.  Shame some oik has already cracked the crystal clear window.  Another responsible for helping these guys write their menu, or not helping.

PRICES are very fair but when reading a la carte, one is faintly alarmed at what appears to be on offer.  Examples? The Luck Now Ke Keek Kebab, ‘Minced of Lamb with chefs Spiced on coriander, cheese, moulded on to skewers (wince) and oh! to learn of the carnal delight involving ‘fresh bottom mushrooms’!  Maybe the menu was written by a pigeon.  The potato and cauliflower in Aloo Gobi are ‘cooed’ with onion, garlic, ginger, tomato and coriander.  Some times I am adventurous, my companion, Mikey is an adventurer - off to the Dominican Republic next week (?) - so in we went. 

Greeted with beaming smiles, the 2 waiters were genuinely warm souls, proud and happy happy to have customers.  So I say SERVICE was lovely.

After settling in Poppadoms and dips didn't really hint at what was to come, except perhaps a market fresh onion salad.  And what was to follow!

Immediately superb Chicken Tikka.  4 golden brown encrusted morsels of perfectly textured poultry, beautifully arranged around a crisp bouncy nest of shredded lettuce and raw cabbage with overlapping swirls of what may have been coriander and onion chutneys.  A prawn puree tasted as good as it looked in a fat cigar wrap with a richness of flavour to lend the bhuna prawns a new depth. 2 standard starters rendered quite special.  

Expectations rising main courses were next and didn’t let slip.  In polished copper pots shaped like minarets Goan Machli and Sylheti Gosht.  Large chunks of outstandingly cute tasting Telapia fillet in Mikey's coconut infused concoction surprised and delighted in equal measure. How a curry can come over hot and mild simultaneously I don’t know but this one did.

Meanwhile on my side of the table the aromas enthusing from my lamb dish for once tasted as nose suggested, spices tantalized the roof of my mouth. 

Pilau rice was first rate, moist, flavourful, threaded with saffron and onion.  On the side but by no means in the shade Tarka Dal a warm marriage of yellow lentils, garlic and cherry tomato. Paneer Kadhai, ripe cubelets of cottage cheese bathing luxuriantly alongside small, sweet hunks of green pepper in a rich silken amber gravy.  Yes the FOOD was better than any place on Albert Road, south of the downs, hey anywhere round here.  I'm serious too.  It would've been appreciated by anyone, everyone.  The house white however more of a girl thing. Sweet, honeyed nectar, desert wine.  And there! I almost forgot! One is given a complimentary rice pudding square to round off the meal.  Willy Wonka eat your heart out! This last surprise - instead of same old chocolate mints - light and foamy, a great palette cleanser whether prepared by the pastry chef or plucked from the fridge.

In SUMMARY I really want to go back but having built Aubergine up so much in the corridors of my mind I’m worried another visit might yield say one let down, leaving me lost, unhinged…No, I will enter through the doors of the restaurant again because I really think the team deserve success, it's early days yet, to become established take time.  Go, enjoy and spread the word.

PS Any favours from publishers welcome (the menu!)

…ON RETURNING… (04/07)

With pocket dynamo Steve in luxurious spring sunshine, salt on our lips, smiles splashed with rum (aperitifs at The One Eyed Dog).  Complimentary poppadoms followed by an elaborate mound of chicken chat.  Light, tangy, topped with salad leaves, cucumber strips, beetroot shavings adding a sweet dimension every other mouthful.  For main course there was Rogan Gosht. 

Well stewed mutton though gravy similar to aforementioned Sylheti Gosht. 

Excellent Channa Pindi, chic peas in smooth Madras strength sauce giving a gorgeous earthy Bombay mix flavour, both accompanied by attractive pilau rice.  Aubergine is a discovery I’m quietly pleased at having made, hope it has more success than the Ramsay version.  Btw Tupac is a second Jesus!