Paradise Balti welcomed us warmly (both ourselves and our taste buds) for our 2009 kick-off meeting. Fourteen members attended - a good turn-out, and in fact a majority of these had been at the Petersfield Rugby Club's annual Vice Presidents' lunch on the preceding Saturday. This may be evidence that Curry Club members have outstanding stamina, or at least great powers of recovery, or just can't be kept away from good food and drink!

The food, chosen by the restaurant, was a great selection of tasty choices. Starters included chicken and lamb tikka, and prawn butterfly. Mains included a beautifully-flavoured but not scorching hot chicken vindaloo, lamb padina, mixed korai, chicken balti, gamchi (can't read my own writing - garlic chilli?) chicken, prawn dhansak, lamb tikka dupiaza, and a sizzling and delicious chicken tikka straight from the tandoor. The restaurant chose well and it was a good decision to offer just eight - if I counted correctly - varieties of main dish, compared to about 16 last time. Much easier to compare and contrast the tastes.

So we enjoyed a convivial evening, and decided that in February we will venture out of Petersfield. Shahanaz in Haslemere has an excellent reputation and is due for a visit, as we didn't make it there in 2008. Please note that this is a change from the previously-announced plan to go to Madhuban.

September 2008 Sorry no report

We visited Paradise Balti in Petersfield on Wednesday 12th December to round off 2007 with an excellent turnout of 18, our top attendance this year. 

Starters included chicken tikka, onion bhaji and spring rolls (had these drifted in from the Chinese takeaway just up the road)?

Main courses included chicken balti, a fish curry, prawn korai, garlic chilli chicken, chicken vindaloo and chicken jalfrezi, with a fair selection of side dishes including tarka dhal and some good naans.  There may have been a lamb curry too but if so I missed out. 

In summary, there was probably a little too much focus on chicken but this was decent food - this is not fine dining in the Gurkha Durbar or Sha Pla mould - but very acceptable. 

There are some photos from this meeting in the Gallery.  We somehow never remember to take a picture while the table is tidy before the food arrives.

Will writes...

Ah the much maligned Paradise.  Loved by some, viewed suspiciously, even despised by others.  Mother looked down her nose at me when I let slip I'd lunched there…in glorious isolation yes and not once but twice!!  ‘Oh mother’ I pleaded, ‘The Paradise is no opium den’, though the peace and calm that descends when inside the PLACE, stepping in from busy, dizzy Lavant Street may feel poppy induced.  

SERVICE sooths, PRICES don't quicken the pulse.  Waiters melt out of the walls, take your order, melt away again into the carpet.  The kitchen cooks meat tenderly and is capable of a classic curry house Rogan Gosht garnished with onion tarka… alas they also turn out a classic curry house Bindi bhaji, delicate ladies fingers battered and sticky, squeezed in the greasy hinges of a car door.  Having sampled this dish on my first visit, jeopardising my inheritance in the process, I smiled a wryly when it arrived as a complimentary side dish last Wednesday evening.  Meanwhile, the vegetable ordered, Aloo Niramish, finely sliced potato with bay leaf tasted entirely of ground coriander.  Ha Ha!  I could laugh, a starter of Chana Puree had been fine and as always the chicken tikka in my Podina Murgh was juicy, just as well as I'd no extra for liquid refreshment.

In SUMMARY eat the meat, don't go for the greens, visit the restaurant Wednesday too. With itinerant curry fans attracted to the Spice Lounge banquet night, the guarantee of a quiet night out (they do exist you see) awaits.  Regulars all seem to prefer a quiet night in with take-away, avoiding complimentary vegetables I presume.

(November 2006)

Jan 2009

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Trains to Petersfield