The dreaded droop

Back on track with the food challenge, Kieran and I lunched at one of the many Indian restaurants in our neighbourhood. I've eaten at this place many times over the years and had been meaning to try one of their specialties, channa bhatura - chick pea curry with crispy, puffed fried bread.

Here's how it should have looked:

Here's the sad, droopy one I received:

Unsurprisingly, it had none of the crispy novelty value of a well-made example. The channa (chickpea) curry was okay, but nowhere near as good as I've had there in the past.

Rating = 4.5

Kieran had butter paneer, accompanied by a slightly puffier bhatura. The paneer sauce was disappointing - it tasted like Watties Tomato Soup. Not that I dislike Watties Tomato Soup, it's just that it has no place in an authentic Indian meal.

Rating = 5

Things didn't get any better when we tried a selection of Indian sweets: Karachi halwa (the orange stuff), batushai and gujiya. All three were very sweet, as expected, but also extremely bland, tasting of little more than slightly stale milk powder. Yuk.

Rating = 3.5

The restaurant used to be very good but I've noticed they've started cutting corners and I have been disappointed with the food I've had there lately. I think it's time to move on to somewhere else.