Yet another lazy Sunday, but something was missing: FOOD!!!
I remembered one of my clients from work had said that the Basmati had some good reviews online and on Sundays it had a curry buffet for £7.99 per person. Great, so we popped into town to try it out.
When we arrived it kind of looked closed, but it was just extremely dark and extremely empty as well. However, we thought we would give it a go and went in.
The staff seemed nice enough at first; they sat us down and pulled the table out for us, yet for some reason they decided that we definitely wanted to sit on the same side of the table(??). But okay, not the end of the world.
Now, I'm going to be honest, the restaurant is a bit of a disgrace. The decor is cheap and tacky, the restaurant is tiny and badly set out - they used some extra chairs as the buffet table and just plonked the dishes on top of them. The restaurant was absolutely deserted.
We started off with ordering some poppadoms and a couple of drinks, and the drinks were slightly on the pricey side. The poppadoms were all right, not the best but okay. They were nice and crispy and the dips were nice enough.
Obviously they did not have enough room in the kitchens for some of their equipment so it was in the corner at the end of the restaurant, which personally I find pretty un-hygienic - having worked in the catering industry, I know that this should not be! It is not like they were even hidden because the restaurant is just one room altogether.
Also, another point I would like to make is that in between the poppadoms and waiting for the buffet to be put out, the kitchen had three or four chefs in it for some reason and they were walking in and out, through the restaurant and out through an open door where the bins etc were. Yet again, not very hygienic. After 15/20 mins of waiting around they finished setting up the buffet, which was, well, just small!! The food itself was okay, the usual: naan, onion bhajis, vegetable samosas, and three or four curry dishes. I have had a lot better in a lot of other places.
Don't get me wrong, it was okay, but personally, it was MEH! During our meal, what with the chefs running in and out the kitchen, and the two waiters that were there, standing opposite our table, leaning against the bar just talking loudly in Indian, I have to say it was extremely awkward. The atmosphere did not allow you to even try to enjoy your meal, and when we went up to serve ourselves from the buffet one of the waiters went behind us, stared at us and placed the spoons we had just used back into the curries and glared at us if we did not do it properly. By the end of our meal we decided enough was enough. We did not bother with dessert or coffee, paid our "not so cheap anymore" bill, and left. Would we go back?? Definitely not. It's perhaps worth a go, maybe at a busier time when the atmosphere may become more relaxed, but I cannot recommend this restaurant I'm afraid. read more
