Last updated at 13:31, Friday, 01 July 2011

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REVIEW: Taste of Balti, Ulverston.

ICE cold beer, (glass of rose for the wife). Check. Kids in bed – and asleep. Check.

House tidy. Check(ish), but you can’t have everything, so it was surrounded by a smattering of kids’ toys, shoes and unpacked boxes from our recent move – plus the didgeridoo I insisted on bringing back from a holiday in Australia – that we sat down to enjoy a takeaway from one of our local curry houses.

Taste of Balti, in Ulverston, is actually a restaurant, but caters for stay-at-home curry lovers with a takeaway service that runs at a 20 per cent discount on eat-in prices.

First things first, then, the price for our taste of the sub-continent was cheap, coming in at just over £20 for the two of us.

The ordering process was simple enough; I sauntered into the restaurant in Market Street (it is possible to order over the phone) to be met by a genial, uber-efficient chap who took down my order and said it would be ready in 15 minutes.

Excellent – that meant time for a sneaky pint (I would only have been waiting around love, honest) before returning on cue to pick up my freshly cooked fayre.

It was steaming hot and the poppadums (48p each) were as crisp as hotel linen. Shame only two of the four we ordered were intact by the time I got home, but no worry.

While my wife tucked into her share, which were enhanced by mango and onion chutneys (48p each), I gorged on the generous portion of onion bhajis (£2) which were crisp, mildly spiced and served with the obligatory takeaway salad in polystyrene tray (does anybody ever eat the stuff?).

The pangs of hunger suppressed after a long Friday, it was time to prepare for the main event.

My wife’s Chicken Saag (£4.76) hit the spot, with hearty chunks of chicken served in a mildly-spiced spinach based sauce.

As something of a saag connoisseur, she can be a tricky customer to please, but this dish got the thumbs up as a solid effort.

The chicken tikka dupiaza (£6.36) that had tickled my fancy was sadly not quite as satisfying.

Yes, a dupiaza is all about the onions – but it should not be just about the onions and I found myself sifting through them to dig out the pieces of chicken buried beneath, while there was a lack of sauce to finish things off.

Notwithstanding these disappointing elements, however, it was a tasty dish, which must count for a fair deal.

Both our curries were accompanied by pilau rice (£1.56 a portion) not much to say here, rice is rice, and a peshwari nan (£1.80) which was done to perfection; sweet and coconutty inside, cooked just right outside and perfect for mopping up any last bits of sauce – from the saag, at least.

Our meal was enjoyable and for it to be cooked fresh within 15 minutes was impressive.

Onion issue aside, Taste of Balti put on a tasty, good value meal (total price £21.16) and is well worth a visit.

VERDICT: out of five

Atmosphere - n/a

Food - 3.5

Service - 4

Value for Money - 4

JAMES HIGGINS

First published at 13:01, Friday, 01 July 2011
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk