Filling... But not full of Eastern promise

Nov 17 2011 Ladies Who Lunch

THIS week the Ladies pay a visit to the East India Company restaurant in Wellgate, Lanark.

WE had other business to attend to in Lanark so opted for lunch in this Indian restaurant with a good local reputation and some equally good reviews on Trip Advisor.

The name suggests something rather grand but the location certainly isn't – a narrow, one-way street through which a constant stream of traffic passes, throwing up grime that spatters the windows of most of the premises separated from the road by only a narrow pavement.

Inside, the decoration seemed rather dark and tired, the atmosphere not improved by the total absence of customers – for once some suitable background music would have been welcome.

Never mind, the menu offered a wide variety of traditional Indian dishes and at £5.95 for three courses was certainly going to be kind on our pockets.

There were several starters to choose from including mulligatawny soup, kachori garlic dahl and aubergine pakodi. Two of us ordered the little aubergine patties which came with a coconut sauce and small salad garnish and thoroughly enjoyed them. The garlic dahl on a small pakora was also well received but the rather substantial soup which had a thick, grainy consistency was considered to be over sweet for that particular Lady's palate.

Several different kinds of rice and plain or garlic naan bread were offered to accompany main courses of a range of curries. We agreed upon three portions of rice and a garlic naan to share and the quantities were certainly enough for our lunchtime appetites though we would have wished for a more obvious garlic presence to the naan.

We took our time choosing our curries but that did not pose a problem given that we were the restaurant's only customers. Indeed our waiter helpfully described each dish, listing mouth- watering combinations of spices, and also stated that almost any selection could be made to our individual requirements: mild, medium or hot.

However, when they arrived and we offered each other little tastes we found the differences between three of the curries, disappointingly, much too subtle for us to detect. The chicken korma alone was significantly different from the rest, being mild, sweet and creamy which suited the Lady – whose choice it was – very well. Not so the lamb rogan josh. The josh term

refers to red or passion and this rich red colour was singularly absent from our rogan josh.

Had the kitchen run out of chillies and tomatoes? Or was this some other less colourful recipe unknown to us? To be fair, the lamb itself was tender even if the sauce was unexciting. The chicken dopiaza was much milder than had been requested but this complaint was addressed without fuss when brought to the waiter's attention and the dish was returned with a more acceptable level of heat and a fresh portion of rice.

Methi is sometimes described as a spice derived from the seeds of the same plant whose leaves provide the herb fenugreek or even as simply Urdu for fenugreek. Lady number three who chose methi chicken had hoped for a fenugreek flavour but was disappointed not to be able to detect this even though the curry itself was pleasant enough.

On the plus side, everyone agreed that although portion sizes were not large, as part of a three-course menu they were quite sufficient.

A bottle of Fitou (a red wine from France) was ordered but much of it remained undrunk. On first taste it had seemed okay but even at only £12.95 a bottle we preferred the iced tap water brought on request. The Kingfisher beer, however, was appreciated!

The fixed price lunch menu desserts offered were just ice-cream or ice-cream as our waiter, almost sadly, informed us before helpfully managing to come up with kulfi, a Indian ice-cream with a dense texture, which proved a pleasant, refreshing end to the meal. The only coffee available was instant so we decided to go without.

Our opinions of our lunch at The East India Company were mixed. One Lady enjoyed everything except the wine but the rest felt a bit let down having expected more enticingly aromatic dishes. For only £5.95 ( what else can you get for that?) the restaurant provided a reasonable lunch - but not exactly full of the Eastern promise we'd hoped for!

Our scores: Location 6.5. Menu/Food 6.5. Value for Money 6.5. Ambience 6. Service 7.5. Total: 33/50.

Today's tip - For us this was more filling than thrilling.