Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Rasa Dering Street - Nige is the Only Critic Standing it would appear!
Venue = Rasa, Dering Street
Date = Tuesday 30th January
Attendees = Nige, Dicky & Brooker D
Different day of the week, different curry venue, same start point - a handful of gentle pints in the Coach & Horses just off Berkeley Square, a pub I am finding myself rather fond of, then transfer by the miracle of taxi-cab to Dering Street just south of Oxford Street, and the delights of Rasa.
Derek had suggested this would be a good venue for a date, and while the couple who were snogging in the corner may beg to differ, I wasn't so convinced - Rasa is a pretty small place (albeit with an upstairs which was closed last night) and the tables are pretty tightly packed together. Or maybe we're just getting wider.... The core skill to take with you to Rasa is pronunciation. The menu has a wide range of exotically-named dishes with a strong emphasis on fish and vegetarian. The trick, I think, is to order quickly - a surreptitious point of the finger will tell the waiter what it is you are ordering, and your fellow diners will have no idea as to the accuracy of otherwise of your diction, and hence will be left with no choice but to admire your highly developed linguistic skills. The exception to this, however, is the stir-fried Savoy Cabbage, which needs to be pronounced "Stir-Fried Savoy Cabbage" whichever way you look at it.
Kick-off is an upgrade on the standard popadom with a selection of starters whose name eludes me (this will be a recurring theme) served with various dips and spices more eclectic than your average run-of-the-mill onion-salad-lime-pickle-mango-chutney combo. The lemon had a particularly invigorating kick to it.
Round two was a mixed bag in terms of success. The doughnut type thing was disappointing, the one that looked like a scotch egg (only without the egg and the sausagemeat) was ok, whereas the lamb puff (hasn't there been some news items about gay sheep recently?) was very tasty. For the main course, the afore-mentioned stir-fried cabbage sounded too good not to try, and the beetroot and something else was an unorthodix choice also.
Main dishes were fish (very tender and tasty), lamb (served dry, not too shabby) and byriani (didn't have much room left to tackle this one). 5 beers between the 3 of us took the total to £35 a head I'd rate this one behind Bombay Palace and Masala Zone and ahead of Clifton.
7 out of 10 overall. The staff were very pleasant and helpful. Blow-back factor, on the other hand (not literally, I hasten to add). scores a 9 - this definitely qualifies as a high-impact curry!
My turn to call the next one - we have had a bit of a charge at the central locations so it may soon be time to widen the net a little...
Fifteen more to fit in before the end of April!
Date = Tuesday 30th January
Attendees = Nige, Dicky & Brooker D
Different day of the week, different curry venue, same start point - a handful of gentle pints in the Coach & Horses just off Berkeley Square, a pub I am finding myself rather fond of, then transfer by the miracle of taxi-cab to Dering Street just south of Oxford Street, and the delights of Rasa.
Derek had suggested this would be a good venue for a date, and while the couple who were snogging in the corner may beg to differ, I wasn't so convinced - Rasa is a pretty small place (albeit with an upstairs which was closed last night) and the tables are pretty tightly packed together. Or maybe we're just getting wider.... The core skill to take with you to Rasa is pronunciation. The menu has a wide range of exotically-named dishes with a strong emphasis on fish and vegetarian. The trick, I think, is to order quickly - a surreptitious point of the finger will tell the waiter what it is you are ordering, and your fellow diners will have no idea as to the accuracy of otherwise of your diction, and hence will be left with no choice but to admire your highly developed linguistic skills. The exception to this, however, is the stir-fried Savoy Cabbage, which needs to be pronounced "Stir-Fried Savoy Cabbage" whichever way you look at it.
Kick-off is an upgrade on the standard popadom with a selection of starters whose name eludes me (this will be a recurring theme) served with various dips and spices more eclectic than your average run-of-the-mill onion-salad-lime-pickle-mango-chutney combo. The lemon had a particularly invigorating kick to it.
Round two was a mixed bag in terms of success. The doughnut type thing was disappointing, the one that looked like a scotch egg (only without the egg and the sausagemeat) was ok, whereas the lamb puff (hasn't there been some news items about gay sheep recently?) was very tasty. For the main course, the afore-mentioned stir-fried cabbage sounded too good not to try, and the beetroot and something else was an unorthodix choice also.
Main dishes were fish (very tender and tasty), lamb (served dry, not too shabby) and byriani (didn't have much room left to tackle this one). 5 beers between the 3 of us took the total to £35 a head I'd rate this one behind Bombay Palace and Masala Zone and ahead of Clifton.
7 out of 10 overall. The staff were very pleasant and helpful. Blow-back factor, on the other hand (not literally, I hasten to add). scores a 9 - this definitely qualifies as a high-impact curry!
My turn to call the next one - we have had a bit of a charge at the central locations so it may soon be time to widen the net a little...
Fifteen more to fit in before the end of April!
