The end of the year is rapidly approaching and our last gathering is in Gerrards Cross gentlemen... on the Friday 2nd December
...we are booked into The Bawarchi in GX for 8:30pm (so let's meet for a pint in The Packhorse pub,which is just around the corner... here's the post code for all your SAT NAVs : SL9 7QA)
Trip advisor has a few 'locals' review (see below) so it seems like a good little curry house...
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g499485-d2216551-Reviews-Bawarchi-Gerrards_Cross_Buckinghamshire_England.html
See you there chaps...
Sunday, November 06, 2011
The Coriander : Bourne End..could do better
We were quite excited about going to the new Coriander freshly opened in Bourne End... especially as booking online via the Curries Online service was a first for us... ominous text messages backing up the service tell you that "you do not need to confirm this booking with the restaurant?!"
We met at The Firefly pub nearby, which has had a bit of a lick of paint recently and is the better for it and enjoyed a rather good Marlow Breweries pint of IPA and then off into the cold night for a short wander to The Coriander.
With the Viceroy just 4 doors away (and a popular restaurant with the curry club - one of two we have returned to three times) so we all felt a little unfaithful popping into The Coriander...but we shouldn't have been as the Coriander got a very average vote from the members...6.85 which places this curry house in the bottom half of our league table.
It has to be said the ambiance and decor are good, the place does have a vide and they have a good location but the food was a real let down for the members with a few complaints of well presented but bland flavouring... and if you aren't a king prawn appreciator your choice gets pretty limited. The service was sadly very slow, with a very long wait for us between course but the staff were helpful and didn't miss anything from the order so a tick there.
The problem was they allowed 8 guys in late on when they were clearly very busy and they seemingly only had 2 waiters on duty for 20 tables... a tough one for them ...which showed in the service. All in all this led to a pretty slow evening.
The food... well in fairness mine personal dishes were absolutely fine but the vast consensus of members on the night was that the food was just bland and pretty ordinary. With local competition from the Last Viceroy so close that should impact them...but the place was busy.
Popular dishes were the Jhal Puri and many had the Noorjahani dishes which were very varied in flavouring... king prawn good, chicken bland. But the sundries were good, nice bhajis and lentils, but that doesn't make up for the mains being pretty lower rent dishes.
Will we be going back ... probably only after we have tried a few others. The Coriander Group has several outlets and one pretty near by in Amersham...we will try that and see if that (being a little longer established) is better...watch this space.
We met at The Firefly pub nearby, which has had a bit of a lick of paint recently and is the better for it and enjoyed a rather good Marlow Breweries pint of IPA and then off into the cold night for a short wander to The Coriander.
With the Viceroy just 4 doors away (and a popular restaurant with the curry club - one of two we have returned to three times) so we all felt a little unfaithful popping into The Coriander...but we shouldn't have been as the Coriander got a very average vote from the members...6.85 which places this curry house in the bottom half of our league table.It has to be said the ambiance and decor are good, the place does have a vide and they have a good location but the food was a real let down for the members with a few complaints of well presented but bland flavouring... and if you aren't a king prawn appreciator your choice gets pretty limited. The service was sadly very slow, with a very long wait for us between course but the staff were helpful and didn't miss anything from the order so a tick there.
The problem was they allowed 8 guys in late on when they were clearly very busy and they seemingly only had 2 waiters on duty for 20 tables... a tough one for them ...which showed in the service. All in all this led to a pretty slow evening.
The food... well in fairness mine personal dishes were absolutely fine but the vast consensus of members on the night was that the food was just bland and pretty ordinary. With local competition from the Last Viceroy so close that should impact them...but the place was busy.
Popular dishes were the Jhal Puri and many had the Noorjahani dishes which were very varied in flavouring... king prawn good, chicken bland. But the sundries were good, nice bhajis and lentils, but that doesn't make up for the mains being pretty lower rent dishes.
Will we be going back ... probably only after we have tried a few others. The Coriander Group has several outlets and one pretty near by in Amersham...we will try that and see if that (being a little longer established) is better...watch this space.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Fantasy Football - I don't know why?
Gentle Folk of the FFCC...
I don't know why I haven't thought of this before but it occurred to me this weekend that we should be participating in the Premierships Fantasy Football competition...? We can have our own league and it is v. simple to participate (if you ignorami haven't played before) and we can start even though the season proper has of course begun...
I thought I would ask you all first if you want to play in our FFCC league...? but first a few thoughts ... don't worry it doesn't cost you money and we can start from next week and run through to the end of the season. For a bit more information check out the link below..we will post results on the blog and we can of course discuss at our monthly gatherings...embarras each other with our performance and take tips from the pros who attend...now who is in?
http://fantasy.premierleague.com/
I don't know why I haven't thought of this before but it occurred to me this weekend that we should be participating in the Premierships Fantasy Football competition...? We can have our own league and it is v. simple to participate (if you ignorami haven't played before) and we can start even though the season proper has of course begun...
I thought I would ask you all first if you want to play in our FFCC league...? but first a few thoughts ... don't worry it doesn't cost you money and we can start from next week and run through to the end of the season. For a bit more information check out the link below..we will post results on the blog and we can of course discuss at our monthly gatherings...embarras each other with our performance and take tips from the pros who attend...now who is in?
http://fantasy.premierleague.com/
Monday, October 17, 2011
Our audience - Alaska & beyond
I have just finished playing with my Google Analytics on the First Friday Club blog and have some interesting news...
Firstly more people in the USA visit our little blog than in Europe, and the majority of those visitors are from - wait for it Alaska?!
Secondly the vast majority of people find us through Google but for some inexplicable reason our readers are finding us from the Job Search sites - is there a correlation I am missing between looking for a job & curries?
And finally more people come to our site from Facebook & Twitter than from Google searches...but only just. Now you can all get back on with your work... message ends!
Firstly more people in the USA visit our little blog than in Europe, and the majority of those visitors are from - wait for it Alaska?!
Secondly the vast majority of people find us through Google but for some inexplicable reason our readers are finding us from the Job Search sites - is there a correlation I am missing between looking for a job & curries?
And finally more people come to our site from Facebook & Twitter than from Google searches...but only just. Now you can all get back on with your work... message ends!
Sunday, October 09, 2011
The Ivy of Sonning
The Ivy of Sonning is a lovely place to eat... parking is however a total nightmare in Sonning so some planning ahead... but the Ivy is worth the effort.First the food... great selection, nice list of specialities and for sensible prices - overall the bill came to the clubs average for the last year £36 each so perfectly acceptable. The Ivy Special starter was a good way to kick of the meal and priced to please. The Panner Pakora were attractive sounding but pretty rubbery to the taste - avoid those! Everything else was pretty good all-round. The mains are also sensibly priced and we went for a house speciality the lamb Handi Gosht which proved a good choice and popular. The madrass at the Ivy so be wary of those spicy dishes. The secondary stuff is well prepared and seemed freshly cooked so top marks there. The tarka dall and the mushroom dishes excellent tasty additions. Overall the food was voted top marks by us - highly recommended.
The setting - the Ivy has worked hard at this and the decor and general ambiance of the place is top grade and very comfortable but the lack of space shows as although pretty well spaced out the tables in some parts of the restaurant are close together so no secret business meetings here I fear. But the head waiter/owner (who claims the name Bobby) is very amenable and looked after us well with free after dinner drinks, a friendly line in banter with us and overall (despite ignoring one member of our party!) he was efficient.
The service - very good, noticeably quick and neatly and decoratively - a nice touch which many over look for more money ... well done The Ivy. The food was hot, arrived with sensible gaps and carefully delivered... however Bobby did forget a couple of dishes, and was keen to get with everyone but could perhaps have spent a little more time on getting the order spot on... if cost him in the scoring ....
Summing up - great little curry house (emphasis on little) with friendly staff, good service and very tasty food all in a very attractive setting...grab a beer in the Bull nearby (75 metres away down the High Street - limited parking again!) and you have the makings of a fine evening. The Ivy jumps straight in to our top 10 restaurants ... no mean feat for a seven year old club.
What did learn on the night (Nick's request...) that restairants should have toilet police?! That Curry-Oke could be big time entertainment and Nick wears hoodies at weekends! In fairness it was Ralph Lauren... oh and after all this time eating curry Tom finally admitted he can't really taste the differences between the dishes!! You can't make this stuff up.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Monday, September 05, 2011
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