Monday, June 18, 2007

Review - Saffron Lounge

(possibly the first of an occasional series, or perhaps just a one-off...)

On Sunday I went along to have a meal at a new Indian/ restaurant in the centre of Crawley, the Saffron Lounge. The place only opened up last week, and due to the timing, it was a very quiet night. The staff were friendly without being intrusive (a common problem on a slow night). The decor is determinedly modern, with much of the wall tiled in pale stones - which made it appear a little antiseptic. Green and orange were the main colours, incongruously set off by neon blue uplighting in the ceiling. The similarity of the scheme to that of the toilets was a little off-putting.

The food itself was clearly designed to be a move away from the traditional 'curry house' menu. The owners are also involved with the Taj Mahal at the south end of the High Street, and it appears to have been pitched to compete directly with the Blue India on the opposite side of the road. The prices were a little on the high side, but the choice was certainly wider than the usual fare.

For starters we had a mixture of tikka pieces of meat and fish, and each of them were very distinct and superbly cooked. For main I had a biryani with chicken and Ms Danivon chose a lamb Bhuna. When they arrived, the portions looked a little on the small side, and we had to return a plain rice as it was cold to touch. However, it turned out that the food was rich enough not to require much more, and the hot rice was quickly and efficiently returned. We had breads as well, a lovely and not-at-all greasy garlic naan, and a surprisingly light and tasty aloo paratha.

Overall, we were pretty happy, although with the aforementioned Blue India nearby and the recently relaunched Zari's in Ifield as competition, as well as a recently modernised Taj Mahal, it remains to be seen whether Crawley can sustain another up-market restaurant specialising in Southern Asian cuisine.

Food - Very good (7/10)
Value for Money - Pricey but not unreasonably so (6/10)
Atmosphere - Austere (4/10)
Service - Friendly and effcient (7/10)
Overall 6/10

Saffron Lounge
5 Grand Parade,
High Street
Crawley
res. 01293 529946

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cllr Asaf Ali, Labour


Now I wonder what would happen if A BNP councillor had been arrested in connection with the rape of a 16 year old girl, you can bet it would be front page headlines in every paper in the land, and the television coverage would have been extensive. I must praise Asian news who unlike mainstream British media don't cover up stories that reflect badly on the Labour party, so I will leave it up to them to relate the story to you via their website here.

After reading about the rape allegation on the Asian news, I would like you to ask yourself, would have the BNP been treated in such a low key manner, if this had been one of our elected officials. Perhaps this is why Labour have to fund lying third parties like the odious UAF to spread lies about the BNP, when our only crime is to put the British public first. Perhaps Marxist union's like Amicus and Unison, may reflect on what type of people they give their backing to, a backing that is paid from the hard earned union dues of British workers.

Perhaps these same workers may want to join a real Union that will put their union fees to their proper use in promoting and protecting British Jobs. The Solidarity Union link can be found on the right hand side of this page.

BNP a party of truth with nothing to hide or lie about, unlike Labour.

Hat Tip Green Arrow

Danivon said...

Is this the guy that convincingly beat the BNP in 2002, putting their aims of a foothold in Oldham back greatly.

Is he the guy that they tried to fit up by planting drugs in his car?

Is he the one who was the victim of a fake hate-mail campaign, a clear effort by the local BNP to try to win the seat again (which they failed to do)?

I think I'll wait until any real evidence comes to light, if you don't mind.

By the way, Mr Aberdeen BNP, this is a post about a restaurant, so why on earth have you just cut and pasted (again) something totally irrelevant? Is it because no-one is reading the original blog?