Sunday 20 January 2013

Chilli Pickle Canteen

India holds a very special place in my heart. I love how diverse it is: the people, the atmosphere, the feeling you have when your there and the food! So great and so cheap! The best samosa I've ever had was from a shack in a bustling street in Mumbai, simply proves that it proper bricks and mortar don't matter!

The food in India is nothing like the stuff you get in England but if you want a great, authentic curry in Brighton then you head to The Chilli Pickle on Jubilee Street. You can't miss it; its got a fricken huge cow by the entrance.
I have been to Chilli Pickle loads now and have pretty much loved everything I've eaten there (apart from a rather odd duck soup thing), I even spent my anniversary with The Boy there. So, when I saw that they had started a takeaway service I knew I had to try it.
We decided on the King Thali and got one spicy and one mild. Being a Tuesday it came really quickly and it was like Christmas. It arrived in a huge cardboard box and when opened had several little pots of loveliness. I was reeling a bit from how un-eco all the packaging was until I read on the little menu that you could recycle or compost everything bar the tinfoil; impressive!
Christmas!



Anyway The Boy and I ordered the Old Dehli chicken and the Tanjore mutton. They both came with (deep breath now) rice, pumpkin samosa, hara bara kebab, carrot thoran, yello dal, Rajathani millet and peas, plum chutney, mint chutney, garlic pickle, cumin raita, a roasted pappad, a phulka AND jaggery and date kheer. 



 Tanjore Mutton
The mutton was incredible  Lovely balance of flavours, incredibly tender meat and just the right amount of heat. The chicken was, again cooked perfectly. The sauce of the chicken was lush; tomatoey, creamy and buttery goodness. It was so exciting having all the little bits to go with it, like I said earlier, it was like opening a stocking at Christmas! The only thing I didn't like was the jaggery (an unrefined cane sugar) and date kheer; a type of rice pudding. When I was in India people kept trying to get me into the puddings. I didn't like them then. I still don't. Nothing personal just far too sweet.

I really recommend this if you like curry and, in fact if you don't like English curry (The Boy doesn't really like curry but loves The Chilli Pickle). And try the King Thali. As it was the first week we got 25% off so it was £22 pounds but for the amount you got I'd be more than happy to pay the full amount. The only thing I hope is that they change all the bits occasionally as I want to try more of the curries but would also like to try more bits!