Khas Tandoori, Newington Green Road

Another random evening curry. Despite the wonky picture I've lifted from the web, the Khas has a light, modern décor. It's not particularly recent but hasn't become shabby as cheaply done up curry houses with pretentions tend to. There is music playing which is a bearable sort of Indian-themed ambient electronica, but a bit too loud.

A poppadom and some chutneys are brought when I sit down, but the chutney tray didn't have chilli or lime pickle.

The menu is pretty broad with some unusual things in the "Authentic Delicacies" section and a separate list of "Chef's Delights". Of course they might just be the usual stuff given a different name and vague description — for example, "Zale Zule Chicken (a fairly hot dish from south india)".

My sweet lassi is very good. Not too thick, thin, sweet or dry. They are easy to do, but somehow mine always end up rubbish.

I start with a reshmi kebab which is actually pretty good. The meat is lightly spiced but fried to an almost crunchy texture. There doesn't seem to be any onion or other filler. The two patties are wrapped together in a fried egg ("over easy" to the seppos, ie. lightly-beaten). It comes with a small pot of a dark red, almost purple, sauce, which doesn't seem really to taste of anything.

For my main course, the Achari Gosth Chana ("marinated lamb cooked in a fairly spicy mixed pickle sauce with chickpeas"). It was actually lamb tikka meat in a thick sauce with chickpeas. It was the disapppointment of my visit really. The meat, though lean, was very tough, and the sauce wasn't great though every now and then one could detect a bit of mustard, which was interesting.

Since I am on a lamb theme it seems, I accompany it with Keema Pilau, which is actually really good. Perhaps it's just the Scot in me, but mince with some kind of starchy staple is a great thing¹.

Service was OK, but it took me about 20 minutes from asking for the bill to paying up and leaving. The bill, at under 15 quid is very good value, but I see from the back of the takeaway menu that I should have been able to claim "1 starter, 1 main dish, 1 side dish, 1 nan or rice & 1 papadom" for only 8.95 Tuesday-Thursday, with my lassi an extra 2 quid).

The Khas is next door to the Lucknow Tandoori which I ate at about 18 months ago and don't remember being impressed by.

¹. Recipe: Keema aloo (or "spicy stovies") is a delicious, cheap, piss-easy dish to have on its own or as a side with some other curries. Heat some oil, add some cardamoms, fry a bit of garlic paste and a bunch of ginger paste, add a bit of turmeric and chuck in some mince (lamb mince by preference) and sliced chillies. Fry for a few minutes, then add some peeled potatoes cut into inch-sized cubes. Fry them for a bit, then top up with water and cook until the potatoes are cooked and all the water has been absorbed. Ta-da. If you are making other curries, chuck in some random stuff from the spice rack to make it a different colour from the other things. Your guests will be amazed that you are able to make curries which look and taste different.