BALTI PALACE
Doncaster Road, Denaby Main, Doncaster, DN12 4DG
Telephone: 01709 868 660
Opening Times:
Sun - Sat 5:30pm to 11:30pm
"From Hero To Zero… Has Chef Left?"
Date of Visit: 03/01/15 - 6pm
Probably best to be succinct. The meal was of a poor standard.
We overheard a member of staff informing the diners at an adjacent table how Chef had moved to work at Shimla in Armthorpe. They should have tried harder to retain him, as the fare offered on this visit was a pale imitation of that experienced in June 2014.
Mushroom Bhaji £2.50 (as a starter)
Seekh Kebab £2.60
Chicken Methi £6.70
Chicken Naga £5.60
Plain Naan £1.90
Chapatti 60p
With the Mushroom Bhaji, I was hoping for pieces of mushroom in a light crisp batter. What I received had the visual appearance of a plate of sick. Maybe I should have asked if they could have done a mushroom pakora?
The Seekh Kebab goes from being sublime to non-descript.
The Chicken Methi and Chicken Naga looked as if they had come from a common pot. In fact, my friends Methi was so hot, that with hindsight, I think they just added a fenugreek garnish to my Naga dish and served that up! What is normally a very subtle and pleasant dish was completely ruined.
Portion sizes were tiny. The breads were ok.
How things can so completely change in such a comparatively short period of time.
Balti Palace nose dives out of the Top 10 following this anti-climax.
Awarded July 2014
I can report that the Bengal Tiger at The Concertina Band Club in Mexborough is as good as ever - and still only £2.15 a pint.
The Mexborough Concertina Band in the 1960's
_____________________________________________________
BALTI PALACE
"Snared by a Restaurant formerly known as The Drum pub"
Date of Visit: 14/06/14
The Balti Palace plies its trade from a building that was formerly The Drum public house - would it snare us?
Patrons can make use of the ample on-site car parking, which we did (3 cars, 4 people)
I found the restaurant to be tastefully furbished on the interior and the toilets were bright, fresh and clean
The staff members are very welcoming and friendly, never overbearing or fawning.
Alcohol is served in the restaurant - but after I had engaged the staff with 5 minutes of chat before joining my friends at our table, they realised that we like and approve of "the Bradford model" and they didn't try to serve us with any alcoholic beverages.
Ample time was given for us to study and chat about the dishes on offer. In the meantime water and glasses were brought to the table without having to ask.
We were offered poppadoms and pickles (which having read a review elsewhere since, it looks as if these would have been gratis) but turned them down as one of our party doesn't like it if we query if they are complimentary.
For a starter, I went for the Mixed Kebab (£3.40) - it arrived sizzling in a hot cast iron dish accompanied with some nicely cooked onions. The Seek Kebab was sublime, excellent spicing, the Shami Kebab was also very good, as was the Onion Bhaji. All 3 starter looked as if they had been made on the premises rather than bought in en bulk from an Asian supermarket.
For a main, I selected the Chicken Sagwala (£5.70) from the House Specials section of the menu:
"cooked with fresh spinach richly flavoured with fresh herbs & spices. A popular dish with Asian restaurant staff. Highly recommended" - is how this dish is described.
This dish did not let the description down, it was very, very good! A House Special for just £5.70! Brilliant!
I had, what is now becoming my South Yorkshire curry norm of 2 Chapattis (60p each) with the curry. The Chapatti's were of a good size and texture but only arrived luke warm for some reason?
We ate early, 5:45pm, and it was also a World Cup night - maybe this explains why we were the only customers in the restaurant? Then again, we didn't leave until 7:45pm and still there were no other on site customers - the take-a-way service did appear to be doing a brisk trade though.
I have given this restaurant a much deserved 4 out of 5 stars - I would have awarded it 5 stars if the Chapatti's had arrived hot and also if there had been a couple of spoonfuls more curry. I ran out of curry with a quarter of a Chapatti remaining.
The good people of Denaby Main have a top quality restaurant right on their door step! I hope that they use it and that they don't lose it due to poor customer uptake.
The "boys" travel in all the way from Bradford each day - that alone saves you £18's worth of petrol.
A top quality Bradford restaurant without even having to leave the village - what more can I say...
Bang that Drum!