ELACHI
Mill Street, Armthorpe, Doncaster, DN3 3DL
Opening Times:
Mon - Sat 5:00pm to 11:30pm
Sun 1:00pm to 11:30pm
"A Very English Curry"
Date of Visit: Sunday 10/01/16 - 1pm
Buffet £11
Starters - Onion Bhaji, Seekh Kebab, "Spicy" (not) Chicken Wings.
Mains - Saag Aloo, Chicken Korma, Chicken Bhuna, Chicken Massala, Lamb Bhuna.
Desserts - none available.
Why has Indian food become so popular? In order to appeal to the masses, it has been Anglicised, i.e. despiced and debased.
Good quality ingredients were used but it was SO bland!
Not for me. I'd have preferred to have gone for a Sunday Lunch at the Green Tree, Hatfield.
Fair to middling is an adequate summary.
Awarded October 2015
________________________________________________________________________ELACHI
"Lemmings are us?"
Date of Visit: 20/12/14 - 18:00hrs
A place to go to be seen?
"We should have gone to Ashoka" said Lem Ming.
We were a table of 4 when we visited this restaurant.
Niggles:
1) They wanted us to take a seat in the waiting area… ha!
2) Alcoholic drinks (we'd had more than our quota in the Horse & Groom!)
3) Poppadoms
4)"Any more rice?"
5) Dimly lit interior
6) Well over priced starters
7) No Indian desserts
I had:
Bangon Bahji £2.50 (requested as a starter)
Chapati £1.00 (with the starter)
Beef Madras £6.50
Plain Naan £1.95
Recently, we've become weary of having the same old non-spicy starters - particularly when a restaurant is outrageously overpricing their appetisers. As a result, we've started having a side dish as a starter, and until Saturday night, these had been served as such… i.e. with accompanying salad and sauces etc.
Elachi were the first establishment to err from this format.
Comparing my Bangon Bahji with the same dish at Ashoka the previous Saturday, this version was heavier, greasier and far less enjoyable. The dish was tepid in temperature. One of my friends had the same starter and said that his dish was cold.
My Beef Madras was quite a good dish to be fair, I'd probably rate it as a 4 star dish. My starter, I'd rate as a 2 star dish.
We were all in agreement that the starters were weak and I think it safe to say, overpriced.
The main dishes were pretty good.
The consensus was that this is a strong 3 star restaurant and that with knowledge of the menu, one that could creep in to 4 star territory.
So, the fabled Elachi (meaning "Green Cardamon" - Hindi Ilaychi, Bengali Elachi and Punjabi Ilaichi) fails to make the SYCG Top 10, let alone depose Ashoka from top spot.
The Horse & Groom at Armthorpe was the pub of choice prior to our foray to Elachi.
ABV 4.0%
"An amber beer with a balanced hop and biscuit malt flavour and lingering bitter finish"
£3.20 a pint.
And, they went down well.