SHAPLA
Market Place, Snaith, East Yorkshire, DN14 9HE
Telephone: 01405 869 999
Opening Times:
7 Days a Week - 5:30pm to 11:00pm
"Shapla… easy on the digestive system?"
Date of Visit: 11/04/15 - 6:00pm
The Brewers Arms was our pub of choice on this particular sojourn. How would the Old Mill Brewery's beers fare on the long and perilous journey from Mill Street… just 0.3 miles away! Fair to middling was the opinion of our party.
And so on to Shapla, which is located on the second floor of The Downe Arms public house on Market Place. Shapla (Water Lilly) is the national emblem and flower of Bangladesh and is known to have been used to treat indigestion in Hindu medicine. Would one of our group have need of it's medicinal qualities post-curry?
Vegetable Samosa £2.50
Onion Bhaji £2.75
Seekh Keebab £2.95
Chicken Dopiaza £5.95
Chicken Naga £6.95
Staff Curry £8.95
Chapattis 60p
Tandoori Roti £1.00
Plain Naan £2.10
Pilau Rice £2.40
The Vegetable Samosas were described as being the best ever and were awarded 5/5. All three starters looked fresh and as if they had been made on the premises; this was confirmed later during a chat with one of the friendly waiters. My friend was surprised that the Veg Samosa had a bit of life in it and wasn't the usual dull fare served by many a restaurant. The Onion Bhajis and Seekh Keebabs were fresh and of good quality but probably lacked the "zing" of the Vegetable Samosas. Two of us shared a Bhaji and a Kebab each; one of us awarded the starters 3/5 and the other a more generous 4/5.
My Chicken Dopiaza was a notch above the fare that is often served when one orders a box standard / traditional curry - it contained good quantities of onion, tomatoes and peppers and was intricately spiced… very enjoyable and rated a 4 star dish.
The Staff Curry (lamb chops, potato and keema in a medium dry, fairly hot sauce) was well appreciated and thoroughly enjoyed, receiving 4 stars.
The Chicken Naga was the least well received of the 3 dishes and was described as being overly hot. Maybe the Nagas had been sitting in the kitchen too long? as older chilies are hotter than newer ripe ones. My friend rated this a 3 star dish on the evening but suffered some unpleasant aftereffects during the course of the night.
"The heat of a chilli isn't only dependent on the variety of the fruit, other factors affect how much of a kick each chilli has, meaning that cooking with chillies can be a bit of a lottery – one might be relatively mild but the next one, even of the same variety, might blow your head off.
The quantity of the capsaicin also depends on the age of the fruit. The older it is, the hotter it will be. We measured the Dorset naga when it was very ripe and it scored 9,000,000 heat units, but when it was green it was about 650,000,000 heat units" - The Independent, 13/04/2015.
The Naan was a good one and there was nothing wrong with the Roti, Chapatti or Pilau Rice, though we did think that the later was verging on being overpriced.
So in conclusion, the majority decision is that this is a 4 star restaurant that we recommend.
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