London Bridge Tandoori and The George Inn

The end of November, where everywhere you look men's moustaches are reaching their hirsute peak after the month of "Movember", although we find the presence of a moustache interferes with one's enjoyment of curry. November's curry night took us to the foodie heaven area of Borough, but would the curry be up to scratch?

The Pint: The George Inn is one of London's most famous pubs, and this National Trust-owned boozer is guaranteed to impress any visitor to the city. "London's only last remaining galleried coaching inn", the 17th century public house oozes character, with a number of inter-connecting rooms, all with stone floors and wooden beams and a nice courtyard area where you can tie up your horse. The George ale isn't bad either, and there are a number of other Greene King beers on tap, including Old Speckled Hen. After a couple of ales to cleanse our pallets we headed over the road to the Tower Bridge Tandoori.  

Only two dips, but double portions of raw onion!

The Curry: First impressions of the London Bridge Tandoori were not great. At least they are not deceiving anyone with the name, this restaurant literally is right underneath London Bridge, and it shakes every time a train goes overhead, which is charming. We entered to a slight mildewy smell and took our seats by the damp wall in the back room. Popaddoms promptly arrived but came with just two dips - the ubiquitous pale green raiti and mango chutney, and rather excessively two portions of that overrated raw onion stuff. With both dips being mild we could really have done with either some lime pickle or some of the lively bright red dip you sometimes get which has chilli seeds floating in the top. Not a great start.

The "Soupy" Madras

I ordered a chicken madras, which is usually a good barometer of a curry establishment. Any curry house worth its salt should be able to knock up a decent madras. Yet when mine arrived it had the consistency of heinz tomato soup, with a few lumps of chicken poking just above the surface. Taste-wise it had enough heat, but there was no grainy-ness to the sauce, it was all too runny and very disappointing. About the only positive I could think of regarding my meal was that the naan breads were good.

Elsewhere around the table, it was the same story with Sam's prawn madras, too much liquid and possibly too fiery. Paul actually enjoyed his Karahi Chicken, although at £11 it wasn't particularly cheap. That is the other thing about this place, you don't mind a disappointing curry so much when it is dirt cheap, but the extras (naans at £2.50 or £3 each) pushed our bills up to £23 (admittedly including three Kingfisher each).

As we were paying our bill, the two drunken businessmen who had been sitting on the table next to us, with full moustaches making them look like the Chuckle Brothers, left saying it was the worst curry they had ever had. This upset one of the other patrons sat near us, who called them a rather rude word which begins with "c" as they walked out. Fisticuffs almost ensued, but in reality this curry house was not worth fighting over at all.

The George Inn: 9/10
The London Bridge Tandoori: 5/10