The Viceroy of India, Swansea

This weekend saw my first kayaking trip for a while, so on Sunday evening several others and myself were feeling rather famished and decided to head to the all-you-can-eat buffet that Miah's in Swansea has every Sunday.  However when we got there it was a disaster, the place was closed, so we needed a back-up plan.   However, with several of the nearby Indian restaurants not quite matching our high standards, coupled with several members of our party being 'unwelcome' at certain establishments due to a number of misdemeanors over the years, this severely limited our options.  We decided to walk along St Helens Road into town to see if anything took our fancy.

While walking along we came across the Viceroy of India, and decided to check out the prices.  The manager, on seeing a group of about fourteen of us outside decided to come out and tempt us inside.  The restaurant was not offering the buffet that we all decided, however the manager offered us a deal.  The deal included a starter, a main, rice and a naan bread, all for just £10, with the promise of more food if we were still hungry, after managing to also get some free poppadoms and chutneys thrown in, we decided to head inside.

The poppadoms and chutneys were very good, and I must admit I was rather full after these alone.  For my starter I decided to have the chicken tikka, this was rather good, being both moist and flavoursome, however was not the main attraction.  For my main I ordered a lamb vindaloo, this turned out to be one of the best vindaloos I had ever eaten, being just the right spiciness to enjoy the flavours, with the meat being very tender.  I also had pilau rice and a naan bread, the pilau rice being of the standard you would find in most curry houses.  The naan bread however was just about perfect, not being doughy or too stiff like some naan breads can be, and having that light crispness to the base of the naan bread which made it almost perfect.  The other members of our party also seemed to really enjoy their meals, which included a wide range of curries as well as a tandoori mixed grill.

The size of the portions we received were very generous, with none of us having to take up the managers offer of more food if we were still hungry, with only a handful of us managing to finish all our food.  The service we received was substantial, with any empty plates quickly being cleared away, however we did seem to wait a substantial amount of time for our food, though this is understandable due to the large number of us, and the actual time may have been amplified by my ever-increasing hunger.

All in all, we had incredible value for money, with a meal that would have normally cost around £15 or more setting us back only a tenner.  The atmosphere in the restaurant was pleasant, and we were made to feel very welcome.  To summarise this review I would say that I think I have found my new favourite curry house in Swansea, although we had a deal and may have to pay a bit more for our meal the next time we visit, however it would be worth it.

Star rating (out of 5):-

Food: ****
Atmosphere: ***
Price: *****
Overall: ****

The Curry Secret by Kris Dhillon

For my latest post I have decided to write about a book that I have recently purchased called The Curry Secret.  Not long ago I was browsing play.com when I stumbled across this book, at first I thought it was just like any other cook book.  However while reading the description it became apparent that rather than focusing on traditional Indian cuisine like many cook books tend to, this one taught you how to make the meals that you would find in your local Indian restaurant or takeaway.  The one factor that really drew me to this book was the promise that it taught you how to make the base curry sauce that is essential to most restaurant curries.  As the book was less than £4 I decided to buy it, and today I finally managed to find the time to give this a go.

Some of the ingredients needed

The curry that I decided to make was a chicken jalfrezi, the ingredient list however was quite large.  I started off by preparing the chicken and then marinading it in turmeric, ginger, garam masala, salt, chilli powder and oil, then leaving that in the fridge for a few hours.  A couple of hours later my next task was to start preparing the curry sauce, this meant cutting up nearly a kilogram of onions which left me in tears, when that was done the onions were left to boil then simmer with some ginger and garlic.  After leaving the onions simmer for 45 minutes it was time to press the blender into action, as the onion mixture needed to blended into a smooth liquid.  That was followed by blending up a tin of chopped tomatoes, then adding the tomatoes and onion mixture together with some more spices and leaving it simmer while scraping off any froth from the top, after 20 minutes of that the curry sauce was finally complete.

The curry sauce

With the curry sauce complete it was then time to move onto making the jalfrezi itself, though it already seemed like I had been cooking forever.  This involved frying peppers, onions and tomatoes, then separately frying the marinated chicken with some chillies.  The curry sauce was then added to the chicken and later the vegetables were also added.  My chicken jalfrezi was finally complete.

I was very pleased with the outcome of this curry, it seemed to have the same consistency as a restaurant curry.  The taste was also superb, easily one of the nicest curries I have ever cooked or had cooked for me at home.  However spending the whole day cooking did leave me with yellow hands after the turmeric and my kitchen still smells after making the curry, but it was definitely worth it.  I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys cooking and/or curry and I cant wait to try another recipe from the book.

Cosmo, Swansea

This is not the first time that I have visited this particular restaurant, and I extremely doubt that it will be my last time, however this probably has more to do with the all-you-can-eat nature of the establishment rather than quality of the food.  Every time I come to this particular restaurant I usually find myself in some kind of eating competition, the result of which usually leaves me with a massive 'food comedown'.  Cosmo is an all-you-can-eat restaurant, opened in 2011 and situated on Swansea's Castle Street, between Monkey Bar and the Armed Forces careers office, right in the heart of the city.

There is a wide array of food on offer at Cosmo, with a larger selection than the majority of all-you-can eat restaurants that I have visited, which instantly makes it popular with a variety of customers.  The cuisine served at Cosmo is generally Asian in nature, with Chinese, Indian, Japanese and Thai all on offer, however, there are recent additions, mainly aimed at little ones, such as pizza and pasta.

The Chinese food at Cosmo is very enjoyable, one particular example being a variant of sweet and sour chicken, the crispy beef was also very good, and it was present on all four plates of food that I had.  The beef and black bean sauce was also pleasant, the lemon chicken however tasted like it had been sitting there for a while, the batter not being crisp and the chicken a bit dry.  Although I often get ripped for this, being a valley boy I do enjoy curry sauce, however the curry sauce at Cosmo was very tasteless and unexciting.

I was unimpressed with the Indian food on offer at Cosmo however, I tried the chicken korma and a lamb dish, both seemed to be missing that x factor that is present in a good Indian curry, from the range of curries on offer there also seemed to be a lack of spice, something I am not impressed with as I enjoy a great deal of spice in my curry.  One member of our party tried the tandoori pork, however he claimed it was more fat than pork and was not good.

I did not try the sushi, however several in my party did sample it but they did not rave about it.  They claimed that it was sub-standard when compared with sushi from other restaurants.  A major part of the Cosmo experience are the live cooking stations, offering such things as steak, squid and scallops, all being rather good.  There is also a large selection of desserts, however none were particularly good, the fruit was tasteless, the cakes tended to be a bit stale and the ice cream was below par, however this could probably be excused as the desserts are not the main attraction.

Eating at Cosmo is an odd experience, you pay before you enter, then head downstairs where the main restaurant is, this is not ideal as the toilet is upstairs and you cannot leave the main dining area to use the toilet unless you first get a re-entry pass.  It is not a relaxing experience eating at Cosmo, and I got the odd feeling that I was always being watched, that, coupled with the whole toilet fiasco, made it feel like something out of an Orwellian totalitarian future.  I will say though that the waiting staff were very quick to clear away any unwanted plates.

Price-wise, at £12.99 for dinner time on a Wednesday I did feel it was a bit expensive for the quality on offer, although due to the all-you-can-eat nature you can get your moneys worth, if your appetite is large enough.  Drinks were also a bit on the expensive side, a large coke setting me back £2.60, I could have had a pint of Becks for just 20p more, but oh well, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

In conclusion, although the food in this restaurant is not of an extremely high standard, it is not really what Cosmo is about, it's about the all-you-can-eat spirit, which seems to challenge many to test themselves in a competitive way, the more plates of food you can get through the more manlier you are.  In this respect Cosmo is a great example, with the shear amount of food on offer from different Asian cuisines.  So if you are looking to stuff yourselves until you cannot eat anymore, leaving you with a massive 'food comedown' to deal with which, if you are lucky, will be gone by the next morning, Cosmo is perfect.  However, if you are looking for a relaxing meal with really good food I think you are better off trying somewhere else.

Star rating (out of 5) :-

Food: ***
Atmosphere: **
Price: **
Overall: **** (it is very good at what it s trying to be)