The Prince of India - Faversham

Located on Preston Street, a short walk from the Railway Station, the Prince of India is a fairly small restaurant but size isn't everything!

Nicely lit with interesting art on the walls, the decor isn't your typical Indian flock wallpaper.

The beers were served nice and cold - although the glasses seemed warm and were unusually shaped for a lager - but sadly the papadums were not very fresh at all and the dips not up to much either.

The curries, however, were much much better and Bob was delighted to find no prawns in his special fried rice.  Phil thought that his Dhansak was a little too sour and more Pathia like than he would have expected.  The vegetable dishes both had individual flavours and were a great accompaniment.

The evening will probably be remembered, though, for the 8 girls celebrating a birthday who couldn't agree how to divide a bill between them.  Did it really matter that the one who didn't have a papadum had an extra glass of wine??  To the credit of the restaurant, the staff handled the situation perfectly!

Finally Phil was delighted to be presented with Terry Towel flannels at the end of the evening!

This evening marked the start of a scoring system to try and provide a degree of objectivity.  Both Phil & Bob rated the restaurant out of 10 on 5 different topics giving a maximum score of 100 marks.

The Prince of India was rated as follows:

Area	Phil	Bob
Beer	9	7
Papadum	4	5
Curry	7	9
Rice & Vegetables	8	9
Service & Ambiance	7	7

In total a very creditable 72%

Salma, Wingham

Set in the little village of Wingham through which the A257 passes, is a gem of a Restaurant.  The Salma.

Our visit was following a trip to Sandwich and was recommended by the customers that we were delivering to.  A great call!!

Papadums fresh and warm, Bob was disappointed about a lack of raita amongst the dips but found that was soon forgotten.  Bob is also not a fan of seafood so has made a note not to go for the special fried rice next time around as it contains prawns - and after this curry there will be!  Phil felt that this was probably the best curry for two or three weeks.

A little pricier, perhaps, than some others we have visited but well worth it!

Star of Bengal

Located in Whitstable, opposite the Library, the Star of Bengal has recently opened at the site what was once Whitstable's first Indian Restaurant but had been closed and empty for several years.

The restaurant is smaller than it used to be - only room for about 30 covers.  And 30 covers was 28 too many when we arrived to find ourselves as the only guests (although a couple did come in a bit later).

The menu is standard fare - although to Bob's dismay there was no Korma on the menu and even worse there were prawns in the rice - but the curry's were uninspiring and the vegetable dishes very bland.  On the plus side though the towels at the end of the meal were real Terry-Towels and not the microwaved "J-Cloth" type that are handed out so often these days.

Sadly though that was all that was worthy of note.  This new venture has a long way to go to compete in Whitstable!!

Lateef - Sittingbourne

It was late in the evening - nearly 22:00 - by the time we got to the restaurant and, although it wasn't too busy there was a big and fairly noisy party already in swing.  Happy birthday Alex, whoever you are!!

Whether it was the hour or the party, the meal wasn't as good as previous curries we have experienced here - and there have been quite a few as the Lateef is just down the road from Bob's shop after all.....

The poppadoms were fine.  Phil still hasn't figured out the red sauce/pickle mixed in with the onions and tonight the lime pickle was conspicuous by its absence!

The rice, as ever, was piping hot but Phil's dhansak seemed sweeter than usual and Bob found that his korma seemed too coconutty.

All in all a slightly below par 7/10 for this visit to our Sittingbourne haunt.

The Shad, Herne Bay

After an evening of deliveries ending in Herne Bay, we went to the Shad in William Street.  The Shad is close to the Seafront, just across the road from the Bun Penny pub (which is sadly derelict following a fire last summer.

It had been a busy day and we had a guest with us - Clyde - a fellow curry-head who can also be found at the shop from time to time.

The Papadums were on top form, warm and fresh, with an interesting and unusual selection of pickles including a chilli jam and two different raitas amongst the usual suspects.

In addition to the usuals, Clyde sampled a Chicken Madras and Pillau Rice with a Keema Nan.

Although the restaurant was very quiet, the service was quite slow and the English waiter didn't seem in any hurry.  The food was OK but not as good as on previous visits.  Overall a 6/10