Indian Restaurant

[rolf66]

Visited the Piano Garden Indian again quite recently,for those that don`t know its entrance is opposite the Casabella Hotel on the way in to Ferragudo from Carvoeiro. It has a style all of its own,particulary in the Summer months Owned by Antonio and his lovely wife Elsa,and with all food cooked by Indian chefs,(my Prawn Balti was paticularly good)try it it will make a change from the usual village one`s.

[blue]

We used to love this restaurant but found the food took a bit of a down turn, if it has returned to form it is well worth a visit.
I do find it odd that you get this strange marriage of indian & pizza restaurant, is that still the case with the Piano Garden? We've come across it with quite a few other restaurants.

[rolf66]

hi blue, good to hear your comments,try it again let me know how you feel.

[O-Bife-bem-passado]

We went there once last year and have not bothered since. Nice people and the food was OK but certainly not authentic. Our choice for the best of a bad bunch of Indian restaurants in the area is the little place on restaurant hill in town. Owned by the same guy who has the Castello but the food at the original O Indiano always seems to be better. Any the waiter Jonny Sing (who is the owner's cousin I think) is a really nice guy.

[ditzy]

Had a great meal at O Indiano on Sunday, probably the best Indian we have had in a while. The young waiter was great - he certainly enjoyed a bit of cricket banter with my dad

[EMM]

We and others who have tried it now rate the two Indiano's ( castello and the one in town ) as good if not better than most in the UK.

It could be the reason why they are almost always busy when most around them are empty.

[rolf66]

We and others who have tried it now rate the two Indiano's ( castello and the one in town ) as good if not better than most in the UK.

It could be the reason why they are almost always busy when most around them are empty.

In my opinion the the two indians you mention are no more than adequate,my wife and i use them only to get our our curry fix. its obvious you have never eaten in Bradford or similar Yorkshire towns. Also might i suggest you try the "curry mile" on Wilmslow Road south Manchester where you will eat food like you have never eaten before.

[O-Bife-bem-passado]

Rolf66 is spot on IMO, the food is good by British high street standards and if that is all people know then it is fair to say that they are better than the average UK crap. But go to parts of Birmingham, Brick Lane in London or somewhere like Bradford as he suggests and you will eat Indian food cooked for Indians and not the carbon copy Brit Indian they serve to the Brits. Did you know for example that what Brit Indian restaurants (and those here in the Algarve) serve as Vindaloo has nothing to do with the real dish? Then I suppose we all know about Tikka Massala being a Britich invention that, as AA Gill famously put it - "has about as little to do with India as a Mars Bar has to do with Mars".

Back to Vindaloo, the dish is Goan and the name comes from the Portuguese "vinha de alhos" (wine or vinegar with garlic) which is a standard base marinade here used mostly for pork. A real vindaloo is a fairly dry dish made of meat (usually pork) marinated in vinegar with dry roast spices and loads of dry chilli fakes. You can get the real thing in Lisbon at one of the great Goan restarants like Tentações de Goa. All Vindaloo means around here (or on the British high street) is extra chilli powder...

[sunman]

if the next world superpower is to come from Asia I'd vote for India over China; have had a chinky and a curry recently and the curry gets the nod.

[R.Wethereyet]

Most of the 'Indian' restaurants in Brick Lane are in fact Bangladeshi, and nearly always have two menus, one in English which offer the anglo/indian style food that most people think of as Indian, and typical Bengali food which is nearly always on a green and red (national flag colour) menu card and written in Bengali script. The same applies to many of the restaurants in Bradford, Luton, Oldham and Birmingham.

Most westerners would not even recognise this food, so what has happened is that western style concoctions have developed over the years, e.g. Tikka Masala,, and have become known as traditional. Traditional in the UK, maybe, authentic definitely not.

My college days and early working life was spent in and around Bradford, and where I was privileged to have a few Bengali friends, I spent many a happy evening eating with them and their family and friends in true Bangla style, and there hospitality was second to none. Great when you were a student with very little money to live on. However the food they served was far removed from what I have eaten in so called authentic restaurants.

[HampshireRich]

All Vindaloo means around here (or on the British high street) is extra chilli powder...

Depends which restaurant you go to - a lot of Indian restaurants in the UK are now a lot more traditional than they used to be, even if a lot are Bangladesh family businesses. My local one the chef does various specials which are incredibily tasty and a change from the normal Madras, Balti, Tikka etc that are the norm. Their Vindaloo is tasty and spicey rather than just hot as used to be about 20 yeasr ago.

Nice quote from the internet on the origin of Vindaloo by the way.

[EMM]

Did not our beloved chicken Tikka Massala come about when diners in the early days of indian restaurants asked for a sauce as they thought the original dish too dry.
The chef got out some cream, heinz tom sauce added a few spices and the dish was born !!

[O-Bife-bem-passado]

Nice quote from the internet on the origin of Vindaloo by the way.

I can assure that the quote is not from the internet but from experience. But obviously it would be online as it is fact.

[EMM]

It was also in the " Hairy Bikers " programmes on their tour of India.

[superbocker]

My local one the chef does various specials which are incredibily tasty and a change from the normal Madras, Balti, Tikka etc that are the norm. Their Vindaloo is tasty and spicey rather than just hot as used to be about 20 yeasr ago.

Let me know where it is HR. Always looking to broaden my horizons both home and abroad.

As it is i'm quite happy at O' Indiano, never feel i've been ripped off there, i like the idea that i can have any dish cooked to my choice of spice and taste.

If i do buy a holiday home in the frozen North i'll be sure to check out some of the recommendations given above.