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The Oakham Curry Club (OCC) is one of the worlds most respected reviewers of Indian cuisine. With multiple international franchises, we relentlessly scour the globe in pursuit of the crispiest poppadoms, the tastiest curries, and the spiciest sauces. On 31 October 2015, our meeting was scheduled in the Delhi Club- in the heart of Chungking mansions. They stayed open late especially for us due to one members late arrival from Shanghai. Unlike some other reviewers, we did not find the restaurant difficult to find- there was a very helpful man standing outside with an OCC sign who very helpfully showed us to its location. Members of the occ independently and anonymously vote on 5 categories, and an average score is awarded to the restaurant. Quality: 7.9 Value: 9.1 Service: 8.4 Customer Care: 9.1 Atmosphere: 6.25 Overall: 8.18 Please don't be fooled by the slightly lower score of the atmosphere. Being the only people in the restaurant at midnight due to the special opening arrangement made this difficult to score. We were so thankful for their efforts! We could tell that a lively atmosphere normally existed by the energy coming off the groups who were leaving whilst we were entering. The occ found the Delhi Club to be a wonderful place. The hospitality was outstanding and the meal delicious. It is a strong contender for our CHOTY.

We are the Oakham Curry Club (Occ), an independent curry club that searches the east of England for the finest curry experiences the region has to offer. We recently visited The Nawab Lounge in St Neots, and would like to share our review with you all. We try to be as fair as possible, and take into account the views of all of our members. At the end of the year, we will award our favourite restaurant with our prestige CHOTY award. In 2015, the award went to the 8848 in Stamford for the outstanding experience we had with them. We rate on 5 categories, out of 10, with equal weighting. These categories are self-explanatory, and so here are the scores for The Nawab Lounge: Customer Care - 8.78 Service – 8.78 Value – 7.83 Quality – 9.08 Atmosphere – 9.45 Total – 8.78 Summary: Sometimes in life, the only word that will do is… Wow. Friday, 19th February 2016, was one of these times. When we give our reviews to the public, we always try and balance the good things out with the not-so-good, and compare standards we see between curry house to curry house. But let me tell you, It’s very difficult to give a fair and well balanced review, when the standards you have come to expect get blown out the water! I’m going to dive straight into the food. It was superb! Perfectly crisp poppadoms accompanied by no less than SIX pots of sauce. An incredible mixed platter which gave you a jumbo King Prawn at no extra cost. The array of original curries, super soft naan breads and sumptuous sides could not have been more satisfying. It was quite simply, delicious. But there is a reason I don't want to spend so much time on the basics, and that’s because the Nawab Lounge has got the basics down to a T. It’s a solid operation. And because it has that set at the very core, they’ve been able to install a culture of dining which goes above and beyond anything we’ve seen so far in our quest for curry perfection. So lets talk about what sets it apart from the rest, and thus received the highest score we’ve had in the history of the OCC. The buzz of the place is eclectic from start to finish. Something easily taken for granted, but a busy restaurant really does make you appreciate the hard work that the staff and owners have to put in to reap its reward. Of course, it didn't slow down the service one bit. The waiters were everywhere, meaning you never went more than a minute without a drink. They also set up the table wearing latex gloves, a remarkable touch which made you wonder why other places don’t do the same. Not only was it far more hygienic, but it made you feel like you were dining at a michelin star restaurant. The manager dived in and out of the tables, checking everything was okay and that nobody had been waiting too long. This was a guy you sensed had complete control of his dining room. You could also tell he knew how to keep the customers sweet (and likely to return) with the odd free drink here and there. (Our Bailey’s were delicious, thank you!) The decor was modern, and bright yet atmospheric lighting flooded through the two story building, meaning it was a delightful place to tuck into your mains. Which, in true Nawab Lounge style it would seem, were delivered on trays heated by candles underneath, adding yet a practicality to the meal as well as further mood to it. We were impressed even to the smallest post-meal detail, where they provided orange segments to cleanse the palette before even thinking of offering desserts or an aperitif. Okay, maybe it was a little on the pricey side, and the amount of waiters made it felt like they were trying just a little too hard, and one naan bread took slightly longer than the rest. But we really are clutching at straws to find things wrong. We would like to thank the OCC’s good friend ‘Saturday Dave’ for this recommendation, it was truly a brilliant one. Visit the Nawab Lounge, you won’t regret it!!

The Oakham Curry Club (OCC) Hong Kong branch chose Namaste Kitchen for its monthly meet on Friday 29th January 2016. There was much expectation after Namaste Kitchen had been strongly recommended by a number of fellow curryites from across Hong Kong and beyond. I am delighted to confirm that expectations were not misaligned, and we had the most wonderful evening. We were a large group consisting of 8 existing members and 3 nominees which meant the staff needed to rise to the occasion, and boy did they. From the moment we arrived we were treated like curry royalty with the staff doing their upmost to ensure we had a successful meet. This included, but not limited to: - Beer continually being served to the table as soon as requested to the 11 thirsty patrons - Beautiful cone shaped poppadoms arriving at will - Providing a perfect staging area for our nominee speeches to take place - Allowing Billy The Kid to answer the phone taking customer orders - Giving us lots of chillies for the punisher to take action on those who dared break our sacred OCC rules - Gave us the opportunity to share a closing picture with the talented kitchen team During the meet the restaurant was bustling with a wide range of patrons from the mecca that is Sheung Wan however there was always a member of staff on hand to take our every request and they were more than happy for us to read the OCC prayer as we awaited our food. On the topic of the actual food..........we had some delicious chicken tikka and samosas for starters which we all shared. Then for mains there was a wide range of choices including tikka masala, madras, rogan josh and dopiaza. As per the OCC bible, nobody dared order the chicken milkshake (Korma). All these main courses received strong feedback and were excellent coming out in good time. The pilau rice and naan was also very good. Although this was a very enjoyable meet, some areas which Namaste Kitchen may like to consider for improvement would perhaps be atmosphere as some authentic indian music could really add to the mix. Secondly I would also question the draft beer selection of San Miguel and Kirin, both of which are excellent beers but what happened to the cobra or kingfisher guys?! Finally, the evening was extremely good value. Having outlined all of the above beer (4 pints per thirsty head) and food, the evening only came to a remarkable HK$350 per person. Overall, I thought it was only fair to give Namaste an Excellent by Trip Advisor ratings. This in turn was echoed by the OCC rating of 7.29 which is very impressive coming from a group of hard line curry enthusiasts. This score puts this restaurant in the leader pack for the OCC CHOTY (Curry House of The Year). The breakdown of the OCC rating can be found in the attached picture as well as the picture of the OCC with the chefs. Customer Care - 7.43 Service – 8.00 Value – 7.57 Quality – 7.14 Atmosphere – 6.29 Total – 7.29 In closing to Namaste Kitchen......may your poppadoms be crispy, your sauces be spicy and your currys be tasty. https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g294217-d6941491-r344878175-Namaste_Kitchen-Hong_Kong.html#

We are the Oakham Curry Club (Occ), an independent curry club that searches the east of England for the finest curry experiences the region has to offer. We recently visited Onkar in Oundle, and would like to share our review with you all. We try to be as fair as possible, and take into account the views of all of our members. At the end of the year, we will award our favourite restaurant with our prestige CHOTY award. In 2015, the award went to the 8848 in Stamford for the outstanding experience we had with them. We rate on 5 categories out of 10 with equal rating, which are self-explanatory, so here are the scores for Onkar: Customer Care - 7.33 Service – 7.27 Value – 7.59 Quality – 7.68 Atmosphere – 7.09 Total – 7.39 Summary: The night started off on a sour note, which was not the fault of the restaurant at all. It was a miserable, cold, rainy night and we struggled to find any close parking on the claustrophobic streets of Oundle. This meant a bit of a dash was in order to get to the venue in time and avoid a Chilli “late” fine, not the ideal preparations before chowing down on a delicious curry, but the evening that followed would make up for that. We were also disappointed to find out that our fellow OCC member Bolly had made the booking under an unacceptable name, this predictably got us riled up and immediately impose a chilli fine on account of his naivety. Anyway, enough about our own issues, let’s get on to the important stuff. We were greeted with friendly smiles from the owners, and shown to our table by a waiter who was potentially doing evening shifts for a bit of extra pocket money. I can’t fault his (and the rest of the staff’s) enthusiasm for serving us, unfortunately their knowledge of the menu was not really up to scratch. This would normally have been a big negative for us as a recommendation always goes down well, but his responses were honest and genuine. Had we wanted to find out more from the manager, I’m sure they would have all been happy to oblige. The staff members were both attentive and efficient in replenishing our drinks, which is a good job for Smudge as he spontaneously attempted his first chilli in a bid to improve his spice tolerance. It’s fair to say he wasn’t ready for the aftermath that ensued, shouting “F***-A-Duck” and proceeding to down 3 pints of iced water. His commitment to reach Spice Enlightenment is, and continues to impress all members of the OCC. The rest of the chilli fines were dished out without too much despair, with agreement that they weren’t the hottest we’d ever experienced. ADAM is growing his own super-hot chillies anyway, so this shouldn’t be a problem in the future. There was a distinct lack of respect for speakers throughout the meet which was condemned by the Chairman. It’s encouraged to have banter and to chip in with jovial remarks during OCC meets, but it is also encouraged to respect each other during sections of the agenda. Poppadom’s arrived nice and quickly, and there was no qualms in us asking for “All the Sauces”. They certainly delivered with big pots of mint yoghurt and delicious mango chutney, lime pickles and onion salad. Nothing more to say other than… delightful. For starters, most of us went for a meat kebab dish which was satisfactory, however the winner on the table looked like the tandoori chicken which was sizzling hot with a beautiful red colour embellishing it. Pep was very happy and claimed it to be his favourite part of the meal. It must be said that there was a little delay between courses in which we got a little fidgety, but not long enough to cause any negative marks. Mains were delicious and plentiful, and came out together and in good time (which is quite rare give the size of our group). Quotes from our members such as “My meal was juicy”, “Food was top notch” and “Very Tasty, Not Swaying” hopefully give you an idea of how the majority enjoyed their time at Onkar. In summary, this little establishment in the heart of venue gave a very good effort, and we were duly impressed. They have a young team which relies on enthusiasm to make up for a lack of experience, and the price of the meal was fair. A solid performance which is reflected in the scores, but it takes something truly special to propel the scores to the top. If this is what they are striving for, the owners should look for something that will set them apart from the competition (and also get a website!!). Definitely a recommendation from the OCC, we would be delighted to go back one day.

The OCC was at full capacity for the first meet in some time, with appearances from the Chairman of HK Branch, and the AFKAVC (Artist formerly known as Vice Chairman) who were back from overseas for Christmas. We all met for a pre-meal drink at O’Neills before getting to the restaurant nice and early to avoid any chilli fines for being late. The owners bought this fantastic building for over £1million which was home to the popular Imperial Bentos, a tough act to follow by any means. First impressions are excellent, and it seems the 5-figure sum rumoured to be budgeted for refurbishment looks to have been well spent. There’s a fantastic water feature at the front end of the dining room, and the high ceiling helps create a really spacious environment. Unfortunately, the restaurant is not busy at all, with only about 5 small tables filled. We were taken through to our table at the back and our drinks orders were taken quickly. Popadoms are a vital part of any meal, and although they arrived in good time, the quality did not live up to the standard of our surroundings. In fact, it was widely agreed that they were actually stale, they certainly lacked the gentle crispy crack that we have come to expect. As always, we asked for 2 poppadoms each, accompanied by “All the sauces’, however these were lacking both in quantity and quality. The small ramekins did not have enough capacity to allow a mini-group of 4 to apply plentiful condiments to there pops, so we rationed accordingly. The mint sauce was also quite flavourless. Chilli fines were dished out for various misdemeanours, myself and ADAM (Adam Da Action Man) took ours with not too much trouble. The same could not be said for HK Chairman, who required 3 cubic tons of ice, and VC, who requested an entire crate of Yakult in order to ease the pain. Next up were the starters, which took a very long time to come out, luckily we had the fantastic owner to keep us entertained. It’s just a shame the rest of the staff were not able to live up to his enthusiasm and knowledge. As customers, we were left to continually work out whose food was whose, and often were left looking for waiters to try and get condiments or further drinks. The boys even tried working through the small cocktail list to keep our patience in check, but that was just full of weak, drab, over sweet mixes. A strange turn of events then meant the Kitchen appliances tripped out, which again the owner kindly explained to us and said that Naans would be unavailable, but chapattis could be provided instead. This was no problem, however when basket after basket of Naans then came out, it left us wondering if they’d popped out to the next door kebab shop to get them. More chaos ensued, as the AFKAVC scoffed my Lamb Saag, somehow mistaking it for his own Cheese based spinach side dish. The food itself was actually very good, the Chairman himself thought Ba Shoh had actually reached Curry perfection and awarded them top marks for quality of food. However it was felt the decor, branded plates and cutlery had zero residual value when assessing the overall experience. The lack of knowledge and slow service let down the brilliant owner, and they are going to have to invest heavily in the basics of running a restaurant if they want to make a success. Customer Care - 6.46 Service - 4.54 Value - 6.39 Quality - 7 Atmosphere - 4.89 Total - 5.86

We offer expert reviews from experienced, established food critics from local curry houses across the world. The OCC recommendations are highly regarded, with a rigorous selection policy on those fit to review curry houses - whether they are well established or new kids on the block. We review curry houses not only on the quality of the food, but on the dining experience as a whole across a range of core values. Core competencies Service Quality Customer Care Atmosphere Value ...and finally Accessibility. May your poppadoms be crispy, sauce be tasty and curry be spicy...and may also be yours.