Dilli Restaurant - Altrincham

T 0161 927 9219
A 60 Stamford New Road, Altrincham, WA14 1EE
E info@dilli.co.uk
W http://www.dilli.co.uk/

The March curry took place at Dilli restaurant in the heart of Altrincham town centre, which “promises the real taste of India”. The Bean had organised the visit (on work colleagues recommendation) and his emails had promised a meal of the highest standard, boasting how the eatery had won a prestigious food award the previous year!

There were 5 attendees to start with - “Keith” joining us slightly later following his stint at (Bonfire) Night School. There had been a slight problem to start the evening off and that was that old chestnut - parking (or lack of it). Dilli being situated on the main road within the town had no car park of it’s own and spaces outside were limited and taken. Therefore, the Bean had to park some distance away with Woody having to use the nearby Tescos (some 10 mins walk)! The 2 missing Council members were Marf, who had failed to attend the 2 previous curries and was tinkering on expulsion and Rat (yet again) who came up with some excuse about it being too far to travel following a hard days work!!! As Rat boy had not been in attendance at the 6 prior curries, a motion to suspend him from the Council was taken with all 5 original attendees agreeing to a temporary expulsion.

The Council all agreed that the exterior & interior of the restaurant was to be given top marks and you could see that a fair bit of money had been spent to give the place the ’X’ factor. We were seated in a slightly cramped corner with expectations running high. Nice cold lagers were ordered all round and our orders were taken from the varied, non- (English) traditional menu.

As is standard, pops arrived to begin with and albeit, the pops seemed fresh, they were pre-broken which was instantly frowned upon. The accompaniments too were very disappointing, with tiny portions of onions and chutneys. Eagle-eyed Jord also noted that to order any additional red onions etc was going to cost us a £1 a go and therefore, the decision was taken to plough on with what we’d got. However, Bean was rightly informed of the Councils views.

Starters appeared soon afterwards, with both Wood and Loaf ordering the Sheekh Kebab Kangari, which was described as “Skewered mince lamb kebabs, flavoured with mild cheese”. Both Council members were not particularly impressed, believing the kebabs to be rather bland and the cheese certainly must have been mild as neither of them could taste it. Furthermore, at £5.50 it hadn’t appeared to have been good value for money. Other members had different items to start, with Bean & DMS sharing a pricey Kebab platter for 2 (£11.35) which got mixed reviews.

It had not been a particularly good start to the meal and Beany was hopeful that the Main courses would get things back on track. Unfortunately, these were also somewhat of a let down, with only the late attendee Keith getting something he was impressed with (However, it should be noted that Keith was the only one of us who asked the waiter for something he recommended). Woody had the Murgh Tikka lababdar (£9.95) which seemed to be little chicken thighs in a somewhat sickly thin tomato sauce. A mixture of Pillau and Basmati rice accompanied the mains along with the usual Peshawari & Plain Nanns and these were tasty enough.

The bill was received shortly afterwards, without any mints or chocolates, which just about rounded off a fairly poor dining experience. The only saving grace was that Super Jord had brought some discount for 20% off the final bill, so each Council member had to chuck in £26 each, apart from the Firestarter - so as they say - Every Cloud and all that.

However, it should be noted that the Dilli’s menu and website states that the restaurant provides “discerning diners with the true taste of genuine regional dishes from the Indian subcontinent. Not westernised versions…but the real thing”. There would therefore seem to be a pattern emerging, as when the Curry Council have been to previous curry restaurants also boasting traditional Indian or Nepalese cooking, they also have scored badly - maybe the Council has been brainwashed with the ‘English’ slant placed on the various curries at the numerous Curry houses we have attended? Or maybe we just know what we like?

Food - 4/10
Service - 8/10
Atmosphere - 9/10
VFM - 5/10
Originality - 8/10

Overall - 6.8/10