Valencia is seeing major growth with the opening of new Indian and Pakistani restaurants, cafes and takeaways. Facebook pages are full of questions from would-be diners, pictures of meals, critiques and even videos of how to cook this style of food which has its origins across the East from Persia to the sub-continent. 

In order to bring some sense to the choice for diners and to offer a helpful, independent and varied critique the ‘curry critics’ have formed to visit, extensively taste in and offer an overall view of the restaurants of Valencia. We aim to bring you a full review of an ‘outlet’ each month with shorter reports and news items in between. Find out more about the team behind Valencia Curry Lovers and the criteria we use for our reviews.

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Our first visit as a group was to ‘Curry Chefs’ which is primarily a takeaway in the Plaza de Concordia in Burjassot. (They deliver to several villages and urbanisations locally). We chose this from a number of options because it has a ‘marmite’ reputation amongst Facebook users. It is a small café style (Nitu described it as like a Dhaba ‘eatery’) where it is possible to eat in and there is a small terrace outside facing the square.

On arrival we were offered the opportunity to sit either inside or out and chose the former. We were able to select a larger table for 6 rather than one for 4 people with no problem. The welcome from the Panjabi family who run the venue could not have been friendlier and they engaged with us throughout the meal with genuine concern that we were enjoying the food. There are well over 100 dishes to choose from as well as seven takeaway selections.

Once seated we were given plenty of time to make a selection of dishes. We ordered a white wine by the bottle to share and a gin and tonic. Although they had run out of tonic a member of staff was despatched quickly to buy some from the supermarket!

The drinks range was limited but this is not surprising as it is primarily a take-away and ordering wine is not usually part of such diners choice. Beers were also available. The available wine was not much to write home about and a bit light for the spicy food.

For starters we ordered papadoms, pakoras, prawn on puri, keema samosa and tandoori mixed grill. The results were mixed. The sauces and chutneys accompanying were light and needed spicing up, the chicken pakoras were nuggets effectively, but the samosas were much better if a little short on keema and the prawn on puri drew a unanimous 10/10 from the four of us. Nitu was pleasantly surprised although she doubted the authenticity of the dish. The rest of us use this as a reference dish as it is on the menu of just about every restaurant in Valencia. Well made as this was it can be excellent. The prawns were succulent and the sauce spicy.

Sadly the Tandoori grill did not meet the standard expected although several other ‘diners in’ seemed to enjoy theirs. The meat had not been marinaded, nor had it seen the tandoor. It included prawn pakoras and all had been pan-fried and as a result it was dry. This could and should have been so much better if served as a ‘sizzler’. This is one of Nitu’s reference dishes and she was very disappointed.

For mains, we ordered chicken chutney wala, Badami chicken pasanda, lamb vindaloo, a daal makhani and some side dishes: pilau rice, coconut rice, cheese and Peshwari naans and a tawa roti . As an extra we received an aubergine dish to accompany it.

None of these dishes suit Nitu’s palate. There is a problem in that some restaurants make a mother sauce and then adjust them before serving. Marian, Matt and Riki felt there was sufficient difference between them for the English and Spanish palate.

Marian particularly enjoyed the Pasanda which was rich and creamy and if anything the coconut rice which accompanied it was a little on the sweet side. The Vindaloo had heat, you could note the vinegar and it was correctly cooked. The Daal Makhani was perfectly creamy and very good and suited Matt’s palate perfectly. The breads were mixed, the cheese naan being the best of the selection but the Peshwari naan was not really like any Nitu or the rest of us have experienced before.

There was considerable flexibility on spicing. The owners recognise they have a growing British clientele who enjoy ‘hotter’ meals. Wherever possible they will add to dishes to recognise this different palate. ( We and they recommend if you like hotter dishes that you ring well in advance to order so that they can make a batch of your chosen dish with the required spice and heat – adding chilli flakes at the last minute is not a solution!)

Portions were good, you won’t go home hungry! The quality of dishes did vary from the excellent Prawn on Puri to a disappointing Tandoori mixed grill. Overall Marian enjoyed the meal and felt Spanish diners would appreciate the range of flavours. Riki found the dishes had sufficient difference in flavour for both the Spanish and British palate .

The ambience is café-take away in style, not fine-dining restaurant and they have an effective takeaway service which Matt has used several times.

In terms of pricing, we had two bottles of wine and Nitu enjoyed a couple of gin and tonics (3.5€). With all the dishes above the total cost came to 22€ per head which puts the quality to price ratio higher than it might have been.

Finally the overall service was exemplary, the four of us are not easily satisfied and the waitress Simran, who is the daughter of the family could not have been more helpful, friendly, witty and charismatic, accepting our copious advice and recommendations, the adjustments we wanted and other family members also came to listen to our points of view- even if they didn’t entirely understand them. We would recommend it as a takeaway recognising it has limitations as an eat-in venue. (Food preparation is different for takeaway than for restaurants). We understand perfectly why it is popular.
However we would all return, (Even Nitu – for the Prawn on Puri and the gin and tonics) as we all enjoyed the excellent service.