Cúrcuma is a relatively new Indian Restaurant in Avenida Joan Carles a bright, airy modern restaurant with equally colourful decorations.
In the absence of Nitu on family grounds, we were accompanied by Sunnil (Khetosa Vegetables) and his wife Anna on our visit on Saturday evening, 27 November.
There is a good range of wines from Valencia (Nodus) and Portia (Ribera del Duero) and we opted for ‘En la Parra’ from Nodus (DO Valencia)—a blend of Chardonnay and Moscatel—which we knew should be a good match for spicy food; it was. The blend of fruit and acidity was perfect and stood up to even the hottest dish. At 11€ a bottle this was a markup of just 2€ on the bodega price, the best we have come across to date.
We received a pleasant and friendly welcome, were shown to our table and handed the menu cards and the wine list.
Cúrcuma has a big menu to choose from including half a dozen recommended dishes, one of which we chose.
Although we were not advised on what to order, the waiter showed great flexibility allowing us to have our own mixed grill from the tandoor comprising of Haryali Chicken, Lamb Achari, Seekh Kebabs and Chicken Tikka. We also ordered King Prawn on Puri and an Onion Bhaji as starters.
We were quickly served with good-sized, tasty papadums with the standard chutney sauces but as we ordered a second plate of these we were given an additional hot lime pickle chutney that was very good.
The onion bhajis were good, tasty and with a very good texture and flavoured with anise seed. The prawn on puri was a good size, although the sauce was a little too strong on tomato and light on spice, the puri was crisp and light and the prawns full of flavour and cooked well.
On the downside, the special mixed grill was disappointing. It appears the meat had been pre-cooked, leading to all of it being dry, lacking in any flavour, spice or heat.
For main courses, we ordered paneer karahi, beef bhuna, lamb phall and chicken pasanda: the ‘chef´s recommended dish’. These were accompanied by plain basmati rice, a cheese naan, garlic naan and a paratha.
The paneer karahi (cheese in a tomato, garlic, ginger and spicy sauce) was again a little high on the tomato side, the cheese a little rubbery.
The beef bhuna (a similar sauce with additional coriander and onion) suffered from being overcooked , with tough beef chunks and a lack of seasoning in the sauce.
The lamb phall was hot, but not extremely hot as we had been advised when ordering. The lamb was dry and overcooked. The sauce was clearly full of either cayenne or chili powder and it was overdone to the extent it caught in the back of the throat.
The chicken pasanda (a sauce made with almonds, coconut, and a cocktail of fruits) again suffered from overcooked chicken breast; the sauce was lacking in spice and was indeed very fruity and sweet.
All of the meat was disappointing, pre-cooked and as a result, had not taken any flavour from the accompanying spices and sauces.
On the other hand, the basmati rice was good, the cheese naan crispy with plenty of tasty cheese oozing from it, and the garlic naan was also good: crispy and with good garlic worked into it. The paratha was more like a roti, a flatbread, lacking in the layers we expected and not how it is described on the menu.
We finished with a couple of ice-creams, Mango Kulfi and a Pista Kulfi (Pistachio).
Of these, we preferred the Pista Kulfi which was grainy in texture with good flavour from the milk and cream—a good example. The Mango Kulfi was more fruity and less on the cream and milk flavour, but not bad at all.
In all cases the size of portions was good, and the service was efficient and friendly. The standard of cooking was mixed; the presentation and appearance of the dishes very good but the meat and the sauces left a lot to be desired.
The bill—which included two bottles of wine—came to 97.50€ or just under 20€ per head and Cúrcuma has the potential (If the cooking improves) to be good value for money. At present we would score them at 5.5/10.