Curry Club rates Peterborough’s lockdown takeaways

The OCC was formed in 2014 by a group of curry enthusiasts all from Peterborough who started to meet up once a month to taste and review curry restaurants from Peterborough and the surrounding areas.

After reviewing all the restaurants this has now expanded to reviewing curries from further afield such as Dublin, Leeds and London.

Some members who left have taken the OCC brand and established values and started their own OCC franchise to continue to review curry restaurants in their own local areas.

There are currently five international branches of the OCC in areas such as Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Shanghai.

Spokesman Eddie Seddon: “We have already received over 4000 views in ‘That’s Shanghai’ magazine which is Shanghai’s biggest magazine along with our certificates placed next to Michelin star ones. We even have restaurants in Hong Kong such as the New Punjab club who will only display our certificates and not Michelin star ones!

“We rate the restaurants on the criteria of service, customer care, quality, value and atmosphere.

“Once a month the OCC meet up in our own branches to give it the true OCC test where branches over 7/10 are awarded an OCC sticker of approval. The best score every year is awarded a trophy and a certificate to claim the greatest prize of the OCC CHOTY (curry house of the year).”

With restaurants closed, here are this month’s OCC takeaway reviews.

TAJ MAHAL, CITY CENTRE

Poppadoms - ok crunch, unfortunately no spicy poppadoms which was ordered but a number of normal ones.

Sauce tasty but limited in size.

Mixed Starter – In my opinion best value in Peterborough , 2 bits of chicken 2 lamb, sheesh kebab and onion bahji. All cooked to perfection

Main chilli chicken - A chef special so costs a little more than most but it is such a tasty dish and a good recommendation for madras/vindaloo spice lovers. you won’t be disappointed.

Garlic Naan was ok, a little cold and soggy like most takeaways are but still nice to mop up all the sauces

8/10

THE CURRY MASALA, WERRINGTON,

Pops - Forgotten from my delivery so unfortunately can’t comment.

Starter- Prawn Puree. Lovely fluffy puree and nice flavoured sauce for the well-cooked prawns. Good size too.

Main- Chicken madras & pilau rice. Lovely tender chicken, decent sauce though not the biggest kick for a madras. Very pleasant though and good value at £5.95 for the chicken madras.

Naan- Peshwari. Lightly burnt edges and nice spread of nutty filling. Very good.

Overall- 7.5/10. Really good, lost a point for the lack of pops but very nice curry and great service- half hour from ordering until delivery from Werrington to Woodston

ANGEL SPICE, STILTON

Picked up for 7:15 as requested as just down the road

They gave extra poppadoms and a selection of 6 different sauces. Big pots as well (all the sauces)

Starter - king prawn puri was delicious, good amount of sauce, good amount of prawns as well

Main - Chicken tikka chilli garlic balti with mushroom rice and garlic naan! Was also delicious, good spice levels,

good sauce consistency and lots of flavour! Certainly lived up to the OCC rating of a few years ago when it

achieved a 7.96!

Two bottles of Cobra as well.

Came to £20 which I didn’t think was bad at all for all the food!

9/10

STAR TANDOORI, STANGROUND

I opted for a Chicken Bhuna, Rice, Saag Aloo, peshwari naan and popadoms with all the sauces.

The saag aloo was very flavoursome and a good portion for the price. The bhuna normally has a nice spice but this time around was lacking in spice but a generous amount of chicken and tasted fresh with a decent sauce.

The peshwari naan was very good and the selection of sauces, once again, generous.

A perfectly acceptable choice for those located in the Stanground/fletton/woodston area. What I find most

impressive is the quality of the food for the price.

8.5/10

BANYAN TREE, CITY CENTRE

A number of poppadoms to start the meal with. Very nice and crunchy but the pots of sauce were lacking in size.

The mixed platter starter was very tasty which was a great starter. The main was lacking a little in meat but more

than made up for it in spice and flavour. The peshwari naan was great to mop up and the rice was nicely cooked.

A good meal all around

7/10

Curry from the supermarkets

M&S

Poppadoms - 6 in a pack, with three sauces, fresh and crispy!

Starter - Chicken Pakora - lovely, crisp batter and soft chicken.

Main - the ‘best’ range tikka. There was ample enough of delicious chicken breast pieces. Sauce really nice,

plentiful and very very tasty.

Naan – garlic naan lacked in flavour but did a job.

Sides - Sag aloo was a nice compliment to a great main dish.

Overall was lovely. Really good and decent price. Better than most takeaways I have had. 7.5/10

WAITROSE

Had all elements for a decent curry take away. The chicken tikka masala has plenty of sauce and a decent pilau

rice. Ideally there would have been more chicken and a shade more spice. All other elements were present to

mimic a full curry, pops, chutneys, naan and the aloo was just as good as a curry house. 6/10

For more information on the Oakham Curry Club go to www.oakhamcurryclub.com or follow on Instagram @oakhamcurryclub