Saffron Indian Restaurant

Plenty of things bring me joy in life. Food is quite high on the list, no surprise there I’m sure 🙂 Combine that with a bargain and I’m one happy camper! My boss, Boss B, recently let me know that his local Indian restaurant had a 50% special going. Well say no more I said! Some quick googling later and it was confirmed that Saffron Indian Restaurant did indeed have a week day special running so I secured one of the available dates and popped it in the calendar for GG and I. Now as it turned out I had another commitment come up on the same Tuesday I had booked Saffron but they very kindly let me shift to the night before and keep the Dimmi special. Lovely!

We arrived right on 6. What can I say we enjoy an early bird week day dinner experience 🙂 All that it’s a school night caper really seems to ring true when you know you have to drag yourself out of bed at 6am. We were shown to a table near the window and gave the menu a polite goings over even though by and large we tend to order the same mains when we head out for Indian and it was just the starters I had wanted to run past my dining companion. Now this is a good thing about my GG, and I should point out there are many good things, but one of them is that he’s pretty agreeable on the food front. So when the waitress came back for our drinks order we were also ready to roll on the food front. We mixed proceedings up slightly and ordered beers instead of wine but the weather was warm and the food could have been spicy (if I’d ordered hot dishes which granted I didn’t) but it seemed like a good fit. We nibbled on pappadums while we waited for our Chef’s Platter to arrive.

Chef’s Platter: selection of Samosa, Onion Bhaji, Seekh Kebabs, Chicken Tikka and Shahi Prawns 

We seem to have developed a habit of eating plenty for entrees so that putting a respectable dent in the mains is something of a challenge but I felt confident we could work our way through starters and power onwards and upwards to mains on this occasion. As soon as I saw the generous platter arrive I knew perhaps just going straight to the main event might have been a better idea but as I sampled the first crispy piece of onion bhaji I could have cared less if I didn’t eat anything else! So tasty and just a mountain of it. I tell you that’s how you showcase an onion! Cut it up, coat it in seasoned chick pea flower and deep fry it to this golden wonder. Just delicious. From here I took my pice of chicken tikka which was a wonderful flavoursome affair and such moist chook! The crumbed shahi prawn was next up and it was a very good prawn. So plump and plenty of flavour in its light crumb. An Indian style sausage, the seekh kebab, was also included, which was tasty but I found it a little dry, just in comparison to the chook and prawn I suppose. We left the samosa to the end and decided we’d split it. It was nice but didn’t quite stand out as much as the first three tasty morsels had. In all though a really wonderful starter and by some Christmas miracle (and because I had arrived more than a little peckish) I was still ready to tackle mains.

We ordered Butter Chicken and then the Lamb Korma, which came on Boss B’s recommendation. Along with that was steamed rice and butter naan, because GG and I are definite converts now to the butter naan scene. Honestly what had we been thinking with plain naan for so long 🙂

The dishes were delivered and strategically arranged on the table, like a game of tetris so everything would fit. The aroma of Indian food is just intoxicating! I think even if I was maxed out I would still have some how found extra room to sample both these dishes.

We set about loading up our plates with some of everything. Then it was time for the first sampling of the sauce with some of crispy and indulgently buttery naan. I started with the lamb korma. The sauce had a wonderfully nutty texture and I was appreciate of the recommendation because it was just delicious! The pieces of lamb had been lovingly slow cooked to a perfect tenderness and just melted in your mouth. Two thumbs up from us both.

The butter chicken had a rich tomatoy flavour and ample pieces of chicken within its saucy depths. While butter chicken usually wins  the battle of the Indian mains I have to say that on my visit to Saffron the lamb korma won the day. That sauce! Just so tasty!

I thoroughly enjoyed our visit to first visit to Saffron. Fast, friendly service and really liked the food. Plenty of flavour, plenty of meat and plenty of onion bhaji. We figure too that its close enough to home to become our new favoured Indian take away. So I’m sure we’ll be enjoying their lamb korma again before too long.