Dinner At Masala Tandoori In Ashington
Published On Monday 31 Aug 2015 by Sticky Beak
See Recent Dining Out Reviews | See All Recent Reviews
One of the strange quirks of British living is that even the smallest of towns have a curry house and Ashington in Northumberland has a little gem called Masala. From the front it is fairly unremarkable and although the interior isn’t perhaps at the cutting edge of interior design it is very clean and smart, and let me tell you dear reader, the curries are absolutely delicious. And being perfectly honest I’d rather have a great Ruby Murray in last season’s decor than a mediocre offering in a trendy eatery, wouldn’t you?
The Man Bird and I have visited here several times over the last few years, but not since the blog began, so we thought that that situation needed rectifying. On Sunday and Tuesday evenings they do a special deal of 6 courses for £10.95 per person. Certain dishes are restricted from this offer, but you can have them at a small supplemental charge.
We had a poppadom each (which is the first course) as we decided what we wanted for our starters. I decided to have Prawn Cocktail to start and The Man had Chicken Chatt. The Chicken Chatt was piping hot and just spicy enough to give your taste buds a wakeup call without sending them into a state of shock, and there was a plentiful amount of chicken in the sauce too. My Prawn Cocktail was nicely presented with an old school garnish of a whole Cherry on top; there were plenty of prawns in it and the lettuce was chilled and crispy, the tomatoes fresh and firm and there was a nice amount of cocktail sauce on it.
After a short while our main courses came out and we eagerly tucked in. My own Green Bengal Chicken Tikka was lovely; the rich tomato based sauce had a great zesty lime tang to it that made the dish really clean tasting on the palate. The Chicken was chunky and moist and there was plenty of it, so I was very happy with my choice. I had picked the Lemon Pilau rice as my accompaniment and the two citrus flavours worked really well together. His Nibs plumped for the Chicken Tikka Kakrie, and again there was plenty of moist flavoursome meat in it. The onions in the dish had retained just a slight firmness which gave the dish a nice texture in the mouth, and his choice of Onion Pilau rice again worked in harmony with the flavour of the curry. I like the fact that just because you’re eating from a specials menu doesn’t mean your portion size is compromised, you still get a belly busting portion.
Despite our best efforts we just couldn’t quite manage the ice cream course, so we skipped straight onto the coffees. At Masala the coffees are given a cream floater top, rather than just plain old milk from a jug which is something a bit different. The staff are always smartly dressed and very polite, and our server last night was a very new starter called Jack. He had a lovely manner about him and was very obliging and as he learns new skills and his confidence grows he’ll be fantastic.
If you live local to Ashington, or are passing through for whatever reason, you could do a lot worse than pop in to Masala for a curry. Hot Wings to this talented team.
| Out For Dinner At Anoki Indian Restaurant In Nottingham The Anoki team have been at it again; winning awards, that is! At the recent English Curry Awards, they scooped not one, but TWO wins: Best of Nottingham in the Read The Article | |
| Out For Dinner At The Machine Inn, Ashbourne If you're a foodie in the Shire, you'll have heard the name Danny Box; and if you haven't, where the heck you been?!! This very talented Chef has formerly been in kitchens at The Read The Article | |
| Out For Tapas At Venga In Portishead His Nibs and I were working together as part of his day job and, after a solid days graft, decided to head out into Portishead for a bite of dinner. As is usual for me, when the weathers warm, it messes with Read The Article | |
| Sunday Lunch At The Kedleston Country House, Quarndon One of the best bits about the blog, for me, is that over the years we've got to see some raw talent at its inception and one of these happens to be Mr Leo Hill. Back in the day Read The Article | |
| Breakfast At The Cool River Cafe In Matlock Bestie Bird and Ginger Ninja came to stay for the weekend with His Nibs and I whilst The Bolton Wanderer wandered further than Bolton to Florida to see his favourite band! Our best-laid plans were Read The Article | |
| A Visit To The Newly Opened Hickory's Smokehouse In Oadby, Leicester The Man and I's favourite Smokehouse, Hickory's, added another string to its bow (or another steer to its ranch, if you want a Southern States analogy!) Read The Article | |
| Out For Dinner At Anoki Indian Restaurant In Derby It's always nice to know that you've done something right, and The Man and I figured that this must be the case as we were invited to review Anoki in Derby after recently visiting its Burton Read The Article | |
| Sunday Lunch At The Wheatsheaf Pub and Pantry, Bakewell Over the period of many years, decades, actually, His Nibs and I have eaten and/or drunk at The Wheatsheaf Pub and Pantry in Bakewell. It has been the best part of a year since Read The Article | |
| Sunday Lunch At The Barrel Inn, Bretton I don't care what anyone says, when the suns shining, there's no place more beautiful in the world than Derbyshire. With it being forecast to be a glorious weekend, The Man had set-to and booked Read The Article | |
| Sunday Lunch At The Prince Of Wales, Baslow It's been a fair while since The Man and I went into the Prince of Wales gastropub in Baslow, but I'm happy to report that nothing has changed since then; the super-friendly team and relaxing Read The Article | |