Back Out At The Shalimar Indian Restaurant In Darley Dale

Friday 14 Feb 2025 by Sticky Beak
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Things that start out as a ‘we’ll try it and see what we think’, sometimes work out really well and happen year after year; thus, becoming a tradition. This is exactly the scenario that happened with the ‘let’s kick Christmas off’ get-together at Darwin Forest with Bestie Bird, The Bolton Wanderer and Ginger Ninja. Piggy-backing on the back of it was the eating out aspect at The Shalimar Indian restaurant in Darley Dale…not a bad thing at all, if you ask any of us!

Despite a year passing, GN was still not going to try a curry; she knows what she likes, and likes what she knows – namely the Sirloin Steak here. However, that didn’t stop her from pilfering some Poppadoms and Mango Chutney! You can’t go out for a curry and not have Poppadoms with the Pickles Tray; well, you can, but what sort of weirdo are you???!! The other thing that His Nibs and TBW do is have the bottles of King Cobra. We’ve only ever encountered them at Shalimar, so for the chaps, that is a non-negotiable, dead-cert on the beverage front. BB and I just had a glass of house white each.

The menu at The Shalimar is excellent, and there’s a wide choice of starters to get your appetite going. In fact, the difficulty we have is narrowing our choices down; hard enough when there’s only two of us, but even more so when in a group! Our dilemma was easily solved by the cracking suggestion from Shalimar’s team that we go with a selection of their own favourite starters (not on the menu), so that’s what we did.

A huge selection of vegetable and meat-containing morsels was set before us on the lazy Susan, sizzling away in the large cast-iron skillet, and the aromas made us all smile as they drifted up to our nostrils on the steam. Without exception, everything was delicious: the meats were juicy and tender, the veggies nicely crunchy, and the variety of spices used meant that there was a wide flavour profile to enjoy. By the time we’d cleared the platter, we all glanced at each other and said “Crikey! That was just the first course!”. The team gave us a bit of an interlude before bringing out our mains…clearly our faces had said it all!

Every so often, I get a hankering for something not on the menu – going off-piste as we call it in our house. On this particular evening, I fancied a tomato-based, King Prawn curry and I really like Coriander and Chilli so wanted to have those in my meal. Chef is very accommodating, and did me a medium-hot curry, using my request as a guideline. BB loves the Fish Desi at The Shalimar, so she chose that. The gents decided that my idea was a pretty nifty one and came off-piste with me; a medium-spiced Chicken and Keema (minced Lamb) curry was offered to them after listening to their preferences. We ordered Peshwari and Coriander and Garlic Naans, Lemon and Cashew Rice, and Mushroom Pilau to share among ourselves. GN requested that her steak be cooked medium/rare – yes, a teen that actually appreciates meat!

You certainly can’t fault the portion sizes at The Shalimar; the team all came bearing large bowls of curries, rices and breads; there looked enough to feed a small army, never mind four folks. Another member brought out the Steak and GN wasted no time at all getting stuck in – she’s her Auntie’s gal, and no mistake. Mind you, you weren’t too shabby in the speed stakes as we set-to with dishing up all the sundries amongst ourselves and scooping out spoonfuls of curry onto our own plates.

Both the blokes loved the thickness of their curry base; the minced Lamb undoubtedly gives it some oomph. Flavour wise, it adds a beautiful earthy undertone to the dish that the creamy Chicken rounds out. Layers of spice added a nice punch of heat over their tongues, but not enough to have them reaching for the yoghurt. A gentle heat flickered at the back of their throats without imparting any unpleasant lip-tingle; the sign of a skilfully made medium spice curry.

Bestie Bird was happily chomping through her plentiful fish curry, remarking on just how delicious it was. I had a cheeky sample of it, and it really was superb; Chef had managed to somehow enhance the mild, sweet fish notes with spices that didn’t overwhelm but still packed a decent punch. The fish retained its firmness rather than breaking into a gazillion miniscule bits, but was easily flaked by gentle pressure form cutlery. My own curry was also a total treat; the sizeable King prawns were soft and juicy with a gorgeous sweet perfume to their flesh. I got a clear taste of the fragrant Coriander, its clean notes pinging against the richer, earthier spices that were held in the sweet Tomato sauce.

Across the table from me, Ginger Ninja was showing the Sirloin steak who was boss! She said that the flavour of the beef was great but that it was a bit more towards the medium than rare that she would naturally prefer. Just like her Uncle Paul (The Man Bird), GN is a good old salad dodger; none of the beautiful mixed salad got eaten…but she did wolf all the chips down!

Throughout our meal, the team took extraordinary care of us, checking in regularly to keep drinks flowing and to ensure that we were all satisfied with our dishes. As magnificent as the curries were, they always need good sundries as their supporting crew, and the Naans and rice dishes more than delivered. The rice was marvellously fluffy and had its corresponding partner in spades; namely sliced Mushrooms, Lemon peel and Cashew nuts. As soon as I took a bite from the Naan bread, my palate pinged with recognition; The Shalimar team do the most incredibly puffy, light Naans that are such a joy to savour.

It took us a while, but we produced (other than the salad that GN had left) a quintet of clean plates – testament to the skill of Chef and his team. Hot Wings happily awarded again to this wonderful Darley Dale restaurant. To book a table or ring through a takeaway order call 01629 735999.