Hello again dear reader, I hope this blog finds you all Hale and Hearty? It’s been a while since we dragged the Tribal Elders out (well a few weeks, anyway), so we told them to have a good preen and spruce up as we were paying Jeera at Codnor a visit.
There is a large car park conveniently located across the road from the restaurant, so there’s no faffing about for when you go there. Jeera has lovely spacious premises decorated in cream and red that is complimented by deep rich brown seating. Glass bricks make a nice feature, and the modern red canopy lights will certainly be a talking point for any customers.
The menu itself is very extensive, with something to suit all taste buds and vegetarians are catered for well too. For our starters we ordered 2 mixed platters, Prawn Puri, Chicken Chat on Puri and Fish Tikka Shashlik. The Elders cleared their mixed platters pretty smart-ish and said that they were delicious, and my Chick said that her Prawn Puri was very tasty. The Prawns were very succulent and the Puri bread was lovely and light, so she was a happy girl. The Man Bird had no complaints about his Chicken Chat, it was a healthy sized portion for a starter and he agreed that the Puri bread was lovely, not greasy at all. My own Fish Shashlik was delicious to say the least; the fish was firm and moist with just the vaguest hint of translucency left (one of my biggest bugbears is over-cooked, dry fish as you know).The sauce was supremely flavoursome, to compare it to a smoky BBQ flavour wouldn’t do it justice at all, but it did have hints of that rich, smokiness to it.
We were all looking forward to our main courses after the delights of the starters, and I have to say that we weren’t left disappointed in the least. My choice of Badashi King Prawn was simply superb - if I had a big enough tummy I could’ve eaten it all day for the rest of the week ! Likewise, The Boy Wonder was equally impressed with his choice of Chicken Rezala. The off the bone Tandoori Chicken was succulent and chunky and the spicy sauce had a great roundness to the flavour rather than just a sharp heat as you sometimes get. My Chick opted for her favourite choice of King Prawn Rogan Josh, and was not disappointed in any way. My Mummy Bird went for the Chicken Makhani as the idea of grated Cheese topping a curry intrigued her. When her dish came she was chirruping with delight as the cheese went perfectly with the creamy tomato and butter sauce. There was plenty of Chicken in evidence too.
The big surprise of the evening came from My Daddy Bird. Those of you who read my blogs regularly will be familiar with the “distinguishing“ tastes of this Elders taste buds, so when he chose the Chefs Special for his main course we all dropped our beaks in amazement. He asked for the medium spices to be made milder, as to his liking, which the waiter said would be no problem. We all watched, spell-bound, as he took the first taste of his curry. We blinked, and it had been eaten....... Seriously dear reader, I have never in all the years I have eaten with my Dad ever known him to enjoy a meal so entirely as he did with this dish. When he cleaned the plate of every last drop of sauce, he declared it to be (and I quote) “The best, tastiest curry I have ever had, by a country mile“. Now if that isn’t a ringing endorsement of a dish then I don’t know what is! We had Pilau Rice and a Vegetable stuffed Paratha Bread and a Garlic Naan to accompany the main dishes too, and these were equally well cooked - lovely light fluffy breads that had no greasiness at all, and packed full of flavours.
When it came to choosing desserts, the younger Flock members rose to the challenge (these Tribal Elders just can’t take the pace anymore ;), and ordered a Ferrero Rocher dessert and 2 Chocolate Indulgences. No surprises, they were all exceedingly yummy, as we had come to expect by this point in the proceedings.
Throughout the evening the staff were very attentive and polite, and they were very knowledgeable about all their dishes. Everything about Jeera was superb, from the attire of the staff right down to the sparkle on the cutlery, so it is with great confidence that I can recommend that you pay a visit to Jeera. Whether it’s just for a midweek meal out, to a weekend celebration with friends - you won’t be disappointed. Hot Wings well deserved for Team Jeera :)
