When you’ve been in a car for any length of time, you want to get out of it, and in my case and Bob’s get out and eat. Having avoided a jam and gone by way of Salford to get to Warrington from Darlington taking nigh on 3 hours we were excited by tonights recommendation Cardamon, in Stockton Heath.
Thank you Natalie Marsh of Q Hotels – competition entrant number 2, see Big Sales Lunch Competition, in tabs.
Our mood of slow moving traffic had been softened nicely by Salford City FM.
We parked in a residential area, sprang from the car full of the joys of training our first group of Halford’s store managers, a great bunch from Newcastle who engaged fully and were open to lots of ideas. And then we saw Cardamon, a restaurant above a Nandos, the strangely popular to be found on retail parks and near a cinema, chain.
We reached the top of the stairs and were warmly greeted by Junaid, who we told energetically about our recommendation. “We love to see new faces, you’re so welcome,” he said, a great starter.I went for Kingfisher draught and Bob had the Cobra, with plenty of popadums to kick the evening off. Their mint sauce was thicker than is usual and their mango chutney very subtle.
Bob had tiger prawns to start and didn’t need to try the additional coleslaw they had brought in a pot to go with it, it was delightful as it was.
They had made a real effort to impress and asked me what I usually had and suggested retaining some of the ingredients I love but going in a different direction. I kept my love of lentils which they added to a rogan josh chicken dish and Bob had one of their specials, a south indian garlic chicken. We had gobi – cauliflower and sag aloo for sides.
My dish was very filling with large cuts of chicken in a rich thick sauce. It had too much onion and tomato to eat, but even when I’d had enough there was still chicken left, so that was in no way padding, rather, just lots of food. Bob made the right noises as he savoured his dish, and he loved the gobi that accompanied it, much less filling than potato and yet a good carb for someone not eating rice or nan bread.
With Indian restaurants I always find myself comparing tastes to my local restaurant so by eating a different dish I enjoyed eating without that need to remark on the differences. As we left we took a photo with Junaid and talked to the manager about his press cuttings. A huge tiger fish had been a feast for 200 people and they had come third in the Guinness World Records largest onion bhaji record breaking attempt.”Wow!” I said marvelling at their endeavours, “Have you been here for a long time then?”He replied “Just two years, we are still a new business, a new business.”
With their attitude, desire to please, great food and keen understanding of marketing I think they can look forward to being a very established and successful one.
