Is the quality of lowest common denominator Indian takeaway food declining?

[Maurice Picarda]

I gave up on delivered curries for a couple of years but have succumbed a couple of times recently. The sample size is poor, but I get a feeling that the vats of formula curry on which the outlets rely have become substantially nastier, and the skill with which the gloop is mixed with other ingredients has declined.

Do others, especially those who order Indian regularly, notice a downward trend?

 

[DotCommunist]

they just see you coming and dish up the pan scrapings.

 

[Geri]

I don't think so - ours is consistently good, maybe we are just lucky though.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

It's likely that the London market for gloop and for chefs is going to be very different from the Bristol one, though. Perhaps there is a decline, and it will reach you in ten years or so. And Kettering in fifty.

 

[DotCommunist]

theres been some issues with changes to visa law that restricts...hold on

The UK visa cap on the skilled migrants hailing from non-EU nations was announced by the UK Prime Minister David Cameron last week. So, as per the new UK immigration rules, the number of non-EU skilled migrants allowed into the UK have been slashed down to 21,700, resulting in a reduction of 6,300 skilled migrants from the limit for the year 2009.

The new limit will come into effect from April 2011 onwards.

The BHA is worried about the impact of the new visa rules on the £3b UK restaurant sector. The restaurant sector is already finding it difficult to find the requisite number of specialized ethnic hospitality workers in the UK.

The changed UK immigration rules have raised the eligibility requirements under the UK Tier 2 of the PBS (Points Based System) to graduate-level qualifications or above. And these new requirements are likely to restrict bar chefs from non-EU nations to come to the UK and work here.

According to BHA’s chief executive, Ufi Ibrahim, the requirement of graduate-level education is very disastrous for the UK restaurants providing high specialty ethnic dishes of Oriental and Asian origin.

There are around 13,000 ethnic restaurants in the UK which depend on non-EU chefs immigrating to the UK for working here. And they are going to suffer from these recent changes in the UK immigration rules.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

Yes, that's the sort of thing I was thinking of. Toiling in a crap takeaway is a first generation sort of thing to do. One of the many reasons why the PBS is a pain.

 

[pogofish]

Given that curry seems to have become part of the Cash & Carry biz now, I suppose so.

IME, all too many of the cheaper/buffet places are serving-up or barely disguising that they use big tubs of identical heated-up industro slop of very average taste & quality, with only certain starters cooked in-house.

Which is a shame as till not that long ago, curries were one type of meal that you could be almost certain of getting reasonably freshly cooked.

So maybe that is why nearly all the better places round here have either gone open-kitchen, so you can see or taken steps to let you verify that your meal is freshly prepared?

 

[Fidel]

It a job is worth doing etc. These guys are obsessively in search of the ultimate recipes to replicate the old style British restaurant curry flavours at home - http://www.cr0.co.uk/.
Living outside of the UK most of the year with out access to curry restaurants good or bad, the community of British Restaurant Curry fiends of this site have helped me alot. Basically when you have your base sauce/gravy prepared and in the freezer you can knock up stunning curries very fast.

There are various theories to the degradation of the BRC on the site one of which is the ethnicity of ownership of many UK curry houses has changed. I cannot remember from which to which.

 

[Cloo]

I haven't noticed any downward trend - I have noticed about Indian restaurants that there's often little difference between a pricier place and a really cheap one. In fact really cheap ones are sometimes the best - grotty, basic restaurants with quality curry (so grottiness doesn't matter if its takeaway).

 

[stethoscope]

Can't say I've noticed much deterioration this way - we've always had some decent Indian (Muskaan, Himelaya) and other takeaways, whilst plenty of shit in a tray merchants too.

 

[kained&able]

Our takeaway comes from the 2nd finest curry house i have ever been in, therefore they are always on point.

Also we are in there for pretty much everyones birthday so the cehfs etc know our names so we tend to get better service etc.

I love the curry centre with all my heart.

dave

 

[mattie]

The curry centre?

 

[Orang Utan]

i had the worst indian takeaway ever on saturday night - balti king of leeds? shame on you!

 

[seeformiles]

i had the worst indian takeaway ever on saturday night - balti king of leeds? shame on you!

Balti King ? I think that used to be crap old Nafee's by the Uni - indifferent slop for pissed students.

Try Nazam's £14 meal for 2 (2 starters, 2 mains, 1 side dish, Naan, rice, puppadoms and pickle tray) 0113 2438515 - haven't disappointed me yet in 20 years

 

[Johnny.L]

No decline round our way, the more recent openings have generally been an improvement over the places they replaced.

 

[xenon]

I don't think so - ours is consistently good, maybe we are just lucky though.

Who do you use?

 

[_angel_]

theres been some issues with changes to visa law that restricts...hold on

Sorry but, I don't believe that takeaways (as opposed to restaurants) employ specially trained chefs at all, also I don't buy into the idea that nobody here could learn how to cook the dishes.

There are some good takeaways near us, and some rubbish ones too, but the sheer number of them means there'll always be a bit more competition than some other places. Altho had the best curry for ages in Scarboro of all places, and it was cheaper than a takeaway!

ETA : Orang Utang Guru 2 Go are on just eat and are brilliant quality, don't know whether they deliver to your part of Leeds or not.