Curry Challenge
B2 Tandoori and Royce Balti -Beech Road
 
Curry snobs would rather visit Kathmandu than the two curry houses based on Beech Road. However they do offer convenient food and freindly service at an affordable price. Sounds like a sales pitch. We decided to review the most popular meals at B2 and Royce to see if there was any difference between the two.
curry challenge move those forks
So nine people gathered at a house close to Beech Road on a rainy Sunday evening to test the meals. Minutes of the last meeting, matters arising. There aren't any. Get on with it. After much discussion the five 'Chicken Eaters' split with the 'Veggies' ( two of whom weren't vegetarians). A note of caution ordering by committee takes about an hour. Thankfully the decision not to get some Chinese hot meals was carried with one abstention . Fortunately compromises were made and no secret exhaustive ballots were needed. Phoning through the order to the two establishments was the easy part.		 Chicken eaters went for :-
Chicken Tikka Masala,
Chicken Dopiaza, 
and for some inexplicable reason only one Lamb Korma was ordered from Royce. This is Claire "can we have a korma ? Can we? Can we ?" Worn down by the persistent reasoning the others wearily agreed "Yes, yes alright then".

Veggies went for
Vegetable Rogan Josh 
Vegetable Balti
Saag Chana

Shared dishes
Naan, 
Pilau rice, 
Chapati
The Popadoms and Mango Chutney

Each meal was marked out of five (one is inedible and five is excellentissimo ) and totalled up. Do we have a result from the 'Masterchef Acres Road jury'…..

Both sets of meals were adequate, however B2 scored higher on service, with Royce meals scoring substantially higher over all. 
Within 20 minutes the meals were ready and two were dispatched to collect the food. "Quick phone them up we haven't enough forks to go round . Call on Alison and John on the way back and borrow some." So to the eating!! Keep those meat spoons out of the 'veggie' dishes… Washed down with wines and bottles of Stella Artois. Topped off with a game of a 'Revel' roulette - apparently coffee creams are considered a disaster. 

B2 :0161 881 5454 
open 1600- 23.30
Royce: 0161 861 7080
1600  2330 (midnight Friday / Saturday)
 
 

 To summarise:
Royce came top in every meal category with an average of 3.75, with the B2 alternatives trailing on 3.17. Not that the marking was consistent. The left wing vegetarian Veggies chose the drier Royce's Saag Chana and the B2 mango chutney because it had a hint of ginger. The moderate non-vegetarian 'Veggies' preferred B2's Saag Chana and Royce's chutney. The extra Korma dish didn't get marked and hardly got eaten. Cost per person £5.40. Stuffed to the gills, a bloated waddle home. 


The Great Kathmandu (Indian and Nepalese restaurant and takeway ) is at 140 Burton Road, West Didsbury phone  434 6413 / 2145, and at 190 Mauldeth Road, Burnage phone 442 2900.