Kayal
I haven't written anything for ages because, well, nothing has happenned. I got a bit bored of going to the same places over and over again and writing about how great they were. But behold! My cup runneth over. There is a new show in town.
Today we went to sample the Nottingham Tram Walk. This involves riding the tram to Hucknall and then walking through deprived, gun-ridden and chav-infested Bestwood Village to the otherwise idyllic Bestwood Park and Big Wood. The journey on the tram from Nottinham station was by stages exciting, almost European, impressive, then suddenly bleak and then increasingly depressing and ultimately frightening. Hucknall is the end of the line allright.
Returning to civilisation I felt in need of a drink and we went to the Broadway cafe bar to have one. I was brought up short by a new restaurant on Broad Street offering the cuisine of Southern India, specifically Kerala.
Kayal has been open a month and is still in the phase of youthful idealism which invariably precedes a steady decline into complacency or profiteering. The interior decor is a disaster area (think Swedish sauna crossed with miners welfare club) but the food was excellent.
I had a Thali (it goes by some other name at Kayal) which was truly superb, particularly in the vegetarian options. The variety was excellent and I didn't recognise a single thing on the menu - you will search in vain for Chicken Tikka Masala and all that rubbish, it's all authentic stuff from India's lesser known south.
The prices are utterly ludicrous and I fail to see how they can sustain them at these levels. It has got to be the cheapest good quality city centre restaurant there is. We paid £35 for two, with a bottle of wine and were more than satisfied. An outstanding debut - let's hope that they can keep it up.
Today we went to sample the Nottingham Tram Walk. This involves riding the tram to Hucknall and then walking through deprived, gun-ridden and chav-infested Bestwood Village to the otherwise idyllic Bestwood Park and Big Wood. The journey on the tram from Nottinham station was by stages exciting, almost European, impressive, then suddenly bleak and then increasingly depressing and ultimately frightening. Hucknall is the end of the line allright.
Returning to civilisation I felt in need of a drink and we went to the Broadway cafe bar to have one. I was brought up short by a new restaurant on Broad Street offering the cuisine of Southern India, specifically Kerala.
Kayal has been open a month and is still in the phase of youthful idealism which invariably precedes a steady decline into complacency or profiteering. The interior decor is a disaster area (think Swedish sauna crossed with miners welfare club) but the food was excellent.
I had a Thali (it goes by some other name at Kayal) which was truly superb, particularly in the vegetarian options. The variety was excellent and I didn't recognise a single thing on the menu - you will search in vain for Chicken Tikka Masala and all that rubbish, it's all authentic stuff from India's lesser known south.
The prices are utterly ludicrous and I fail to see how they can sustain them at these levels. It has got to be the cheapest good quality city centre restaurant there is. We paid £35 for two, with a bottle of wine and were more than satisfied. An outstanding debut - let's hope that they can keep it up.
posted by Nottingham Diner | 10:00 PM
2 Comments:
Yum. Loved Kayal. Best restaurant we've eaten in for ages.
I went to Kayal last night with high expectations. Alas, although the food was good, they were let down by exceedingly slow service.
It took several minutes for anyone to take our drinks orders, which didn't augur well. We'd been there over an hour by the time we got our starters.
We got our main courses, after having been there for more than two hours, only by getting up to leave.
The manager was apologetic and "comped" the meal. The food was tasty, and we were glad we didn't have to pay after all that; however, I don't think it's enough to make me go back.
Post a Comment
<< Home