Cuisine worth travelling for

ZAFFLONG is a constant temptation. The Indian restaurant, bar and takeaway is on my regular running route in sunny Belmont, on the edge of Durham City. Thankfully, I’m usually out exercising on a morning, so while there might occasionally be a faint aroma of sub-continental cuisine, the venue is firmly closed – a cheeky chicken bhuna firmly out of the question.

Sweaty and tired and heading homeward, I have often promised myself I would return later – one recent warm Friday evening, I did, with my wife.

This is not your average local curry house.

It is worth travelling to – quite appropriate, really, as it adjoins the Travellers Rest pub.

The pub used to own the whole building.

Now Zafflong is the landlord and the Indian restaurant leases a small area back to the English pub.

Inside, the restaurant does have a typical curry house feel, but the venue’s history remains clear.

On entering by the restaurant door, dining guests pass through a firmly pub-style hall, complete with pub lounge stained-glass doors and pub toilets. The dining area is through a second door. It is split-level, with tables sweeping ahead and round to the left, leading to the bar. Tranquil images of rural India line the walls, accompanied by deep browns and reds.

As we arrived, at around 7pm, just two tables were occupied – and the venue became little busier throughout our stay.

Sarah and I were not greeted immediately but were welcomed by a friendly and polite waiter before reaching the bar, and then shown to a small table near the kitchen entrance.

Unfortunately, a screen blocking us off from said door stopped a little short, leaving Sarah feeling slightly exposed and selfaware.

Curiously, each table had a bottle of wine standing on it when unoccupied.

“Is that complimentary?” I asked the waiter. Sadly not, I learned, although our host did offer a generous chuckle at the gag.

Zafflong’s menu is more than your average Indian; everything you would expect is there, plus a connoisseurs’ choice section and a large range of main dishes, with detailed descriptions of the ingredients and spices involved. To start, Sarah played it safe with a vegetable samosa (£3.95), which she enjoyed, despite commenting the casing was a little soggy.

By contrast, I went for something way out of my comfort zone: the king prawn bhaji on puree (£4.25). I was glad to have chosen it; nothing chanced, nothing gained. To be honest, the prawns were too crunchy; so I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped.

For main course, Sarah delved into the connoisseurs’ choices and went for murgh makhani (£8.75), described as succulent chicken in a rich almond sauce; while I plumped for something a little hotter: chicken jaypur (£6.95). As is our usual practice with Indian food, we plonked both dishes in the middle of the table between us and shared, tapas style. The two choices proved to be a nice contrast: the makhani a vivid red colour and relatively thin; the jaypur drier, chunkier and hotter.

For sides, we chose a peshwari nan (£2.70); a sag paneer (£3.95) – cheese lightly spiced with spinach; and nut pilau rice (£3.80).

On ordering, we weren’t convinced the waiter had paid us enough attention and, sadly, this proved to be the case. Our meals arrived without the rice, prompting another waiter, charged with delivering our food, to ask if we had ordered any, storm off into the kitchen to demand it of his chef.

This wasn’t a major issue – the food was of a high standard, amply washed down with a pint or two of draught lager. Although we finished everything we had ordered, this left us both thoroughly, perhaps overly, full.

Certainly ordering both rice and nan for one would be unnecessary.

Our bill came to £44.55 – which we felt was fairly reasonable for what we had enjoyed.

The background music, for those for whom this is important, was modern Indian pop music played at a pleasant volume.

The bonus of Zafflong sharing its premises with the Travellers Rest was we could pop next door afterwards, which we did. While Zafflong does not compare with venues such as The Capital, it is a cut above the local curry house standard.

Ratings:

Food Quality: 3/5

Surroundings: 3/5

Service: 3/5

Value: 3/5