Subject: Teza Indian Canteen and Bar, Carlisle Author: Cecilia Campbell Date: 4/2/2009 Body: RATING Total 22 Great atmosphere 3 Home cooked fresh food 5 Plenty of flavour 5 Good value for money 5 Service with a smile 4 Telephone: 01228 525111 www.teza.com Original review: September 2, 2006, for lunch Annette Gibbons recommended that we visit this fairly new establishment in Carlisle, so on a rainy Saturday during a shopping spree to the city, we did. The canteen was completely empty when we arrived just before one o'clock, but we decided not to be deterred by this fact. Which turned out to be the right decision! The waiter explained that lunch trade is generally slow, but that the place is heaving at night time. We can see why: The dining room has a open plan modern design, very unlike more traditional Indian establishments. (We have judged the atmosphere on our experience on the day, rather than what it might be like at night.) Also, we found out that, whereas most of the latter actually serve Bangladeshi fare, head chef Dinesh Rawat works with regional Indian cuisines. We had a look at the dinner menu, which contains both a selection of contemporary mains and more traditional ones, plus a good selection of mouthwatering vegetarian offerings, such as Methi Matar Malai (a creamy melange of fresh fenugreek, spinach and green peas) and Chana Pindi (soft chick peas drenched in a semi dry Masala of cumin seed and garlic). The dinner starters are about 5 pounds, and the mains between £7 and £11. So – lunch. The menu was much smaller, but everything sounded delicious, and with starter prices at £2-2.50 and mains around £5, we quickly decided to try a couple of things each. I started with butterfly prawns, deep fried in coconut crumbs and served with a sweet and sour tomato chutney – great flavour and texture. Martin had the Palak onion bhaji, which was even better, just the right heat and really tasty. I followed with Mulligatawny (curried lentil soup, with chicken in my case, also comes in a vegetarian version), which was simply divine, again just the right spicyness, lovely creamy, coconutty texture and very satisfying thanks to the lentils. Martin's second was a lamb masala, one of the best curries he's had eating out. It was a completely different standard than the curries you normally get in an Indian restaurant, with not just spice but also lovely subtle flavours (his words). It was such a treat to get such great, fresh, flavourful food, and at a great price to boot. By Cecilia Campbell   Cancel