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Review of Teza Indian Canteen and bar in Carlisle by Cecilia Campbell

CeciliaC

39 posts

Joined
10/6/2005

Review of Teza Indian Canteen and bar in Carlisle by Cecilia Campbell
Posted: 10 Sep 06 5:16 AM Modified By admin on 6/20/2007 2:36:46 AM)

Most recent visit: September 2, for lunch
Telephone: 01228 525111
www.teza.com

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.

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

thebinseyblogger

3 posts

Joined
6/16/2007

Re: Review of Teza Indian Canteen and bar in Carlisle by Cecilia Campbell
Posted: 16 Jun 07 8:04 AM

Thanks to Artisan we too tried the Teza just last night - a rainy friday early evening slot. The night was a real mixture of experiences - some good, some bad. Fortunately, the good elements were the food. There is indeed plenty of flavour. This isn't your usual preservative laden, brightly neon coloured sauced indian (the fault is that most indians are run by bangladeshi's - so they'd have you believe - thats right, just blame it on your nearest neighbours, afterall we've made a national past time of it vis a vis france). The decor is also different: high ceilings, no hanging silks cascading gathering dust & no fish tanks or garden fountains inside in the waiting area. Its minimal and plain in an airy enough way, although don't go expecting a take your breath away john paulson like minimalist experience - its more minimalist by debenhams. Tidy enough all the same, although the busted door to the gents lavatory suggests you can take the frippery out of the indian dining experience but you can't take the thuggery out of the late night clientele? Anyway, the food is good - there were a few misses, the contemporary duck nidiri dish featured bland duck (supposedly marinated in spices) and an overpowering thick sauce. However 3/4 ain't bad for our party. Dessert wise - wow, some were actually home made (in an indian - noramlly the preserve of sarah-lee style artificiality), although the portion sizes of say the choc torte were stingy to say the least. However, something to really watch out for was the service: we were rather snootily told by the head waiter (who gave us the same bangladeshi schtikk) that the offer on the website was no longer valid - come on update it then!!!!!! thats one of the reasons we came in the first place! Worse though, was his inability to spot our annoyance. Then, when we asked for the chardonnay, reduced from £15 to £10 thanks to a voucher in the actual menu, we were told you had to bring in a token (thousands having been posted thru the letterboxes of carlisle apparently). Surely, if you've an offer on, the actual paper voucher is superfluous. Should we have brought scissors with us to cut out the same said voucher from the menus we were given when we walked in!! Daft. It has to be said though that the young english, chinese and polish waiters/waitresses who served us were very polite and apologetic (pity about their boss). So pay it a visit - because its a treat to have an indian serving up food thats minus the preservatives (although no indication of local meat sourcing yet), but watch for how your treated and stand up for yourselves - a missive that goes for whatever the "service" is YOU'RE paying for.

admin

26 posts

Joined
6/13/2005

Re: Review of Teza Indian Canteen and bar in Carlisle by Cecilia Campbell
Posted: 06 Apr 08 10:07 AM

I visited Teza whilst in Carlisle, for a quick lunch. I had a lamb dish, with their fantastic Naam bread. It was perfect. A little expensive for lunch on your own, but certainly not lacking in flavour. It looks like Teza doesn't have much of a lunchtime trade as again it was pretty empty. Food wise it certainly scored for me again. - martin

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Teza in Carlisle

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