The Thali Cafe

I've made it fairly obvious that I love food; hearty but healthy home cooked food cannot be matched and I regard microwave meals as the devil in plastic packaging. But I'm not ashamed to say that I also bloody love an Indian takeaway. There's nothing quite like that feeling of elation as you rip off the cardboard slips to reveal the creamy, fatty, spicy goodness swimming around beneath in their flimsy foil containers, whilst brutally tearing off bits of peshwari naan with your teeth like an animal with a fresh kill. Roughly two and a half minutes later you sit panting and sweating, up to your wrists in tikka masala and eyeing up that last bit of massacred bhaji, contemplating why it looks so revolting yet so delicious at the same time. It is fantastic.

However, there is a specific time for a takeaway curry in order to fully appreciate the sheer, carnal delight of it and that is not often, not only for the sake of our arteries but also because if we had them too regularly we'd probably realise how gross they really are. This is where the proper places, the real deals of the curry world, come into play. The Thali Cafe is such an establishment. Over the last decade or so they have become a bit of Bristol institution with five Thali Cafes opening over the city- Clifton, Easton, Montpelier, Southville and Totterdown- so on Tuesday evening Elly, Iona and I headed over to their residence in Clifton Village to see what they had to offer.

The restaurant itself is wonderfully eclectic. Spread over three floors, giant plants and fairy lights wind their way up through the restaurant, whilst the white wicker sofas and retro indian posters work together with the brightly coloured walls and huge windows to give the place a sort of exotic-grotto-come-50's-kitsch feel, almost naff but with a charm that veers it away from being tacky. Not your typical curry house, this place has something strikingly unique about it.

This can also be said of the menu. I often get sweaty palms just looking at the typical Indian menu- it takes me long enough to decide which tasteless sandwich I want from a service station let alone when having to choose between 79 different types of biryani (usually resulting in panic ordering a hideously boring korma) so The Thali Cafe's small but perfectly formed menu is a real breath of fresh air. With a carefully chosen selection of sides, dhaba (small plates), light dishes and of course their Thali's, you are bound to end up with something delicious.

Order some poppadoms and a tray of their homemade chutneys to munch on while you decide. Although a small selection, everything was tempting us so we solicited the help of the waitress to aid our decision. At her advice, we got a Thali each and then ordered a few sides between us to share. We rather boringly all went for the Lamb Kofta Thali but when it is described as 'a rich and warming dish with locally sourced spiced lamb meatballs in a coconut, tomato and cinnamon sauce', how could we realistically resist? For those of you who (like me) hadn't heard of a Thali until now, it apparently refers to the way meals are eaten over in India; a variety of dishes are served all together in stainless steel, compartmentalised dishes (Thali is the name for these dishes- think a paella or tagine).

As well as the main curry, these Thalis all come with Rajasthani pumpkin curry, tarka dahl, crunchy Keralan salad, Basmati rice and raita. A veritable feast indeed. In contrast to takeaway curries, this version was just as rich, but beautifully aromatic and much more fresh.

For the sides, we opted for the Kashmiri Potato Bondas (battered balls of spices potato with fresh ginger, coconut and lime with sticky mango chutney) and the Mumbai Fish Cakes (pollock and haddock fish cakes blended with fresh green herbs and spices with a mango chilli dip). The potato bondas were perhaps a tad stodgy for me and lacking a little of the punch and sharpness I expected from the ginger and lime, but otherwise both dishes were a delicious accompaniment for the Thalis.

We ate our weight in aromatic curry goodness and still didn't leave with that greasy, self-loathing feeling that is so common post takeaway curry. No dodgy packaging or bhajis in sight, just good, authentic Indian street food, all housed in a Bristolian come Indian wonderland.

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