Aldershot 16th April 2013

Aldershot v Southend., 16th April 2013

Venue - The Bengal Lancer, High Street, Aldershot

Attendees - Me, Malcolm, Rick

I've only been to Aldershot once before; last February, when Southend put in one of the worst away performances I've had the misfortune to witness in a 2-0 defeat where we failed to register a shot at goal.  We ate at the Bengal Lancer in the High Street, about 10 mins walk from the ground.  I seem to remember it was ok, so we thought we'd revisit this year, especially as Aldershot were bottom of the football league and  looking very likely to drop out (especially if SOuthend won) so we may not be back for a while.

With the season petering out, there were only 3 of us on the trip, about 50% down from what we would normally expect to take.  I drove down with Malc and Rick was meeting us there having arrived on the train.

We arrived just before 6pm and were the only ones in the stereotypical Indian restaurant; clean but dated with an interesting colour scheme of blue and cream walls with a green carpet.

The toilets were old but spotless and they served both Cobra and Kingfisher on draft, much to Malcolms delight.  As the driver, it made no real difference to me as Coke tastes pretty much the same out of a can, bottle or pump.

We ordered puppodums and pickles while we waited for Rick and these were of the standard commercial type, average and unspectacular.

When it came to order the meal, Rick went for Vegetable Biryani, Malcolm had his usual meat Madras and I went for a Chicken Kochi, three completely different dishes. It was therefore a surprise to see that all three looked virtually identical in their serving dishes and we had to be actually told which was which.  The keema rice and mushroom pilau were also virtually indistinguishable by sight. Notwithstanding that, it tasted pretty good... it's hard to do anything spectacular with a Biryani, my Kochi was delicious if a little too mild and Malcolm's Madras was one of the better ones he has had.

Onion bhajis and peshwari naan completed the feast.  The bill arrived and for the meal including 2 rounds of drinks each it was a very reasonable £20 per head including tip.  Not too shabby.

Marks - 

Exterior - 6
Surroundings - 6
Interior - 6
Toilets - 6
Service - 7
Quality - 7
Value - 8

Overall - 6.57 - Ok, would probably try somewhere different next time if we ever go to Aldershot again as they look like they will be relegated out of the league.

The football -

A comfortable 2-0 win against a side huffing and puffing with as much penetration as an impotent eunuch. The play offs are still on but only just about and in our dreams.

Southend - home game v Plymouth, 19th March 2013

Home v Plymouth - March 2013

Date - 19/3/13

Venue - The Mamataz Mahal, London Rd, Westcliff

Attendees - Me, JB, Bill, Liz, Dave G, Mike, Malc.

As Southend prepared for their 3rd home game in a week, we thought we'd sample a pre-game curry in our home town, so we picked probably the closest one to Roots Hall -The Mamataz Mahal near the Palace Theatre, Westcliff.

On arrival, the restaurant was empty except for someone waiting to collect a takeaway and who offered to take a picture, so at last I'm in one as opposed to behind the camera!

We ordered drinks, poppodums and pickles plus main courses and rice.  There was a sweet chilli pickle/dip that was absolutely delicious and homemade and which I'd never come across in an Indian (more of a Thai influence I think) and I went for a Chicken Jalfrezi as a main.  Other dishes included a Meat Madras, 2 Baltis and a Lamb Rogan Josh.

The toilets weren't up to the standard of the rest of the place, which let it down a bit as it seemed fairly newly refurbished.  Perhaps they hadn't got to the loos yet.

Service was spot on (hardly surprising as there was no-one else there!) but the food was absolutely top notch.  It was probably the best Jalfrezi I'd ever had.  A couple of the others also said that the food they had was right up there with the best "Ruby's" they had ever had as well.  One of the nicest touches was the offer of a drink "On the house" after the meal, which was very welcome, even if it made us tight for time.

Southend and district is awash with restaurants and a lot of them are Indian, so competition is fierce.  That means anything that isn't on the button doesn't last long, but this one certainly was superb.

Price wise it was decent as well at £20 per head including drinks and tip.

Marks -

Exterior - 7
Surroundings - 6
Interior - 7
Toilets - 5
Service - 9
Food Quality - 9
Value - 8

Overall - 7.29 - worth bearing in mind for a local meal or take-away


The football -

This ended up being the last game of Paul Sturrocks reign, against one of his former clubs.  We were woeful for the third time in a week and lost 2-0 which practically ended our promotion hopes.  Thoroughly depressing.