Brighton Curry is a great new Indian restaurant for curry fans old and new

The team at Brighton Curry learnt their trades at a bevy of the city’s curry houses and they’ve used that considerable knowhow to set up a great new venue in Upper James Street The dual aspect corner building is full of light and very comfortable and was previously the eastern outpost of Curry Leaf Cafe. So, in addition to a lot of bright green and orange decor, they’re fortunate enough to have inherited a good looking site, complete with a semi-open kitchen and very comfortable and squigdy seats. They’ve also added some nice little nick-nacks and eclectic wall-art, which has helped to stamp their personal style on the restaurant. It’s a very agreeable mix of modern fusion dishes, South Asian street food and familiar curry house favourites. But those old favourites are elevated above the average with regional Indian twists and excellent, in-house style. There’s also a emphasis on making the curries a little healthier, none of the dishes are swimming in ghee, there’s a minimum of additives on the menu and a strong showing for vegetarian main courses, You can see for yourself the absence of crazy colouring in the top photo of a platter of a starter dishes. The gorgeously golden chicken tikka is light years ahead of the vivid, plate-staining orange and red varieties of yesteryear. Speaking of the starters, the impressive tray we were served comprised tasters of the whole of the starter menu and featured flavours and dishes from all over South Asia. First up, we polished off a serving of banging onion and spinach pakoras, the most recognisably UK Indian/Bangladeshi curry house dish to be found on the tray. . Next along (but slightly obscured in the photo) was chilli cauliflower. Florets encased in a light batter which were then plunged in a Thai-style sweet and sauce, Remarkably good and the surprise standout dish of the platter. The restaurant’s street-food credentials were in evidence with a portion of dahi papdi chat, the Delhi favourite which is starting to make its presence felt in the UK. For the uninitiated, they’re a rather super little finger food of thin, puffy puri crackers, piled high with all sorts of fabulous things, In this instance it was spiced potato, yoghurt, a tangy tamarind chutney and a sprinkling of sev (the crispy little pieces of fried gram flour noodles you find in Bombay Mix). A portion of Punjabi-inspired paneer shaslick consisted of two sizeable hunks of gently-grilled cheese, the tandoor was perfect for the creamy paneer, keeping it relatively soft with the addition of a light char. The pudina (mint) lamb kebabs were flavoured with garam massala and ginger and far lighter and leaner than your average kofte. paneer dish A couple of plump crispy fried South Indian chicken wings looked the part and fortunately weren’t as fearsomely spiced as their double-chilli pepper rating suggested. The real spice hit came with aforementioned chunks of North India style Zafrani chicken tikka, big boneless chicken thighs, marinated in saffron and plenty of spices, A brilliant dish which was a world away from the old standard lightly flavoured spiced but startlingly coloured cubes of chicken breast tikka, which we’ve had a million times before. Similarly, it was great to see Camden Hells Lager on the menu, Cobra and Kingfisher are great beers but it’s good to have the option of glugging a different beer with your curry. The main course options are varied with lesser-seen dishes like a Sri Lankan curry with roasted squash and aubergine, and a Manglore fish curry with fillets of bass and king prawns. My dining chum chose the Hyderabadi chicken dum biryani, a rich and aromatic one-pot creation, bursting with flavour from the spice and fried onions (in the Hyderabad-style) served with a warming veg curry. On the subject of warming, I chose a Kashmiri lamb harissa curry, a centuries old traditional dish which warmed Kashmiri residents during harsh winters. I ate mine on a warm June evening and enjoyed it every bit as much as my Kashmiri brothers and sisters. The lamb was bountiful and tender, and must have been lovingly slow-cooked for many an hour and a traditionally equally painstakingly created harissa sauce made a memorable and satisfying thick curry. A hugely enjoyable main and one that I’m already plotting to buy as a take-away as soon as I’m back in the neighbourhood Throughout the evening there was also a steady stream of punters potentially taking advantage of a 15 per cent discount on take-away orders in excess of 20 squid. We finished off with a Gulab Jamun, Indian dumplings made with condensed milk (not the lightest pudding on the block but a good one) in a sweet syrup and coconut ice cream. Brighton Curry is a fab new option for the city’s Indian food lovers, offering the standards and variety of a progressive South Indian restaurant and enough recognisable elements for fans of the good old fashioned English Indian curry house. Go to https://www.brightoncurry.co.uk/