Guest Review: Paprika, 27 Nightingale Road

Guest Review Score

They say that first impressions last, so come on chaps, sort this out please. By my reckoning it’s not been daddy long legs season for at least six months, so why not remove the dead one that’s squashed between your menu and the front window? It’s not a good look.

When you walk into Paprika you’re presented with a décor that’s shall we say, interesting. Part 1970s Habitat, part Prisoner Cell Block H. It makes a change from the standard Indian restaurant look, and actually isn’t unpleasant. The tables could do with being a bit larger though.

On to the important bit, the food! The menu is very interesting, lots of dishes I’ve never seen before, and not much sign of the typical Indian restaurant fare, which is mostly limited to the back of the menu.

Now it has to be said when ordering starter in a curry house, I’m more than a little predictable. That’s because I only ever order one starter, Chicken Chaat. It’s not that I don’t like anything else, I just love Chicken Chaat! This was a good one. Oodles of coriander, lovely moist chicken and just the right amount of spice; all served on a nice soft puri. A good size too, not to big, not too small, which I liked because Indian food can be extremely filling. Indian food is always difficult to present nicely, but this was, it’s amazing what difference an unusual plate and a masterchef style squiggle of sauce can make. The downside? It took friggin ages to arrive, now I don’t mind waiting for my food to be cooked, but it was over half an hour by my reckoning. The restaurant wasn’t especially busy either.

Onto mains, and I plumped for the intriguingly entitled “Paprika Special”, of which the menu contains precisely zero information beyond the price. When it eventually arrived, by now around an hour after we first ordered, it turned out to be a rather nice dish. Two (whole) chicken breast fillets, stuffed with minced lamb in a tomatoey, hot and sour sauce. The chicken was good and moist, though perhaps lacking in that essential chilli kick for me. Also (and I’m spotting a pattern here) it had loads of fresh coriander again. I love coriander, so I was more than happy, but if you’re one of those peculiar people who does not, you might want to ask them to go easy. Sadly I got a really rubbish picture, it looked much better than this in real life, honestly. With my “Paprika Special” I had nice and simple plain rice, it was well cooked, there’s not much more that can be said about plain rice. I did however pinch a bit of Maurice’s Garlic & Chilli Naan, which was pretty great.

Next, dessert. Ah yes, the Indian Restaurant dessert menu... Is there anything more tempting to behold than the “Eggman”, “Funky Pie” or a Kulfi served in a Screwball container left over from the 80s but missing its gobstopper? All served at -20ºC and harder than Jimmy Saville’s cock in a children’s home. No thanks. I won’t mark Paprika down for it, because they’re no different to every other Indian restaurant out there. But please, please could somebody who is running an Indian restaurant out there be a bit more imaginative with your puds?

Overall I liked Paprika, and in a town with basically no good Indian restaurants it stands out; although I would say there are better places to find just a few miles outside Hitchin.

Service and venue: 2/5
Food and drink: 3.5/5
Value for money: 3/5
Overall: 3/5