Phenomenal (I think) Indian food near Oxford

[AdamLawrence]

Eynsham, my home, is a large village of about 6,000 souls five miles west of Oxford. Like many Cotswold villages it is fairly wealthy; unlike most it is large enough to support a few services beyond one pub and a post office. There's a building just off the village square that has, in the 40 months since we moved in to the village, housed three different restaurants, all of which are/were good, and none of which (so far) have been able to make a living for their owners. Anyone would think the premises were cursed.

About three months ago, the property reopened as an Indian restaurant called Chula. From the decor and the menu - which is short, only about twelve dishes - you can tell it's trying to be more than the average curry house. We've been a few times now, often enough for the staff to recognise us. Last time, Lucy ordered an okra dish, and the chef came out of the kitchen to say that he was unhappy with the freshness of his okra, and could he cook her a different vegetable dish? He offered two options, but sent out a small tasting portion of the one she didn't choose anyway.

Tonight I worked late to try and clear my desk in preparation for our holiday which starts Thursday. When I got home, neither of us could be arsed to cook, and we needed to pop into the local to give a key to our friend who'll be feeding the cat while we're away. So we decided to nip down to Chula (it's only two minutes walk) for a quick bite.

It was about seven when we walked in. The place was, depressingly, deserted. We were recognised by the waiters, and seated at the same table we occupied last time we visited. The chef came out of the kitchen to talk with us, and asked us what we'd like to eat - anything, whether it was on the menu or not. He suggested a number of options, one of which was 'a real biryani'. He wouldn't be able to do a perfect job, he said, because to cook biryani properly took much longer, but it would be worth eating.

Sat with my back to the room, I didn't notice him remove one of the clay pots decorating the mantlepiece. Half an hour later, I certainly noticed the biryani emerge from the kitchen. When the dough sealing the pot closed was broken, the aroma filled the room - fresh mint, any number of spices. The raita served with it - whose name I can't remember - contained dried smoked chillies that added a wonderful earthy note to the dish. I knew that biryani was a grand banquet dish, but I've never understood why before. My closest friend as a teenager was from a Mumbai family, and his mother was a superb cook. I haven't had better Indian food since then.

Once we'd eaten, we chatted with the chef for ten minutes. Turns out he formerly worked as a chef (not, I presume head chef, or he'd be running a big kitchen in London) at the Sheraton in Delhi. Give me 24 hours' notice next time you come, he said, and tell me what you'd like to eat.

Now, I'm no expert on Indian cuisine. But I can tell you that I've never eaten Indian-inspired food of this freshness in this country before (but I've never eaten in any of the top London Indians - the chef said the chap who's currently cooking at the Red Fort used to be his boss in Delhi) and I've rarely met a chef of any kind who exuded such passion for his cooking. I have to fill this place up. Partly because good restaurants and good people deserve to prosper anyway, and partly for selfish reasons - I want to be able to eat great food within two minutes of home. If you're ever in the Oxford area, try it.

Adam

[Tonyfinch]

Adam, I hope I'm wrong but I suspect he will struggle to prevent it from morphing into a regular,formulaic tandoori/curry house.

The well known popularity of Indian food in Britain means, as we all know, the popularity of the standard high st curry house and the familiarity that that implies.

There IS a market for 'real' or 'geniune' (call it what you will) sub continental food but whether its big enough in the Cotswalds to enable such a restaurant to flourish is dubious.

Having said that,someone will break the mould somewhere outside of London and I suspect that plenty of people round your way own Madhur Jaffrey cookbooks. so there might be the interest.

Let us know how it goes.

[Miss J]

Tony, I suspect it's going to struggle to stay open at all, and not just because the good people of Eynsham may prove a little leery of real Indian food. The fact that a number of decent restaurants have failed on that patch isn't a good sign. Sometime buildings just can't, for whatever reason, support a successful restaurant...and this sounds ominously like one of them.

That said, if this place has a hope of surviving, I think Adam's made a good start on developing their word-of-mouth. However, it's worth dragging as many locals in as possible, as they'll be the make-or-break revenue generators.

Adam, how well do you know your neighbours?

[AdamLawrence]

Adam, how well do you know your neighbours? 

Reasonably well. I was going to say, I doubt our next-door neighbour would be an obvious customer, though, because she's 93 (and has been living in the house since it was built, hence our claim to an estate agent recently that 'the house has many original features, including neighbour' ), but then I remembered she went for lunch there last weekend with a couple of her friends. Must ask her how she enjoyed it.

cheers

Adam

[macrosan]

Adam, your best bet without a doubt is to organise an eGullet Event at your restaurant.

Put me down as a definite, subject only to date

[Vanessa]

Yes!! - I'm glad I wasn't the first to suggest it!

On a slight tangent, I'm sure I read a review of a very interesting sounding restaurant in the last year or so, in somewhere like Jericho, but can't for the life of me remember either the name or the type of food, except that it was something very unusual, and sounded like a 'must visit'. I shall be up in Oxford during the day in early November and wonder if this rings any bells with you Adam? If not, what would be your recommendation for a really enjoyable, not too fancy lunch?

v

[AdamLawrence]

Macrosan - now there's a good idea. I'm off for a week's golfing in Portugal tomorrow, so now isn't the time, but when I get back, I'll see what I can do.

Vanessa - Jericho is restaurant row these days, but none are especially outstanding IMHO, so unless you can remember a bit more about the place, it'd be difficult to identify. Most of my favourite places are outside the city centre, but if I were looking for a relaxed lunch in the city, I'd probably go for Thai at Chaing Mai Kitchen. It's in a beautiful old building within fifty yards of Carfax too, which helps. Edamame on Holywell Street has good, dirt-cheap Japanese canteen food, but you can't really relax, 'cause it's in and out. I haven't enjoyed Le Petit Blanc the last couple of times I've been, but there isn't really anywhere else of that ilk about. Maybe I should give it another go - I've been avoiding it for a while.

Actually, if you have wheels, I'd probably recommend the Harcourt Arms in Stanton Harcourt. Pretty village, chef Philip Baker cooks excellent food; the bar menu is interesting - excellent salade de frisee aux lardons and smoked haddock omelette in there the other week, restaurant menu changes regularly, but had some good-looking game dishes on last time I looked. Philip is opening a fine dining room at the Harcourt next spring.

cheers

Adam

[Vanessa]

No wheels, so it looks like Chiang Mai.

I wish I could remember more about that restaurant in Jericho - all I can recall is that it was something totally unusual - perhaps even unique to the UK. Now I'm going to be driving myself crazy about it for the rest of the day. I already did a Google search and came up with zilch. Or maybe it was one of those 7-day wonder restaurants that appears on the horizon and disappears just as fast.

v

[Jon Tseng]

Dunno if any of the names on the OUSU site would pique your memory - unfortunately they don't list by location:

OUSU restaurant guide

J

PS Adam, if we're having a do does that mean we can crash round your place after given a) the likelihood of severe drinking b) the relative isolation of rural oxfordshire to the big smoke :-)

[Vanessa]

Thanks - but no joy. Maybe I was hallucinating. I remember making the mental note that it wasn't on Walton St, but on a street I hadn't heard of. But early onset of Alzheimer's seems to have blocked the rest.

v

[cappers]

adam

great idea. make it a saturday :)