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Sandy Park Inn Curry Night Food review

Thursday 22nd October Food review for the Sandy Park Inn, near to Chagford, Dartmoor.Telephone 01647 433267

Customers gave us plenty of warning as we approached the Sandy Park Inn in time for the table we had booked. They
were outside cooling off after sampling chilken jalfrezi on this the first of what will become regular curry evenings
at the pub. As we walked into the bar of what is our closest and favourite local we were greeted by a barrage of
pals all telling us the same 'Jill watch out for the jalfrezi, it will knock your head off' Billy Cull kindly offered
to let me dip a finger into his curry and I soon decided that it might prove too spicy for my palate. Even tough guy

Ashley Johns (above) appeared to be finding his meal somewhat of a challenge, whilst his chum next door drew my attention to his empty plate as something of a gastronomic triumph. And I thought that jalfrezi was middle of the taste range ! What then would the Madras and Vindaloo be like? Needless to say, we never found out, because our party of

four all chickened out (forgive the pun) and went for the Korma choice which was very good indeed. £6.50 including
a poppadom, mint yogurt pickle, diced onions and mango chutney. There were a range of starters too, onion bhajee, vegetable samosa, chicken tikka and vegetable pakoras, £3 to £3.50, but our pals Mike and Marilyn, like us prefer to
take a pudding (both of which, blackberry and apple crumble and something icey and strawberryish were delicious)
5 levels of curry including a rogan josh, and lamb, chicken and vegetable all offered. We also opted for plain and garlic nann breads. At the end of the meal we were treated to top class coffees from the newly installed coffee machine, and I hear that Shona has plans for Danish pastries to feature in the mornings soon - yeah like that will help my diet !

Now, as to the food review; I do have to be careful here, first of all because the pub is more or less a neighbour and secondly because I already highly rate the food that chef Ross Duncan produces. The pub enjoys a loyal following of
happy foodie customers, so to offer critisism at any stage is akin to me raising my head above the parapet. But I am
going to be fair and mention just a couple of things. I was slightly disappointed to discover that 3 or 4 of what looked to be generous chunks of chicken in my korma turned out to be lumps of potato which I don't think the Memsahibs out in Colonial India would ever have seen, pleasant though they were.... and just a niggle that I know Matt the excellent landlord will rectify in time for the next taste of Eastern culinary fare - the writing on the menu was so incredibly tiny
it was impossible to read without the aid of
pebble thick lenses.
It's a great pub with a real fire, a friendly set of staff, high quality food, oh yes there IS
ANOTHER QUIBBLE I HAVE .......
Talking of hot ....where was hunky Hassan the
good looking manager on curry night ?
Granted, Matt with his new beard and tattoos is more than easy on the eye, but Hassan was absent.
Here you are ladies, if you haven't already
seen him. At the end of my food reviews I
always ask the question Would we go back ?
and with Hassan leaning on the bar I'm sure
that the girls don't need asking twice.

Back to the Food Page. Home Page The Sandy Park Inn is listed on our Stay at a pub page