The Cambridge Curry Community

Boy, it has been a long wait. I have been dying to try the South Indian restaurant known as Cocum for many years now. I often  work across the road on Castle Street and have to stare at it all evening, calling me. Tonight, my long wait was finally over and I managed to see what all the fuss is about with the Curry Crew 19's visit to Cocum.  Located next to the two juggernauts of Indian cuisine in Cambridge, both down Castle Street too (The Maharajah and Cafe Naz), Cocum offers something different with a selection of more traditional South Indian cuisine rather than the usual British Indian food you are probably used too in 95% of other Indian restaurants in the UK. Upon entering we were warmly greeted by staff and seated at our table. The place looks small on the outside, and the inside is no exception. Though it can still sit a large party if need be. The places goes with the "green theme" of the outside of the restaurant with the decoration...

I had the pleasure of being treated to a meal out by my friend at Curry Palace in Cottenham the other night. I have often felt that the north of Cambridge has struggled to compete with the east (Tamrind, Sitar), the south (Kaz's, Rang Mohol and Zara) and the west (Lalbagh, Montaz) for decent restaurants. Offering nothing other than a few basic or mediocre Indians in the neighouring villages, which do the job but offering nothing too different or inspiring. That is, until now. I have always had the Curry Palace pegged as a very decent place to eat but until the other night I had forgotten the kind of quality they provide here. The restaurant is much bigger than it looks from the front and in the back it is able to seat any amount of people required. Once you walk in you are presented with an incredibly beautiful bar which has a lovely water feature backdrop, similar to the one in Lalbagh in Bourne. This is not only a gimmick though as the restaurant has this ...

As you may or may not know, I recently moved to the fine city of Ely. Naturally one of the first things I did was go around and sample all the Indian restaurants to see what the city had to offer. The  conclusion I came to  was that Montaz was the best all round Indian restaurant for dining in. While doing some research on Montaz online I noticed that it has many sister restaurants located all around the orbital area of Cambridge. As you can see by the website, they are located in St Ives, Brampton, Newmarket, Bourne, as well as Ely. So I took it on myself as a bit of a challenge to try them all.  Over the past few months I have been in the St Ives area visiting family or my girlfriend, who all live in the area. This for me was the perfect opportunity to check out one of the Montaz restaurants and see if the chain had a consistent quality. One I had found the place, located in St Ives town center, the first thing you notice is how different it looks com...