Gurkha has been open for a year in the centre of Witney (near Oxfordshire) it is often passed with little thought, now is the time to change that. I have seen it full of people, so there must be a reason for that, right?
A part of the Old Court Hotel, Gurkha offers an eclectic mixture of Indian, Chinese and Japanese cuisine. It was good to see a nice amount of footfall at this place, especially on a Monday. It is just a shame that the people there were really fucking loud and obnoxious, repeating the same luke-warm jokes they heard on a catchphrase repeat episode whilst half pissed the night before.
The interior was a little bit mental. I think they were going for a fusion of all of the different types of cuisine they have on offer. Even though it was a little bit out there I didn’t mind it, I appreciate the effort. Unfortunately the service was almost non existent, it took far to long to be able to order anything at all.
Gurkha’s Starters; really good. Even though the poppadoms were slightly more on the expensive side, they were really good. No grease, with incredibly high quality dips (except for the mango which was a bit of a shame). The biggest gripe I have is the quantity. The price really did not reflect the amount of food provided. As a restaurant you have to be able to balance quality, quantity and price. If you can’t do this, you will not generate happy customers.
A prime example here. I am not really sure what they were going for here. The visuals on the plate really don’t help either, lots of empty space is bound to make the portion sizes look a lot smaller. A nice small round plate wound have been ideal for this, maybe even placing the meat on top of the veg. It is small details like this that let Gurkha down.
Another one of the mains here, the spicy paneer. This was probably my favourite of the starters. High quality ingredients with a really nice level of spice. A healthy amount of food for the price too, a well balanced dish over all.
Now for the main. A Lamb curry with medium spice. It is not the fault of the restaurant as what is spicy to one person is like drinking cold milk to another, but the medium really was pathetic. I couldn’t taste any spice at all. Perhaps its designed for the people who want to show off with how much spice they can handle, and order the hottest curry on the dish. None the less, it was pretty good, nice flavours and not too greasy.
As a little treat to myself I got a peshwari naan. IT was good, not too sweet as many of them are packed full of sugar, and a really good flavour. I believe they have a clay oven in the kitchen so I assume these are made in that. That would also explain why this was the best part of the entire meal.
There isn’t to much I can say about the rice that is positive to be honest. Over priced and not that flavourful. The mushrooms were sparse, and when you did find one it didn’t really taste of much at all. It didn’t impact the meal too much overall as when mixed with the flavourful curry you didn’t think about it too much. But better rice would have elevated the dish just that little bit extra.
That is the final result (this is how I eat my curry and don’t you dare tell me it’s wrong). If you want a curry that is flavourful and doesn’t require open heart surgery afterwards. Ghurkha is a really nice option. It is just a little bit of a shame that the price did not justify the food quality. This place could be amazing, it’s just in need of a bit of a tweak here and there.
Gurkha – Conclusion
There is so much potential at Gurkha. The restaurant is in a great building, in a great location, and they have all the elements to make some fantastic dishes. There are just a handful of things that are missing, or need adjusting. For example the service, just speed it up a little or train the staff to be slightly more attentive. The food has the potential to be fantastic, but the prices need a small adjustment. I am going to re-visit this place in the future. But it needs some more time to grow a bit.
| Flavour | 6.5/10 |
| Quality | 7/10 |
| Interior | 6.5/10 |
| Service | 4/10 |
| Value | 5/10 |
| Total % | 58% |
| Overall Rating | B- |