Your first ever curry

[Otta]

In another thread our beloved foxy wrote

DulwichFox Wrote:

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> Funny how Peckham does not have a Curry House.

> (Apart From Ganapati)

> which isn't really a Curry House in the usual

> sense.

>

> Used to have two on Peckham Rd. One of which was

> where I had my first Curry. A Chicken Ceylon.

> (1970)ish

And it made me think of my first curry.

When I was 16 I played bass in a band. I was by far the baby, singer was 21, guitarists both mid to late 20s, and drummer in his 40s (his daughter went out with the singer). They had a tradition of putting any gig earnings in a pot, buying gear for the band, and then going out for a curry and loads of beer once a year.

So probably around Christmas 1994 we met in The Clockhouse for some beers, I was drinking Guinness and I remember they kept pouring JDs in to my pints, which I continued drinking because despite being the youngest, I wasn't the biggest lightweight in the group. Then we went to The Curry Cabin.

In those days they must have had green light bulbs, as I remember it being quite dark and green in there. You couldn't really see the food that well.

Had a lamb rogon josh, pilau rice and a keema nan, plus the obligratory (in those days) Kingfisher beer. It was lush!!!

Guess most of you would have had a curry long before your 16th, but my old man is very much a Brit classics meat & 2 veg kinda guy, so I was a teenager before I tried anything like pasta, Chinese etc etc.

So there you go, completely pointless thread, but why not.

[DulwichFox]

I used to use the Curry Cabin in it early years.. 1974 ish.. The older guy that is still there

was 16 around that time and I was 22.

The place was much smaller then as the bogs were downstairs at the back.

Don't remember the green lights but yes it was dark.

I lived in Peckham at that time but just seem to ferry people around as I was the only one with a car..

An Austin Cambridge with a big hole in the floor where the pedals where..

Still one of the best ..

Foxy

[Louisa]

My first experience of Indian Cuisine wasn't until the late 1970's. I was visiting my aunt who lived in Brockley at the time and she would regularly have us over for dinner. Me and a friend were staying over the night and convinced her we would bring dinner with us. Again, very old school she was horrified when we turned up with this alien cuisine and refused to eat any of it. Was rather funny at the time. Think she ended up having a sandwich! pretty sure the curry house was located on North cross road and closed sometime in the mid 90's. Name escapes me.

Louisa.

[Mick Mac]

Vesta. Loved it.

[stringvest]

Curry goat at a pay party !!

[????]

Birmingham whilst working - late 70s. Chicken Dupiaza, which I'm still fond of (especially if in doubt about quality of the Curry House)

...although used to eat the Pompadoms from my mum and dad's curries in the mid-70s which seemed very exotic

[DulwichFox]

Louisa Wrote:

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> My first experience of Indian Cuisine wasn't until

> the late 1970's. I was visiting my aunt who lived

> in Brockley at the time and she would regularly

> have us over for dinner. Me and a friend were

> staying over the night and convinced her we would

> bring dinner with us. Again, very old school she

> was horrified when we turned up with this alien

> cuisine and refused to eat any of it. Was rather

> funny at the time. Think she ended up having a

> sandwich! pretty sure the curry house was located

> on North cross road and closed sometime in the mid

> 90's. Name escapes me.

>

> Louisa.

Golden Tandoori.. Farooq was the little guy that ran it. He is still around. I see him outside the

Mosque on some occasions.

Foxy

[phobic3000]

My first ever curry. I invited my girlfriend at the time over for s curry. I ordered a balti and it was the spiciest curry I'd ever had. I had about 4 mouthfuls and had to give up. We didn't stay together very long!

[Seabag]

My sister's friend Jane Anne had a nanny, she moved with them when they returned from India, and cooked for us on regular occasions. They didn't actually need a nanny, but she was such an integral part of the family she stayed on for years

I loved it from the outset. Yeah it sounds all a bit posh now, but so what, it was our world

[red devil]

???? Wrote:

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> Birmingham whilst working - late 70s.

Mine was also Brum in '79, my oldest brother had gone to Poly there and married a local girl. They invited me down when it was my birthday in October. Around that time there was the Two Tone/Mod revival buzz going on, so because of it's close proximity to Cov, I was pretty excited and arrived all skinny tie suited up, only to find Brum was full of grebos*...balti curry was fantastic though.

*I spent a couple of weeks in Brum during the summmer of love in '88, and it was still full of grebos...Brum, the city that music forgot :)

[Sue]

Mick Mac Wrote:

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> Vesta. Loved it.

OMG Vesta. I'd forgotten about Vesta.

[Dopamine1979]

They served us 'curry' at school. Horrible gelatinous sauce with raisins/sultanas in it. It almost put me off for life.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

I'm sure I had a coronation chicken sandwich when I was a nipper.

[BrandNewGuy]

Brum here too, when I was a kid. First curry would have been my Mum's crockpot chicken curry. Pretty good. Came with a side of sultanas and desiccated coconut ? hey, this was the 70s. First eat out curry would have been in one of the cheap curry cafes on Ladypool Rd in Balsall Heath, Birmingham ? now the heart of the 'Balti Triangle'. Chicken off the bone curry with naan and lassi for less than the price of a pint...

[Jeremy]

Not totally sure when the first was, but when I was very young (certainly well below ten) we had a sort of family tradition consisting of a museum followed by the Khyber Pass restaurant in south ken. My parents started me off on biryani, and in those days it usually came with either an omelette or boiled eggs.

Soon moved onto the milder curries (bhuna/rogan/etc) and by the time I was fifteen or so, only a madras would hit the spot.

[Jah Lush]

Much like Otta I came from a typical old fashioned English family who'd only eat meat and two veg. "Don't want any of that foreign muck," my dad would say. Later on that would change though and they got a little more adventurous with their eating habits.

I'd embarrass my mates after football training during the week. We'd end up in a curry house after the pub and I'd order a steak and chips, while they'd tucked into madras, vindaloo and for the show-offs a phal.

Soon though, I'd gotten myself an outstanding girlfriend, who, looking back educated me in quite a lot of ways. One of our first dates was at The Star of India in West Norwood in the summer of '78 and insisted I eat a curry and suggested I try something mild to start with. Not wanting to disappoint her I had a chicken Korma, the mildest on the menu and found that I really enjoyed it. Within weeks I was eating vindaloo and loved it and I loved her too. Haven't looked back since, though the girlfriend is long gone I'm very grateful to her for setting me off on a path to trying other cuisine.

[*Bob*]

Jah Lush Wrote:

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> Soon though, I'd gotten myself an outstanding

> girlfriend, who, looking back educated me in quite

> a lot of ways.

Tell us more!

[Jah Lush]

Are you being prurient, *Bob*?

[TheArtfulDogger]

My sisters ex boyfriend back in the early 80s refused to park his car within 100 yards of a curry house in case the curry fumes burnt the paint of his Toyota

Now he can't get enough of it...

Very strange indeed 😜

[*Bob*]

Our Mum was a fairly unremarkable cook until Dad took the bull by the horns and went ?all forrin?, arriving home with Ken Lo and Madhur J cookbooks. It was a culinary revelation - and perfect timing as preparation for leaving home for university.

Then he died, which was a bit shit. But at least I knew how to cook curry - which was a comfort.

I suspect - had he known how long he?d have to wait for Cilla, Cecil and Stu - he might have hung on a bit longer.

[red devil]

Jah Lush Wrote:

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> Much like Otta I came from a typical old fashioned

> English family who'd only eat meat and two veg.

> "Don't want any of that foreign muck," my dad

> would say.

My Mum used the same turn of phrase. Not long after my Dad died she went on her first foreign holiday to Rome with my Aunt, and when I asked her what she was going to eat whilst away, she replied ''Pizza, I shan't be eating any foreign muck''... :)

[JohnL]

Anakali in Swansea (st helens road) in the early 80s

It would have been what then passed for Chicken Tikka Masala :)

[Earl Aelfheah]

Otta - I can't believe your first taste of curry was in 1994. All those wasted years.

[Peckhamrye]

Mine was when I was 18, first year at Stirling University at the Qismat, in 1980...never looked back, love curries, eating them and making them.

[bob]

Curry Mahal in New Cross 1972/3 two chicken Kormas plain rice 1/2 bottle Nuit St George ?2.97p we use to leave ?3.00

Bob S