Capital, Claypath, Durham (From Durham Times)

Capital, Claypath, Durham

3:28pm Friday 5th June 2009

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Favourite destination disappoints.

THEY say you should never meet your idols so perhaps by the same token you should never review your favourite restaurant.

Outside of my home town, The Capital, at 69 Claypath, Durham, is my favourite Indian restaurant but it regularly jostles for first with my local.

This is the Durham Times’ second visit to The Capital, at 69 Claypath, but personally it’s about my fifth. This year.

I’d rather not admit how many times I’ve been to Cafe Spice in Darlington but it’s beautiful by the way. You must try it.

Anyway, not that it was my intention to review The Capital, or Cafe Spice for that matter.

My first port of call was Cinnamon in North Road, Durham, but it was closed despite it being only about 8pm on a Thursday.

Staff from a nearby burger bar who were hanging around smoking and the litter in the doorway had already put me off Cinnamon so I was almost glad when the door was locked.

A brisk walk over to The Capital though and things are looking better already.

Slightly off the beaten path, it occupies an imposing building that was once an auction house.

Inside the decor is contemporary but without going over the top.

Just as I would not eat in the type of curry house that advertised at the cinema while you waited for a film to come on, I tend to avoid the ultra-modern restaurants with menus that miss out my favourites.

There are no such fears at The Capital, though.

Glass partitions and raised sections stop the place feeling like a cow shed and pictures offer a nod towards the culture of the cuisine.

Menus arrive quickly, as do our drinks, delivered by a friendly waiter who chats but thankfully does not want to be my best mate.

To start, my squeeze picked the tandori mixed grill (£4.15) served with salad and riata. It did have plenty of chicken, lamb and a sheek kebab, but she was expecting an onion bhaji too and was disappointed.

I opted for the chicken momo (£4.05) – shredded chicken with chilli and green peppers wrapped in a chapati which altogether had quite a kick and was really quite delicious.

Our mains, which we always share when we have Indian, were chicken tikka jalfrezi (£8.25) and chicken tikka Sri Lanka (£8.25) and both were disappointing.

Both of the meals had the heat but sadly none of the flavour. The jalfrezi was watery and you could hardly taste any of the tomatoes.

As for the Sri Lanka, again the heat of the dish overpowered what should have been coconut but you would never have known if you hadn’t read the menu.

They arrived with mushroom pilau rice (£3.25) and plain pilau rice (£3.20) and a plain nan bread (£2.25), which were all average and acceptable.

My squeeze agreed but to be fair her favourite part of an Indian isusually the poppadoms which, together with a glass of white wine and a pint of Cobra, took the bill to a not altogether unreasonable £43.70.

Being British, I never uttered a word of complaint on the night but, in my defence, it was just disappointing and by no means awful.

Perhaps it was the multi awardwinning and one-time British Fusion chef of the year Syed Zohorol Islam’s night off but it just didn’t come up to The Capital’s usual high standards.

All told, the experience has not put me off The Capital and it still remains my favourite Indian restaurant outside Darlington.

One thing I have learnt, though, is perhaps you shouldn’t mix business with pleasure.

To view the full menu, visit capitalindian.co.uk.

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