Easy Tiger is one of Brighton's latest successful pub kitchen pop ups, and we have quite a few to choose from to be honest. I don't think any Brightonian will put up with your average pub grub any more; we're spoilt rotten and the only way is up - eradicating every frozen chicken goujon in the city by 2025.

Still, I have to say it does take a bit to drag me from the dining comfort of restaurants, old woman I am. But headed up by chef Kanthi Kiran Thamma this is one to take particular note of. Kanthi, formerly of Curry Leaf Cafe, is quite possibly one of the most passionate chefs for all things Indian you'll ever meet. The man practically levitates when talking his craft, even orchestrating his own chef-led food tour, The Spice Circuit.

I've reviewed a number of recipe boxes over the years with varying success, but on the whole, it's been a positive experience. The ones I've enjoyed the most though are those that bring a cultural edge, transporting me to a far flung edges of the World with unusual ingredients and lesser known recipes.

Aside from the nicely designed presentation (obvs), what made a particularly good first impression with The Kari Club, a new Brighton-based Indian recipe box subscription service, was the cooking sheet taught me a number of things on page one even before I turned on the hob:

• "Curry" is Anglicised from the Tamil work "Kari" meaning sauce. Noted for the next pub quiz.
• I've never washed basmati rice but you need to do it quite excessively, and it really makes a difference. Doh!
• It's best to scrape the skin of the ginger with a spoon rather than peeling/chopping it off it as the sweetest part is just under the skin.
• Blending cashews is a really easy way to thicken a curry sauce and add silkiness.

Another was that this particular recipe was based on one of Founder, Minesh Angihotri mother's. I think we can watch celebrity chefs on the TV until the cows come home, but you will learn the real gold from mums (my ex-mother-in-law and her Walkers crisps topped tuna bake aside, of course). There are also some well produced videos on their website, pretty much a cook-along, to help.



Recipes are written (when he's not pinching from his mum) by Minesh, who is behind the well regarded Brighton restaurant, Indian Summer. On the menu in this box was Mamaji's Chicken, Sweet Potato & Carro Thoran, rice and chapati.

I really enjoyed making this - I felt I learnt a lot and was slightly more challenging than some other recipe boxes. Not that that's a negative, it's just some don't really feel like cooking, just assembling and are very pedestrian. This showed good use of spicing throughout stages and the bread element was a new thing learned - I won't be impressing any Indian mammas with the shape anytime soon but bye bye supermarket chapati.

It took around an hour too cook with reading through all the ingredients and watching the videos (optional but really helps). I did cook the elements simultaneously but I cook a lot and imagine you'd get a bit flustered if you didn't. But there's no reason not to take it at a more leisurely pace and enjoy the process.

Only negative was the oil quantities you could possibly get wrong - you could tip the "remaining oil" in the thoran but you'd need some for the chapati and rice later on.

The design is really nice; simple, clear and the tips in red throughout the recipe sheets handy. Ingredients were excellent in terms of quality. Meat from Handcross butchers, tomatoes that smelt good and spices far more vibrant than your dusty supermarket versions. The kit came with a full recipe so you are free to recreate it yourself, which I will be certainly doing.

And the best bit. Darn, darn it was delicious. Certainly restaurant grade delicious. Cook it for a crowd and they'll be talking about it for weeks delicious. It was such a rich, luscious and fragrant thing to eat; all the elements worked perfectly. The curry itself was silky and you got a real sense of all the spices. I adored the textural crunch from the thoran and the fact it lightened a heavy meal.


Prices are not too bad for what this is; you can buy a one off for £20 for 1, £25 for 2 and £40 for 4 people and would make an easy dinner party option to impress for the latter - it's restaurant grade food and for £10 a head that's remarkable. You can also go for a monthly subscription.

Portion-wise this two portion box would feed two handsomely or three sensibly, so is very generous. Expect some left overs or next day if you can resist.

Let's face it, it's not a sustainable way to shop everyday, financially or environmentally (even though the packaging was almost entirely recyclable) yet the format of recipe boxes tend to prove popular for a number of reasons. Less food waste in many respects, but number one is that they tend to take you out of your cooking comfort zone, yet guide you through it, and it's pretty exciting unpacking a kit for a meal. Well for me anyway.

Delivery is nationwide. For more information visit thekariclub.com

I was sent a sample box for review. Word and thoughts, as always, my own.

Some restaurants are more than a place to fill your stomach. A special few just seem to run parallel through parts of your life and The Chilli Pickle is certainly one that's done that for me. First dates, fiftieth dates, graduations, birthday celebrations, engagement toasting, house exchanges, work Christmas dos, work leaving dos, the first scary restaurant visit with your first born, trying to instigate the birth of your overdue second born, girls' night's out, make ups and the dreaded divorces. Be it laughter or tears...there was never an occasion where a Chilli Pickle tandoori platter didn't hit the nail in marking the occasion or comforting sorrows. It has been one freaking hell of a decade.

Here's my first review in 2009 (EMBARRASSING!!), 2010, 2014, 2015 as well as Chilli Pickle Canteen reviews in 2013 and 2015 where their home delivery saved my life and sanity during the "Saving Private Ryan" esque early days of parenthood.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of The Chilli Pickle, quite an accolade for a restaurant in these times. They made us put down the Anglo-Indian food we'd been eating and introduced us to authentic, regional specialities. We fell in love with King Thali Monday's (just a £10!) and there was almost a borderline riot when they took the pork knuckle off the menu. They even made us get excited about getting an Indian take-away delivered to our homes for goodness sake! Never letting quality slip, they've owned and developed their brand sympathetically and stayed true to their vision, whilst collecting award after award. And owners Dawn and Alun Sperring, are still very much at the helm of the operation too, which I've always believed to be a key part of a restaurant's success.


To mark the occasion they have refreshed the interior of their Brighton site in Jubilee Square, yet thankfully, it still feels very much like the restaurant we all know and love. There also seems to be a bubble of expansion that's just about to happen and I have hope that they retain the essence of what makes this restaurant so good. I'm sure they will.

Most importantly, the food is as delightful as it always has been. You could pretty much throw a dart at the menu and have a great meal. They probably won't let you do that though, particularly on their freshly painted walls.


I was lucky to head down and try the equally refreshed menu. The starters are always too good to skip; the delicate little puri shells, crispy vehicles for fresh and delicate fillings of chickpea and potato are something I normally order. Also good was the vibrant tandoori salmon marinated in beetroot and spiced yogurt and the perfectly spicy momo chicken dumplings.


Any one of their tandoori grills are death row meal worthy, so carnivores need to tick that one off their list. The Sigri charcoal roasted lamb shank, Barbecued raan style is a show stopper and exactly the sort of thing I like to eat here. Great big hunks of meat with multi-layered spicing, served with a smoked aubergine crush and a butter naan to polish it all up with. It feels overwhelming in size, yet little ol' me manages to polish off the platter - it's just too good to give up on.


The tandoori sea bream is also worth the order and something I've had a number of times in various guises. This is still a hearty dish, the spicing very much present yet delicate and brilliant alternative to a meat dish with just as much flavour.


Funnily enough, this visit presented the first dish in a decade I wasn't so in love with. It was possibly due to being faced with so much food your palate becomes complacent. Idli are steamed rice and curry leaf dumplings, commonly served as breakfast in Southern India and you dip them into lentil sambar, chutney and pickles, so I understand they act as a bland vehicle to the flavours they are served with, but it's not a dish for me.

Indian Summer have just celebrated their 15th anniversary in Brighton - no mean feat for a restaurant. And they were packed to the rafters when we visited too so the popularity certainly isn't waning. I must say I haven't visited for quite a while, and not since their move to bigger premises a few doors up from their old site. However they still champion the authentic, regional Indian cooking they always have done.

The restaurant is large, stripped back and modern, with gorgeous blue hues and huge photographic murals. It does feel a touch corporate in places and whilst I do like a bustling atmosphere in a restaurant, it was ear splittingly loud due to the size of the space and the hard surfaces. I had to move right next to Mr GF  (I don't mind, he's lovely) to hear him and bless our waitress who crouched down to bellow in our ears!

What I did like though was the menu length. Concise and well considered for variety, a short menu is often a sign of confidence. Plus is there anything more boring than starting a meal wading through pages of options?


My starter of Bhel Puri looked unassuming but was utterly gorgeous. This street food snack had a base of of crunchy puffed rice and gram flour sticks topped with cubes of potato, onions, chickpeas and tomatoes. A tangy tamarind sauce and yogurt dressing brought it all together with fresh coriander and chilli. It's definitely an unusual one for Western palettes but so additively delicious, the textures are a lovely, lovely thing to eat. I did take a mid-eat shot to show you but half eaten food pictures..just no. Better to order one yourself.


The ever crowd pleasing Onion and Aubergine Pakoda arrived as a healthy portion. These deep fried fritters were crunchy with a real kick of heat and the aubergine gave them a pleasant, creamy consistency in the middle. I just adore the type of green coriander chutney they served with this too.


How can a carnivore not order the Tandoori Platter? It's impossible to resist! Indian lamb chops, done well as they were here, are irresistible and always the star of the dish. Also good was the coated, spiced chicken drumstick and soft sweet lamb seekh kebab. Even better were the scrapings of the iron pan mopped up with a roti - we didn't let those go to waste. The meats were served simply with mango chutney, salad and a cooling mint raita which is all that was needed.

Being gluttonous and indecisive in equal measure, it had to be the Indian Summer Thali for me. Plus thalis are so darn pretty! There was a portion of mutton curry, succulent and heady in cardamom and a portion of tender chicken in a sweet, deep coconut gravy. I love a soupy, comforting dahl and the selection of hot, sour pickle and fried potatoes with curry leaves and mustard seeds made this thali a real feast of flavour.


I'm almost glad they went for a slightly Westernised dessert menu here. The typical Indian mithai sweets tend to set my teeth chattering with their insane sweetness. The mango creme brulee was not the smoothest I've ever had but enjoyable none the less. I liked the pool of mango puree at the bottom of the ramekin - much better there in the cool as hot mango is hideous. The small, spiced shortbread biscuit served with it was delicious, aromatic with ajwain, similar I suppose to caraway seed.


They had a decent take on the bread and butter pudding - God bless my husband and his never-ending pursuit of stodge - the additional spicing and finer "bread" layers made it one of the nicest I've tried.

The levels of spice and heat throughout the meal were pleasant, more layers of flavour and interest than gratuitous fire. They still offer an amuse and palette cleanser which I suppose is a nice touch but I've always found unnecessary and a bit fussy in between the courses of powerful and robust flavours.

Service was smart and professional throughout and timings were spot on. There was a pretty interesting wine-list with some highlights handily pulled out that were particularly well matched for spicy food.

Despite its popularity, and I'm sure plenty of loyal regulars, it's a shame that Indian Summer is sometimes overshadowed by the infamous Chilli Pickle who have really helped put Brighton dining on the map. Maybe it's because of their more showmanship dishes (God forbid they take that pork knuckle off the menu - they'll be riots in Jubilee Square) or their more vibrant aesthetic that elevates their profile, but Indian Summer is by no means a poor second cousin. Highly worth a visit if you haven't been before or for a while.

Indian Summer
70 East Street
Brighton
70 EAST STREET
I was invited to review Indian Summer. Words and thoughts, as always are my own. 

I have a lot of time for people who are passionate about sharing their food culture. I also love unexpected accents. Owner Az, clearly of Indian decent, enthusiastically explained everything in a joyful Yorkshire accent. Coming from the curry capital of the UK, Az and his partner Kirti, settled on Hove to fulfil a life long dream of setting up a restaurant that offered proper Indian food and culture with a contemporary, Dhaba style twist.

A takeaway is a pretty rare event in our home but a Chilli Pickle Canteen delivery would be our first choice. It's far beyond your average takeaway and a shame to put it in that category at all really. I'd prefer to file it instead under "restaurant food home delivery" as the Canteen service is as good as eating in their Jubilee Street restaurant itself (minus all the pretty silver trays and dishes).

I know I bang on about my love for this restaurant but I suppose the biggest respect I have for it is the unfaltering quality they have retained since opening in 2009 (winning some well deserved awards in the process too). Despite their success they haven't taken their eye off the ball or let greed get to the better of them by cutting corners. Instead thy continue to dazzle us with regional Indian dishes and gaining themselves somewhat of a Brighton institution status.

The CP canteen service is a bit of a lifeline at the moment. A new baby sort of halted any plans for a nice restaurant visit on our anniversary, so the next best thing was to get a delivery at home (eaten with said new baby asleep on my lap -sigh...the romance).

I've eaten pretty much everything now from this restaurant but I realised I have never tried their vegetarian food (made flipping hard with their incredible tandoori meat platters, fish dishes and succulent meat curries).

Takeaway curry doesn't photograph well but taste is everything!

In some ways I think you need more skill to make vegetables shine against the punch of Indian spices but the Aubergine Stew with Pickling Spices sounded good. I love nuts and Indian spices together and the stew had fried aubergine slices with a tamarind, peanut, cashew nut jaggery and sesame gravy tempered with pickling spice. As it turned out, the aubergine was sweet, smokey and silky with savoury, nutty undertones against sweetness of the jaggery. I really thought I was going to catch them out here but no, they handle vegetable dishes with equal success of everything else. I can vouch that vegetarians would never feel second best in this place.

We started the lesson with a spice tasting. Some were from her masala dabba, the steel tin with a number of smaller pots inside, kept close for everyday cooking. Things like mango powder, turmeric, salt, coriander and cumin seeds. Then a wide range of spices from Kirthi's next set of most used spices (and she has a further two sets!) with some more unusual spices like asafoetida, khus khus and even some Indian salt varieties I hadn't come across. We tasted them both raw and some cooked and I think I gained a much better understanding of the spices. I used to be quite proud of my collection but this made me realise I only own the tip of the iceberg! It was also fascinating to discover their healing properties too although some of my Indian friends have already forced me to eat raw fenugreek seeds and turmeric drinks in the past (they work!).



Although you can choose to learn many things, my favourite on the day was making dosa, something I adore to order in restaurants and now know how to make! Tips like adding oil to the edge during cooking to really crisp them up and how to make the dosa so paper thin was really useful. And they are so easy too, I had no problem making them for dinner later that evening on my own. Kirthi brought the batter but the recipe booklet (which included all the food cooked on the day) she left me seems very simple to follow. We filled them with a fragrant potato curry and dipped them in peanut and tamarind chutney. I was so impressed with these, and the complete dish was as good as restaurant level. Without doubt I'll be giving these a whirl from scratch and perfecting the thinness.



Tadka means tempering and is an incredibly important element of Indian cooking. (Hence the inspiration for the company name.) This tempering is nothing to do with chocolate (as we may know it), but heating spices in hot oil to wholly extract their flavour and aroma. This can be done at the beginning or end of a dish and Kirthi showed examples of both in her dishes. The peanut and tamarind chutney for the dosa had used a tadka poured over the top to finish the dish and the rice dish we cooked began by tempering the spices.

The simple sounding "Lemon Rice" dish is a little misleading as it contains two different dals, a number of spices and peanuts, all fried in oil so they are aromatic and crunchy. The sweetness of grated carrots and sourness of lemon as well as heat from fresh chilli all added dimension to a humble rice dish. As a mid-week quick meal, this would be pretty special and so good to try everyday Indian food. Most Indian recipes I normally go for are quite involved so I keep it to weekends, but simplicity with so much flavour like this dish is a great combination for time-poor people.



Kirthihad also made up a gorgeous shrikhand yogurt dessert, infused with saffron, cardamom, honey and nuts to finish off our wonderful meal. I'm not really a fan of Indian sweets so this was a great alternative.

Not only was I left with a better understanding of Indian food, and more confidence in cooking it, Kirthi also left a pot of her mum's garam masala mix, containing no less that 56 spices. A really lovely touch I thought. Although Indian Tadka is a relatively new Brighton business, you can tell this is the sort of knowledge someone has amassed over the years with a heritage rich in food culture. Kirthi's stories of growing up with the food she is so clearly passionate about is something I could really relate to with my own childhood.



Indian Tarka also offer catering for events and parties you can even have Kirthi as a personal chef for a dinner party or a special occasion for two of you. After sampling even a small selection of her food I would have no issue recommending her for that. Cookery lessons range from £30 - £80 per person depending on how many dishes you choose to learn and how many people in the class.

Learning to cook unfamiliar dishes makes for a really enjoyable afternoon, either as a one-to-one of a group of you. All you have to do is supply a list of ingredients and you are good to go.

For more information or to choose your dishes to learn and book lessons visit: www.indiantadka.co.uk

I was invited to review Indian Tadka