Chip's Place

I've spent the last hour or so cooking up a Madras using a Rafi's Spice Box mix. And because of the smells permeating the flat, I'm getting very pissed off that I won't be hungry enough to eat it for another few hours! I've tasted the sauce (well, you have to while cooking...) and it's delicious. Roll on 6 pm, which time is derived from balancing my current fullness with how long I think I can hold off on devouring the curry.

I've walked past the shop many, many times, and thought "I must try there one day" on most of those occasions. A happy confluence of two events finally made me step through the door. First, Tom went there a few weeks ago, said the curry was excellent and explained how the shop worked (these things scare me sometimes - I don't like going into a shop and not understanding how to order things!) Second, it was their first birthday in York yesterday, so they had lots of balloons outside, and they let me have one.

It's a very clever idea. Essentially, it's pick'n'mix curry spices! They've got about 30 different standard mixes, each of which you can ask for altered proportions of the various spices, plus if you know exactly what you want, they'll throw it together for you.

So best of all - you can make your mixes garlic-free! The little man (and I know that normally when that phrase is used, it's not necessarily descriptive, but this time it was - he was tiny) asked me if I wanted anything special doing with the mix, so I asked for extra chilli and very light on the garlic. He didn't look at me as if I'd just asked for, say, steak and custard, which is the reaction of most people when I express my opinions on garlic, and simply said "OK, I'll not put any in at all if you like. Are you allergic? Because there's a little in the Madras paste."

If only everyone were so understanding.
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