Indian Temptation, Bath

“Is everything alright with your meal?” In this instance, nobody asked – and to be frank, I don’t think anybody cared.

I don’t want to be one of those power-tripping pompous people who highlights every minor service deficiency (usually in a very loud voice). I don’t want to write reviews that put people off eating good food in good restaurants just because the staff might have been having an ‘off’ night when I visited. In short, I don’t want to be a ‘picky customer’, because I’m generally not one; it doesn’t take much to make me happy, and when a restaurant has made me happy, I love to share the reasons why. And despite the review that follows, I urge you to visit Indian Temptation because the food here is, in the main, really, really good.

But it could have been an even better experience overall, for me… if only somebody had asked, somewhere along the way, “is/was everything alright with your meal?”

I like to think that, had they asked, I would have politely point out that the food itself was fine, but by the time our main courses arrived at the table half an hour after we ordered them, the warm plates that had been put down 10 minutes previously had gone cold. I could have suggested that, instead of those plates, we could maybe have been offered small tasting menu-sized bowls so that our curries-to-share weren’t forced to splodge together in a sloppy pool when we dished them out. Or pointed out that, when we asked for our leftovers to be doggie-bagged (we had, as usual, over-ordered), it would have been nice if the kitchen could have sorted that out for us rather than just sending a waiter to dump two foil containers and a plastic carrier bag onto the middle of our table and leaving us to do the messy stuff ourselves. Oh, and a “thank you and goodnight” when we left would have been lovely.

But we Brits generally don’t say it like it is to restaurant staff, do we? We put the glitches down to those infamous ‘off’ nights (too busy/too quiet/understaffed/etc) by way of assuaging ourselves for feeling a bit let down instead of having been let down by somebody else. It shouldn’t ever be that way. We should be leaving a restaurant all pumped up, vowing to return at our earliest opportunity. And despite all that I’ve just written, I probably will return to Indian Temptation – perhaps you’ll understand why when you read the rest of this review.

I’ve been returning to this spacious, gracious first floor dining room offering views over Bath Abbey since it was called Jamuna. When Jamuna closed around 8 years ago Indian Temptation took over, replacing the familiar British Indian restaurant fare with their own take on Indian sub-continent cuisine including a lively range of lesser-spotted dishes and specialities. In the change-of-hands process, the new owners kicked meat and fish to the kerb too. But Indian Temptation’s plant-based menu is interesting, extensive and – yes! – tempting enough to appeal to even the most committed carnivore (and I should know; I live with one such CC, and he came with me on this particular dinner date).

Seasoned Indian Temptation explorers rave about the fiery Hakka Chilli Paneer on the starter selection – and, having tried it myself, so do I; it’s a funky, chunky Indo-Chinese sweet’n’sour combo that I could easily have supersized to a main course. The Temptation Platter to share was fascinating, too; wonderful things happen, it seems, to broccoli and baby corn when subjected to a blast in the Tandoor, and the spice-marinated jackfruit (Kathal Kebab) was, quite simply, gorgeous.

And then… from the window of our little eyrie on the corner of High Street/Cheap Street, we watched the rain turning Bath Abbey into some kind of sparkly, fairytale fortress. We watched hordes of soggy students getting their English street food fix from the doner kebab van on Orange Grove. We watched a taxi driver arguing with a bollard-operator over an intercom before throwing his hands up in despair and doing a U-turn.

We watched, and we waited. And we waited. We would have sneakily watched our fellow diners tucking into their food, by way of building up our anticipation – but there were only four fellow diners in the room. We discussed that, too. And we waited…

…and eventually, our warm (empty) plates turned up. And eventually, they cooled down. And then, our (lukewarm) main courses arrived, 30 minutes after ordering them. Were they worth the wait? Actually, yes. A beautifully-balanced, highly complex Vegetable Korma that challenged stereotypical perceptions of korma as a bland, sweet curry cop-out and elevated it to prestige, grown up status. A cardamom- and mace-infused Kaju Curry laden with whole roasted cashew nuts in a thick, rich, spicy broth. Dal Makhani that, while a tad on the runny side, delivered an earthy, robust-punch-in-velvet-glove on the flavour front. A crisp, freshly-baked Temptation Naan (cheese, chilli and lashings of fresh garlic); a soft, pillowy Peshwari.

It was all good, and it was all reasonably priced (less than £90 for the whole feast, including a beer and a couple of glasses of wine). The final tally included the indifferent service too. But I’ll never, I hope, be one of those people who ask for built-in service to be deducted, because it’s not the fault of the front of house staff if none of the people they work for has ever pointed out to them how lack of attention to detail impacts so negatively on the overall customer experience – and it’s not our job, as customers, to do the job of a general manager or owner for them. Or is it, if the general manager/owner isn’t doing their job themselves? Oh heck, what do I know?!

Despite the hiccups and conundrums, I’ve mentioned visiting Indian Temptation again a couple of times in this review because I think that there probably will be a next time. Ever the optimist, I’ll return hoping that the restaurant is having an ‘on’ night, with perfect staffing levels to cope with just the right amount of busy. I’ll risk it for the food alone; if that’s all I get, that alone is good enough to go for. I’ll just leave plenty of time for that food to arrive and I won’t expect it to be hot when it does.

Times are hard for the hospitality industry. But times are hard for us, too: the punters who are willing to part with their hard-earned cash in return for a lovely experience, worth every penny. I can’t honestly say that, this time around, the Indian Temptation experience was worth every penny. But darn, that Hakka Chilli Paneer was good…