Meltham Balti looks chic from the outside.
Walk in on a cold winter’s evening and the warmth hits you straight away.
So it’s both chic and cosy on the inside with smart brown leather chairs and modern art on the cream walls nestling next to dramatic photographs.
But one thing you’d expect is missing … the bar.
For Meltham Balti is unlicensed. Still, no problem as it just happens to be bang next door to the village’s late opening Co-op.
Literally a few strides and you’re right in front of the wine chiller. What a result.
This all means that Meltham Balti is a midway house between the cheap and cheerful unlicensed curry houses and the upmarket licensed ones.
At the moment the restaurant has a special offer on – after all it’s important to keep ‘em coming through the door in these tough times – and that includes popadoms and chutney, any starter, any main meal, pilau rice or a couple of chapattis, ice cream or coffee.
And all for £10.50.
The Meltham Balti has a few philosophies on its menu.
One is to “develop lasting innovative relationships with our customers.”
Well, that sounds a promising start, but we’d only gone there for a meal. Let’s not rush things on a first date.
Both myself and my wife, Ruth, opted for a la carte – it’s a great menu for that and will raise both eyebrows ... several times.
You’ve just got to try some of these. The names are good and the ingredients can be, let’s face it, bizarre.
They include Maachli Kani – salmon cooked in thick spicy sauce with green chillies, green peppers and fried onions garnished in caramelised garlic; Chicken Rajastani – chicken cooked in a spicy sauce with cabbage and kidney beans and – one for those for whom dieting is an alien word – Chicken Makani cooked in a rich butter and almond cream sauce.
We began with spicy popadoms and the pickle tray. Fortunately we’d thought ahead and also got a plain popadom. Just as well. The spicy one seemed to be a statement of intent. In short, it was hot but the mild creamy yellow yoghurt-based sauce took some of the sting out.
There was a red fiery chilli sauce – and that even managed to be hotter than it looked.
Starters were chicken chat – diced pieces of chicken pan-fried with onions, tomato and cucumber in a thick sauce – and prawn puri, spiced-up prawns on the Asian version of a pancake.
There’s a lot going on in that chat hence the full flavour that more than tickled the tastebuds. It danced up and down on them. The puri had subtlety within its strength.
On to the mains and one of their specials, Chicken Nagina cooked in hot Bengali spices. Hot can be an overused word. It isn’t here. It was one that needed calming down – a fiery mixture of chicken, spice and onion. The wine and a litre of sparkling water helped.
Ruth described it as “a fierce beast.” And, let’s face it, she’s had enough curries to know.
It’s hard not to resist something oddly-named so the other was Kathmandu Chicken cooked with whole spring onions, cinnamon, coriander, lentils and fresh herbs and spices. A whirlpool of taste. The side dish was Bhindi Bhaji, crunchy okra fried with onions, spices and chick peas.
All in all, Meltham Balti offers something a little different – and even at Christmas.
On the great day you can have anything off the Indian menu you want although they’re also cooking a traditional English festive meal including roast turkey and six vegetables with – and they are keen to point this out – gravy.
All this followed by Christmas pudding and custard. Probably best not to eat for a week beforehand.
For more top ten Huddersfield Trip Advisor restaurants click here.
