CONSISTENCY and familiarity are crucial to the long-term success of any restaurant.

The same family has run the Bombay Tandoori in Milnsbridge for 22 years now and it’s founded solidly on customer loyalty.

Around 90% of diners have been there before – and many go just about every week. The reason is simple. It serves some of the best curries you’ll get around here and, more importantly in these tough economic times, you eat in at takeaway prices.

And you can even take your own booze, making it an even cheaper night out. You’d be hard pushed to run up a £20 bill for two – and if you’ve done that you’ve pushed the boat out ... over the horizon and out of sight.

Those who don’t know the restaurant may drive past without even realising it’s there and, OK, it can look dingy from the outside. But it’s not the outside that matters nor the decor on the inside. Ultimately, it’s the food that counts.

In terms of familiarity it’s not changed much in the last decade. OK, there’s some new ceiling lights – not that they’ve made a Downton Abbey style transformation – but the fake blue marble effect on the walls has been there a while and you can’t help but be strangely transfixed by the lit-up moving waterfall picture hanging on the wall. Surreal – especially in Milnsbridge.

It’s not posh – it has no pretensions to be – but it ticks over well and the family members who run it front of house have a great rapport with the diners.

Like many other businesses in Milnsbridge it’s taken something of a battering from the bridge repairs. Some older customers just don’t want to have to leave their cars on the Golcar side of the bridge late at night and trek across. A classic case of a bridge too far.

But it’s well worth the three minute walk – or you could take the long route to Manchester Road via Low Westwood Lane in Linthwaite or through Slaithwaite to arrive on ‘the far side’ via Manchester Road – park next to the restaurant and then it’s a quick drive across the bridge and home.

The next golden rule at the Bombay is consistency. They have stuck to the same recipes since it opened so every time you go and every dish you order you know exactly what you’re going to get.

And, finally, there’s flexibility. Want some peas with that keema aloo – minced lamb with potatoes, methi, garlic, ginger, herbs and spices – just ask and in they go.

Want some fresh coriander sprinkled on your chicken madras? No problem. You want the madras but not as hot as usual? A word in their ear and it’s sorted. You get the picture.

Starters include sheesh kebab – mince cooked with onions and gram flour – but it has a spicy kick. Chicken lovers can’t go wrong with murgh tikka, tender pieces of boneless chicken marinated in spice and yoghurt and charcoal grilled. Spicy on the outside, tender on the in. Then there’s the usual samosas, onion bhaji, chicken pakora and, for those who can never quite make up their minds, a mixed starter.

One of their signature dishes is balti jinga – prawns seasoned in yoghurt and ground spices, fried with onions, tomatoes, ginger and garlic. The prawns sure are big fellas – perfect for the dish that delivers all it promises.

There are certain curry restaurants with lists of ingredients as long as your arm and yet the dish that arrives can attract that most dreaded of all restaurant descriptions ... bland. How can that happen? One thing’s for sure, it doesn’t happen here.

The Bombay Tandoori chefs can even turn a dish featuring just chick peas into something special while our other choice was gosht aloo – tender lamb cooked with potatoes, methi, garlic, ginger, herbs and spices. Chunks of lamb in plenty of sauce and you certainly need the chappatis that come with every dish to mop it up.

Each dish has its own unique flavour and that’s how it should be.

There’s your normal korma but there’s also a special one – chicken shahi korma that’s cooked in yoghurt, cream, almonds, pistachio nuts, sultanas and garnished with coconut. Got a sweet tooth? This should keep it happy.

So what’s all this going to cost? It ended up being just over £16.

What? Yes, less than the price of many takeaways. And then we even had enough left over to take home for the following night’s tea.

Starters are around £2 – onion bhajis just £1.30 – and mains start from £3.50 with very few topping a fiver. Feeling flush then opt for the top dish that weighs in at, for them, hefty £7.60 which is king prawn marinated in a secret recipe, cooked on skewers on charcoal served with rice, salad and mushroom bhaji garnished with lemon wedges and raita.

We left feeling we’d robbed them.

Bombay Tandoori

23 Yates Lane, Milnsbridge

Tel:@ 01484 643042

Website: @

Opening hours: @ 6pm until late

Children: @ Yes

Disabled: @ Yes, but no toilet

The bill: @ £16.40

Would you go back? @ We’d be barmy not to.