Bombay Bicycle

[zephyr]

ratty Wrote:

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Trouble was the baby started

> screaming and most of the curry got left uneaten

> so ?30 thrown away. Will be trying again though -

> maybe when the little sod has grown up a lot!

Cold curry is gorgeous on toast for breakfast! I was brought up on it!

[DG]

For delivery, I recommend Spice Republic which is up by the Harvester. Really nice curries, not oily, and good variety for veggies. Not expensive.

http://www.spicerepublic.com/contactus.aspx

[Jah Lush]

I'll go along with that DG. I use Spice Republic quite a bit as it's my local Indian takeaway.

[Crepe Suzette]

Tried BBC twice, delicious food (good fresh sauce) but side dishes are a bit overpriced and you don't really need them anyway. If you don't mind cooking your own rice while you wait for the delivery it can be a good deal. They also claim they don't use MSG which is smart advertising for the ED demographic

[Ant]

I like Spice Republic too.

[heber jumble queen]

Just had first order from BBC. Very disappointing. The complementary wine didn't arrive although I'd requested a bottle of red and our starter was missing the dip. And we had to reheat in oven as it wasn't hot enough.

Honestly, not a big competition to other local excellent Indian / Bangladeshi take-aways. Infact they just phoned us to ask if food arrived, and when we said that certain things hadn't arrived just said we'd 'get them free next time' I don't want a missing dip next time when I needed it this evening, and would not bother ordering from them again.

[candj]

We too just had our first order from the Bombay Bicycle Club. Our starters were missing all the condiments and no one even mentioned the free bottle of wine to us. When the food arrived ONE AND A HALF HOURS later, it was tepid. I can understand teething problems for a new establishment, but BBC have thousands of other restaurants and should know how to run a take away! No excuse and sorry didn't win us over.

[dc]

It's always a problem for early adopters - you get shafted.

The question is how the company deal with it. IMHO the BBC should have said when they got overwhelmed that 'we have high standards and we can't take your order because, if we did, we could't live up to those standards. Sorry - but try us again and you can be assured that, when we can take your order, you will receive the top quality service we pride ourselves on.' I think anyone would have respected that in the same way that people understand that you can't get into certain restaurants without booking in advance.

A positive spin off is that I have now tried Spice Republic as recommended above - online order (slightly disappointing that you can't pay online as well but never mind). It was really very good and arrived in good time for us to witness the rugby thing with a full stomach. My veggie sister, who had over 20 options, was well impressed - her brain nearly exploded after so many years of so little choice!

Will try BBC - now my closest takeaway - when the hysteria has abated. BTW there aren't thousands of BBC's - fewer than 20 on current count - hardly a multinational.

[DG]

dc Wrote:>

> A positive spin off is that I have now tried Spice

> Republic as recommended above - online order

> (slightly disappointing that you can't pay online

> as well but never mind). It was really very good

> and arrived in good time for us to witness the

> rugby thing with a full stomach. My veggie sister,

> who had over 20 options, was well impressed - her

> brain nearly exploded after so many years of so

> little choice!

Yes, that happens to me too! Glad you like them. They're our local delivery place.

[lozzyloz]

Tried them yesterday by ordering on line (?10 of next order plus farthing points) for the 7.30-8.00 slot. Food arrived bang on time. Unfortunately Mrs Lozzyloz nearly blew her brains out after a fork full of her main course. They'd delivered the Murgh Mangalore (3 chilli rating) instead of the requested Murgh Aishwarya. At this point I'd noticed that they'd not given us a bottle of wine as per the spend over ?20 promotion. Called them back, pointed out their mistake and asked if we could have 2 tubs of dark chocolate ice cream (worth ?10) instead of the wine. They were very good about it and before you could say Vindaloo all was delivered. The food was delicious. If you're a die hard curry fan (Bob) then not quite authentic but very well spiced, some original dishes, good quality meat and sauces that are less oily and gooey than the competition. Will definitely use them again but not exclusively. Good Value? Perhaps a tad on the expensive side and the complimentary popadums help, but if you take advantage of the launch promotion then it makes it bit more sense. I don't think they'll kill off other curry houses but they will hopefully motivate TN to sort out their kitchen (as per the last inspection) which has slightly put me off.

[Gilles]

Hi all

We've tried it twice in the last week

On both occassions the food took 40 mins to arrive (as promised)

The food was fresh and tasted and looked as if it had been prepared 40 mins ago!

The free wine turned up the first time we went over ?20

And it was all present and correct and hot

However, it is expensive...

g

[Dodo1]

Yes agree with above comments. Expensive for what you get. Corianader much better value.

[timtim]

Arrived 40 minutes late (and a whopping 2.5 hours after ordering!)

Food was cold

Popadums & mango (no other sauces or salad; popadums were like the sort you get pre made in the supermarket)

Starter (their recommended chicken kebab) was aweful

Chicken special main was good

Bottom line for me - more expensive and less tasty than others. And no apology for taking 2.5 hours to deliver it!

[dc]

Home tonight - about 8pm - usual friends and family expected for a Friday yabber and takeaway.

My (much) better half suggests we try the BBC as the clamour may now have subsided. I am sceptical but she says: 'I'll ring up and check what they say and pick up as it is just around the corner." (She may not have said that exactly but you get the gist). They say: "Order now and you can pick up in 30 minutes".

Well, the bad news is that it was nearer an hour before they had the food ready. The good news is that they were apologetic and dobbed us a bottle of (not bad) vin rouge by way of compensation and the food was excellent.

Mind you (see above), on the recommendaton of other EDF members, I am now in love with Spice Republic and they have cunningly lured me into their "Loyalty Bonus Voucher" scheme. Only another ?50 spent before the 20 April 2008 and I get ?10 off! Exciting.

Choices, choices - who am I to complain?

ps: (and a fraction off topic) I loved Heston Blumenthal on Jonathan Woss tonight. My family ridiculed me (as is their wont anyway) for taking 11 hours to make his spag bog - until they tasted it. The guy's a freakin genius.

[zephyr]

timtim Wrote:

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> Arrived 40 minutes late (and a whopping 2.5 hours

> after ordering!)

> Food was cold

> Popadums & mango (no other sauces or salad;

> popadums were like the sort you get pre made in

> the supermarket)

> Starter (their recommended chicken kebab) was

> aweful

> Chicken special main was good

>

> Bottom line for me - more expensive and less tasty

> than others. And no apology for taking 2.5 hours

> to deliver it!

How can they take 2.5 hours to deliver it if it was only 40 minutes late? Presumably you ordered it for a certain time but they may not start the prep for it immediately. I would prefer mine absolutely fresh rather than started 2.5 hours previously.

I will give it a try but will avoid friday and saturday for the moment

[ct]

i tried them on wednesday (or was it tues) this week. have to say the quality impressed me, was not glooping around in oil, and there were a couple of complimentary poppadoms in there. however, as it seems others have experienced, they did mess up still. they sent me the wrong naan. i ordered the dirtiest of all the naans, the keema, and they sent the sweet naan instead (the receipt on the bag even said keema).

grrrr

[budding S]

?2.75 for a plain nan bread!!! I'll be sticking with the pastachio club.

[tinagwee]

my fella tried spice republic and he said it looked and tasted like the meat had been added after the sauce was made and it wasnt proper chicken, more like reconstitued stuff. He wasnt impressed at all and he isnt fussy. any other bad reports on spice republic?

[Keef]

I've always heard great things about it, and on the couple of occasions I've gotten food there it's been good.

[DG]

tinagwee Wrote:

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> my fella tried spice republic and he said it

> looked and tasted like the meat had been added

> after the sauce was made and it wasnt proper

> chicken, more like reconstitued stuff. He wasnt

> impressed at all and he isnt fussy. any other bad

> reports on spice republic?

I'm a veggy, so can't comment on the meat (veg options are very varied and tasty) but my carnivorous boyfriend doesn't complain. He has lamb mostly though I think.

[zephyr]

Tried BC tonight.

Ordered online for the 8-8.30 slot and it arrived at 8.10.

Naan bread. Small, salty and quite tough. Definately not worth the extra that they cost.

Vegetable selection (starter). Do not normaly get something like this. Reasonable though they had been cooked then palce in a foil dish with the lid on so were very soggy.

Two different dishes - both tasted nice but portion size was small. There version of Chicken Tikka Masala is not very good.

Rice - good

Poppadoms - these are the type you would get in any Asian cash and carry and then pan fry (remind me of my childhood as my mum used to fry these) and thus probably the most authentic part of the meal.

Price - very very expensive.

Verdict:

The whole family felt it was not as nice as our usual place.

Will not use again. We will stick with the 2 Sisters Tandoori on Gibbon Road who have always been excellent.

[damzel]

We ordered a delivery from the bombay bicyle but the guy on the phone struggled to understand my (english) accent and I struggled to understand him too. The free bottle of wine which I requested to be red, yes red, no no no red not white (and then he called me back to check which colour i wanted - RED!) turned up and it was white. The food was nice but unexceptional considering the cost. I was disappointed as I have used them before in Battersea and it was mmmmmmm

BUT... it was day 3 after they opened so maybe they'll sort themselves out a bit. I'd try them again.

I miss the old curry house that was there - Mohammad used to tell me ghost stories as I waited for my takeaway.

[woodie]

babur? to far to qualify? beats bbc if you got there.90% of the time deliveries top notch also.

[sharp]

post removed and user banned for pretending to be a happy customer of an establishment - The Administrator

[Jah Lush]

Oh Sharp do stop it. You're just too obvious.