What A Gem

The Ruby Murray, 17 High Street, Bedford, MK40 1RN

 

You know that promise I made to myself… the one we all made just after Christmas, you know the one. Well… I broke it again.

It was a cold Saturday evening, I’d been painting all day and was looking forward to heading in to town for a few pints then the phone rang and it was my friend asking if I’d want to eat while we were in town “sure I said I...’m not fussy about where we go”. So it was decided that we’d go and check out The Riverside Grill and we did just that with one small change, we went to the Ruby Murray instead.

I’ve been a couple of times before and each time it’s been packed but not tonight, tonight there were ten people sitting on one table and that was it… no one else.

As we were seated there was a whirlwind of action as we were surrounded by staff pulling out our chairs, whipping the napkins off of the tables and placing them on our laps as we sat (except for me, as soon as I noticed what was going on I grabbed my own napkin off of the table… I’m in a restraint to eat not to have my groin brushed by the hands of those that serve, cheeky beggars).

 Even though the restaurant was empty there was still a nice atmosphere about the place, it’s a very modern looking place and never seems uncomfortable, there’s plenty of space between tables so even when it is full you don’t feel like you’re sitting with people you don’t know.

As soon as we were seated our drinks order was taken and we were passed our menus. There’s a lot to choose form on eth menu but not too much and there as some dishes you wouldn’t expect to find in an Indian such as monkfish and some very unique starters.

I was going to try something different but you know what it’s like, you get talking and don’t really look too hard at the menu and then someone comes to take your order and you end up just falling back on the norm, I think the only thing I had that was different form the usual was the starter:

Chilli Prawn

 A mysore delicacy, lightly butter fried prawn pieces tossed with green chillies, curry
leaves and yoghurt. Served in a papadum shell.

Seriously flavoursome, the chilli is in no way overpowering and isn’t hot as you would expect it to be, the portions as pretty generous too but not too much.

 Lamb Rogan, Mushroom Rice (I love Mushrooms!) and Keema Naan.

The Lamb was cooked really well, a little bit pink inside but still melted in your mouth and the flavour of the meat really cut through, the sauce was thick and tasty with all of the spices really shining through

The rice was perfectly cooked and the Keema Naan had a generous helping of meat within its crispy bread shell.

After I finished I was pretty full but not over stuffed like I was with last week’s Indian. I’m not a small man by any means in length or width so perhaps I can ingest more than the average person, the rice in all fairness was enough to share between two as was the Naan.

 I think the prices are pretty reasonable and the staff are really helpful and friendly and if they don’t know something they will find out and return with an answer.

 As the night went on the place did fill up a bit more and the atmosphere became livelier.

If you want a good place in the town centre to go out to eat then I highly recommend the Ruby Murray, this is the fourth time I’ve been and I have never had a bad meal so set your taste buds to “BRING IT ON” and get yourself in there quick sharp!

January Blues

Blue Ginger, 116 Bedford Road, Bedford, MK42 8BG

 

So here we are, full of Christmas food guilt as we've all stuffed ourselves silly along with the poor Turkey (insert nut loaf for you crazy veggie types or "fake turkey" that tastes nothing like Turkey and besides if you wanted something that really tasted like turkey then why not just eat the damn turkey? It's dead already, you not eating it isn't ...going to bring it back, in fact you not eating it just means more will go to waste and have to be thrown away, didn't your mother ever tell you it's wrong to waste food?) the gallons of alcohol that have passed our lips, the cakes, sweets and sausage rolls we've ravaged over the last few weeks are gone and we sit, top trouser button undone, gazing woefully at the TV with nothing but fond memories fading gradually, slowly turning in to regret and although we promised ourselves “no more takeaways for at least two months” some of us *ahem* may have already fallen off of that rocky food train and maybe some of us found ourselves round a friend’s house to watch a movie (Apollo 18, thought it was gonna be good but turned out to be a bit shit *sigh*) only to have that dirty grub gremlin ordering, nay! forcing them to partake in a tasty Indian take-away from Blue Ginger… YES, YES for a million time YES, I'm talking about ME! 

 The shame I carry as I write this is infinite... almost infinite at least. OK, there is a small part of me that is happy... well, a larger part but that's my belly and it's kind of shaped that way so I'm not sure if that happiness counts... does it count? Who knows, all I know is that I’ll try to lock the gremlin up later and get back on the health kick but on that occasion I decided to let him have this one (trouble is I'll have to fight off the cake monkey next)!

It’s been a while since I’ve had a Blue Ginger meal so it’s a welcome treat when it finally arrives at the door. Myself, Mrs Belly and a couple of chums are watery mouthed as we dish out round one of the feast before us.

 
For Starter I shared a Chef’s Platter with my buddy, it comes with an Onion Pakora (posh way of saying Bhaji), a little chicken nugget (no idea what it’s actually called), samosa and a roll of sweet sweet chicken moo moo (seriously sweet but it’s a great tasting dish, never heard of it before and only tried it when I got sent one by mistake with my order a couple of years ago). We also had a couple of orders of Onion Pakora to share round (which we really shouldn’t have ordered but we’ll come to that later).

I’m not sure what everybody had for mains but I had a Lamb Rogan with Mushroom Rice and a Chili Keema Naan (which I shared with Mrs Belly). I’m not sure if they have a new chef or not but the Lamb Rogan was AWESOME! Really flavoursome, you could taste the tomatoes and spices in the dish, the lamb was really tender and not at all fatty and the vegetables in the sauce were not overcooked & mushy. The rice was as you’d expect it to be, light, fluffy and tasty! 


 The chili naan was not too hot (in my opinion, Mrs Belly will most likely tell you differently since a piece of chili did hit the back of her throat resulting in a coughing and splutter show for the next 5 minutes after which we all gave her a round of applause) but again was full of flavour, it was however a bit "damp" but that's to be expected really considering the journey it's had in it's foil pouch.

I did ask what everyone else had but as I said I can’t recall it now, what I can tell you is that everyone really enjoyed their meal however everyone was proper stuffed afterwards since we’d ordered way too many Bhaji’s. It felt like we’d never be empty again!

Everything was pretty damn good and considering the drive everything that should have been crispy was pretty much still crispy (excluding the Naan) despite sweating in its own steam for the duration of the journey.

The only issue I have with Indian food is that it can be a bit pricey, I’m not saying Blue Ginger is overpriced but it’s high enough to ensure it’s not something you’re going to be getting once a week or even fortnight.

I must point out that whether on the phone or in the restaurant the staff are always friendly and helpful. I haven’t had a bad experience yet with Blue Ginger and highly recommend grabbing yourself a munch from those Raja’s of the Indian Restaurant