GUM was delighted to be invited to Chillies West End, an exciting Indian located on Woodlands Road, to promote the new student deal they have just launched. The invitation coincided nicely with our new food and drink section, which seeks to promote affordable dining for all us broke foodies out there. The deal sees students walk out with 10% off all sit-in meals from Sunday to Thursday, and 10% off take-away throughout the week. A valid student card must be shown on order.
On entering Chillies one is greeted with a warm decor with dark woods and brick inlays offering a casual yet chic ambience. The open kitchen particularly grabbed my attention given the energetic cooking style Indian cuisine offers. The staff were friendly and prompt, with our waiter gladly offering suggestions and explanations of the origin of certain dishes as we sat down to order.The venue has a BYOB policy, but on the occasion that you decide not to drink the smoothies and lassi’s are exceptional. We ordered a mango lassi and a pineapple and ginger smoothie to start, the aforementioned being rich and bursting with flavour, and the smoothie wonderfully balanced with a good kick of ginger. They were so good we ordered a third smoothie with the unusual combination of banana, pistachio and yoghurt, which didn’t disappoint.
The starters offer a range of tastes and textures with a varied origin. The Desi Chilli Puri, the combination of spiced chickpeas on a crunchy pancake was well balanced with the tart mixed pickle. This was followed by two standout dishes, the house speciality of Charcoal lamb Chop, chargrilled with a warm heat cooked in a traditional tandoori oven. It is the chef’s own recipe which draws from North Indian cuisine that is characteristically more dry than the curries we normally associate with Indian here in the UK.