Indian Ocean

On Saturday I fancied some trad pub grub, but my local had stopped serving early, at 8.30pm “because of Arsenal”. I can’t even pretend to know what this means – had the fans eaten all the bangers? Onwards and upwards. Tapas was next on the hitlist but the restaurant was packed out, so C and I ended up in the Indian Ocean, gorging on curry. We were lucky to get in there, at 9pm the tables were full of football shirts just finishing up and heading out. But we were seated at a large round table (probably intended for four) at the back by the kitchen. C’est la vie.

The décor is pretty standard, heavy white table cloths, paintings with gilt and elephants, bar to the front and trundling trollies bearing plates of food. The waiters are attentive but there’s a tendency to try and up sell which can be exhausting if you don’t fancy a bottle of wine or numerous sides. We went for a beer and a glass of white (pretty sharp) and a couple of poppadoms to start us off. They were light, non-greasy and crisp and the mango chutney in the condiments wheel was better than average with proper chunks of mango and depth of flavour.

C settled on that old classic, chicken tikka massala, which was well executed, the chicken marinated and charred in the tandoor before being cooked up with the sauce. I went for a dish I’d never seen before – beef xacutti, a Goan curry with coconut. I love beef and, of course, it’s unusual to see it on the menu in an Indian restaurant. The curry was great, rich and just spicy enough, the coconut mellowing it. We went for pilau rice and a side of aubergines cooked simply with chilli, both excellent.

The bill came to just over £30 and arrived with wedges of orange and After Eights, a nice touch. Slightly pushy service aside, this really is a great restaurant and serves the best curry on the Holloway Road.