The Bottisham Brasserie

While staying in Cambridge on my escape-weekend we went out to a party with some stonemasons - real stonemasons who mason real stone - we aren't talking secret societies here. By way of proving this, the yard outside their house had a row of impressive looking sailors in process of restoration. The ones who weren't stonemasons seemed to be mostly female cricketers with the odd crossover into astrophysics.



The party of about 20 walked across the fields of Cambridgeshire to the village of Bottisham where they have a nice little Indian brasserie. Now it ain't glamorous (was that a pentagram on the wall?) and lets face it it isn't geared up to dealing with large parties - it took forever for our food to come and you could see the other people in twos and fours getting quite twitchy while they wait for our food to come, hoping that theirs would follow on its heels. Once the trolley had been wheeled out and wide assortment of wonderfulness placed on our table they did get their fill but it wasn't exactly erm snappy. No. I think the lesson there is don't go in a big group, and if you see a big group entering run several miles to the next eating establishment. Otherwise, stay and feast.



But hey the food was actually pretty good - certainly on a par with other quality curry places I have visited - they've put in the work and are using real spices, real veg, real meat and real authentic know how to put it together. While we had entered pretty hungry we left suitably full and satisfied.

We headed back to the stonemason place (on the road this time - probably was a full moon, wouldn't want to risk it) and watched the flames of the bonfire flickering in the darkness.

Rice n Three, Bolton

A friend was passing through Bolton so I took him to Rice n Three for lunch. We sat and we chatted and compared stories.

Rice n Three is a little Indian cafe in Bolton - near the "bottom" end of the high street - walking from the station towards town you take a right at the first set of lights and it's in the row of shops on your right. The place is greatly favoured by my parents slightly do-lally cleaner and not without reason. They have a rotating menu of curries, making a different selection of vegetable and meat dishes each day. The idea is you get a plate of rice and three of the curries - but of course you can ask for naan or just two curries or chapattis if you wanted. I had lamb, channa and cabbage which cost not much more than £2.50. For a grotty looking cheap little lunch place it really does nice curry. Subtle variations in spices and complimentary flavours of the three dishes go down a treat. The meat, while slightly boney was tender and sweet. It can't be beat. (Update: The prices have gone slightly higher since I wrote this, more like four quid for a meal, but it's still a bargain)



Bolton is in some ways a terrible place from a culinary point of view - finding a nice restaurant without leaving the town seems like very hard work, but as this place proves, if you lower your expectations and follow the local flavour there are truly some diamonds in the rough.