Masala Bites, Cheltenham

Place: Masala Bites, Cheltenham
Booking Tel: 01242 530531
Website: http://www.masala-bites.com/
Price per person for a 3 course meal and 1/2 a bottle of wine: £25 incl. tip
Good for: Meeting with friends / students
Dress code: Casual

Pros: good Indian food for very reasonable price and in a warm vibrant setting. A great place for eating with friends on a Friday night!

Cons: limited dessert menu, however this is a planned improvement area, we did wait quite a while for our food – we were the last table to leave the restaurant and did not massively linger over dinner!

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Read on for full review...

For lovers of Indian food there is an exciting new experience in Cheltenham in the form of Masala Bites - a Thali and Tiffin restaurant that opened at the end of last year. Masala Bites is the first dedicated Thali restaurant in Cheltenham and after sampling and enjoying Thali for the first time at a festival last summer; I was very keen to repeat the experience!Thali is a healthy balanced meal consisting of a selection of Indian dishes. Masala Bites offers a wide range of Thali main dish choices, such as king prawns in goan red sauce and serves all of them with rice, dhal, vegetables, salads and yoghurt raitas. Thali dishes start from £7.95, which is incredibly good value for money.

 

Masala Bites also offers a daily lunchtime Tiffin service with a simple menu of chicken, lamb or vegetable Tiffin’s cooked fresh every day. Tiffin boxes are a kind of Western equivalent of lunch boxes and are widely used in India for the collecting of freshly cooked lunch meals from the homes of office workers; delivering the food to them in their offices and then taking the box back home afterwards. Masala Bites delivers Tiffins in disposable boxes and they contain street bites (e.g. pakoras and spring rolls), dry curry, rice, chappathi, salad and yoghurt. The cost for a Tiffin box is £4.95, which is again excellent value for money. I only wished I worked in Cheltenham so I could take more advantage of these!

 

Masala Bites also offers a small selection of wraps and noodle dishes along with the usual side dishes expected from an Indian restaurant.

 

I visited Masala Bites on a Friday evening with a group of friends - there were six of us for dinner and we had booked a table for 8.30pm. When we arrived at the restaurant the evening dinner service was in full swing. The restaurant is open plan; however there is a rear section which has the feel of being a little more separate to the rest of the main room (a good space for a large party). The interior is suffused with warm orangey tones, soft lighting and chunky dark tables and chairs.

 

We were immediately shown to our table, which was in the front part of the dining room and surrounded by people in high spirits with a great buzzing atmosphere. In fact nearly every table was filled, which boded well. We ordered drinks and a selection of popadoms (spicy and plain). The spicy popadoms were crisper and thinner than the plain ones and were delicately spiced – I am definitely a convert!

 

One of the owners, Ubad, was quick to introduce himself and needed little encouragement to tell us anything we wanted to know about his new business venture! You could see that Ubad was very passionate about the restaurant and he has lots of plans on new ideas that he wants to try out very soon - a new cocktail menu and a wider range of desserts are a couple of the ideas on the table!

 

We ordered a selection of dishes ranging from tuna kebabs and vegetable spring roll light bites to shrimps with spinach leaf, panir jalfrezi and house recommended chicken with coriander and ginger Thali’s. The light bites were brought out first and the tuna kebabs were especially good, if not what we were expecting! The kebabs were more like grilled patties and consisted of a tuna and vegetable mix served on a bed of salad. The tuna kebab was really nicely flavoured and a made good starter / accompaniment to the meal. We all had different Thali main courses and the roasted chicken with coriander and ginger was very good, being delicately spiced and not too overpowered with heat or flavours. The jalfrezi paneer was a good vegetarian option and went really well with the other dishes on the Thali plate. The side dishes consisted of a lovely fragrant vegetable curried dish, rice, raita and a selection of Nan breads and chapattis. 

 

The dessert menu was limited in choices, being either a selection of ice creams or kulfi. We tried all of them – the ice cream was not local and not memorable, which was a shame as there are some lovely local ice creams in the West Country to choose from and the kulfi was the same. This is definitely an area that has room for improvement, however could be forgiven on this occasion for the good choice of Thali offerings.

I am already planning on returning to Masala Bites very soon and really hope that as its growing reputation continues to spread Masala Bites stays true to its roots of providing good quality Indian food, using local ingredients where possible and served with genuine enthusiasm!

T :-))

The Vine, Cheltenham

Place: The Vine, Cheltenham
Booking Tel: 01242 220 170
Website: n/a
Price per person for a 2 course meal (the Vine do not serve desserts) and 1/2 a bottle of wine: £25 incl. tip.
Good for: Meeting with friends / students
Dress code: Casual

Pros: Great atmosphere / quick food service / well stocked bar.

Cons: Inconsistent food quality / can get really busy at the weekend / no dessert menu.

 Rating: 3.4 out of 5

 Read on for full review...

Last Sunday I spent a very enjoyable few hours with the Cheltenham gang at the Vine for some vino and Thai food. Chris and I were not intending to stay too long, however after a particularly trying week for all of us (in one way or another), the red wine flowed whilst we enjoyed each others company and before we knew it 10 o'clock had come and gone... whoops! Not recommended on a school night!! The Vine is a traditional style pub that serves Thai food and as we were there quite early we were some of the first diners of the night. I like the way that food is ordered in the Vine, you fill in cute little food slips and hand them into bar. They remind me of the food slips used in Dim Sum restaurants, of which I have visited many, many good ones with some very special friends... :-))

To start we had a selection of vegetable tempura, duck and pancakes and a mushroom tom yum soup. The tempura was okay, however the batter could have been a little lighter and less oily, the duck and pancakes were fine and as expected, however the mushroom tom yum soup really fell short of our expectations. I was quite disappointed as I love Thai soups, however this one tasted predominately of fish sauce and nothing else. The mushrooms were normal white mushrooms chopped into quarters and floating on the top of the water consistency soup. I passed it around the table for everyone to try (to make sure that it was not just me) and everyone unanimously decided the soup was not amazing...

For the main course we had fried rice with tiger prawns, lamb massaman curry and king prawns with tamarind sauce (except they had run out of king prawns, so used tiger prawns instead). The food came out soon after the starters, and after my slightly disastrous soup (!) I was pleased not to have to wait too long for my next course. The rice was well seasoned and nicely flavoured and there was a good ratio of prawns to rice!! The dish was a tad greasy, however overall was enjoyable and a very generous portion. In fact the dish could easily be shared between two people with a side portion of the malay bread. The lamb massaman curry had people divided. One of the group felt that the sauce was nicely flavoured, however thought that the meat did not taste like it had had enough time to infuse with the flavours. Others in the group enjoyed the whole dish, particularly the sauce. Overall this one seemed to go down quite well. The tiger prawns with tamarind sauce was probably the nicest dish out of the bunch and was cleared away fairly swiftly!!

After the main course we all felt the need for something sweet. The Vine does not offer desserts, so we decided to descend on Bella Pasta for sweet goodness (!) and yes you guessed  it another bottle of wine... NB. I did feel absolutely awful at work on the Monday and have definitely learnt a lesson (lets just hope I take it on board)!! Anyway, Bella Pasta is another story and not one for now ;-))

Overall our experience at the Vine was enjoyable, however this was mainly due to the company, the setting and the wine. The food was reasonable, but could have been better - this is the main area that pulled my rating down. We passed our comments back to the waiting staff (in particular letting them know about the soup) and were told that they have two chefs, who both have slightly different styles. Potentially if we had visited when the other chef was on, this review may have come out slightly differently... For the moment though, I do not think we will be hurrying back to the Vine, especially when there are so many other places in Cheltenham to try!

Angora Meze Bar, Cheltenham

Place: Angora Meze Bar, Cheltenham
Booking Tel: 01242 230 642
Website: http://www.angoramezebar.co.uk/
Price per person for a 3 course meal and 1/2 a bottle of wine: £25 incl. tip.
Good for: Meeting with friends / students
Dress code: Casual


Pro's: Good alternative to places like La Tasca when looking for small dishes to share with friends over a bottle of wine / very reasonably priced (currently running a £15 per person for two or more, set 3 course menu offer, excl. drinks - see website for details).


Con's: Very quiet / the wine list could be a little more extensive / a little out of the way (opposite JJ's on Albion Street).


Rating: 3.6 out of 5


Read on for full review...


Sunday nights are generally spent with the Cheltenham gang, recovering from a hectic weekend over a couple of bottles of wine and some restorative nosh! Last Sunday four of us met at the Angora Meze Bar in Cheltenham, which is a family run Turkish restaurant. Admittedly we were the only diners during the 2 hours we were there, however the food was surprisingly good quality, full of flavour and very reasonably priced. The staff were extremely attentive and the chef even helped to bring the dishes to the table, whilst constantly checking to make sure that everything was okay.


To start we went for a selection of hot and cold meze, which included Ezme (a chopped tomato, parsley and walnut dish with spices), fasulye pilake (white beans in tomato sauce) and grilled sebze (aubergine and courgette brushed with olive oil and served with garlic yogurt). The meze were served with plenty of pitta bread and washed down with a bottle of the house red. All of the dishes were as described on the menu. The Ezme was a little unusual, as the chopped walnuts gave the dish a strange texture, however everyone enjoyed the starters and there was nothing left when the waiter came to clear the plates away (always a good sign)!


We all selected a different main course. I originally enquired about the fish of the day, however the chef advised that there was no fresh fish available due to it being a Sunday and their deliveries being in the week (nice to know that they only like to serve fresh fish). Instead I went for the Iskender Kebab which was described as thinly sliced lamb, served over tomato sauce on pitta bread with a portion of yogurt. When the dish came out the lamb was actually more like rolls of minced lamb, similar to how they would be if they were cooked on a skewer. Despite not being what I had expected, the lamb was well spiced and the tomato sauce made a great accompaniment to the lamb. A generous dollop of yogurt on the side, the soft doughy pitta underneath and an extra bonus in a small portion of rice (which was not stated in the menu description) made this dish really well balanced and filling. Overall highly recommended. The rest of the group went for a lamb shish kebab, a chicken shish kebab and a turkish pizza of ground lamb and chopped vegetables. The pizza was easily enough for two to share, as is came sliced into four pieces that hung over the edges of the plate. The base was very thin, however the pizza was still filling and as a group we did not manage to finish what our friend could not manage to eat! The shish kebabs were well cooked and the meat was tender. Overall the main courses were like the starters, full of flavour and well prepared and washed down with another bottle of the house red ;-) !!


Despite being rather full from the starters and main courses, we decided it would be a crying shame not to complete the experience and sample the home made baklava dessert! We were not disappointed, it was well worth trying and made a great finish to an enjoyable meal.


Overall the meal was good and the staff were friendly and attentive. The only areas that pulled down my rating were the wine list (which was limited to one type of each colour) and the setting being a little lacking in atmosphere, due to the restaurant being so empty (however this may be different if you went in after 9pm). I will definitely be revisiting soon, so my husband can sample the yummy kebabs!