Sweet Chilli
In a fairly crowded Indian restaurant scene, Hereford has a new addition. Sweet Chilli opened on 4th July 2013 and is away from the more established contenders round the town so it will be interesting to see how it competes in the long term. Right now the restaurant has a Facebook page but no website and I stumbled across it while wandering round the city centre so it would be interesting to know how they are getting word out.
As usual I was in Hereford for a football match, this time a home game versus Tamworth. The Bulls are trying to end a spiralling decline where money is tight so resources for the squad are limited. Hereford have been used to being relatively big players in the Conference (now the Skrill Premier) but that meagre budget means that those expectations are currently unrealistic. In previous seasons you would expect Hereford to brush Tamworth aside but lack of money is a huge leveller. Consequently, the game would never come within touching distance of a season best of list. The first half was amongst the worst time I’ve spent on the Meadow End terraces- forty five minutes of total tedium. Truthfully, the second half wasn’t much better except for a moment of utter quality from Sam Smith who, following a pass from Frankie Artus, advanced on the Tamworth defence before unleashing an unstoppable shot from 25 yards. The same striker had a chance to make it 2-0 but had a volley that narrowly went wide. The only other excitement was a straight red card for Tamworth’s Duane Courtney for an elbow on Josh O’Keefe. After the game ended, drinks at the ground were followed by appointments elsewhere. However, the deficiencies in my listening abilities were sharply exposed when the pub I thought everyone was meeting in was empty. So yet again it was time for dinner by myself.
Sweet Chilli is on Bridge Street just up from the River Wye and within easy walking distance of Hereford Cathedral. Their menu seemed to have some interesting dishes beyond typical Indian restaurants with an emphasis on fish so seemed worth a gamble. The restaurant is divided into two main rooms. The entrance room has a large seating area with plain wood flooring and black leather sofas by the bar. The other half of the room had tables with stiff backed chairs on a thick rich red carpet.
As usual I was in Hereford for a football match, this time a home game versus Tamworth. The Bulls are trying to end a spiralling decline where money is tight so resources for the squad are limited. Hereford have been used to being relatively big players in the Conference (now the Skrill Premier) but that meagre budget means that those expectations are currently unrealistic. In previous seasons you would expect Hereford to brush Tamworth aside but lack of money is a huge leveller. Consequently, the game would never come within touching distance of a season best of list. The first half was amongst the worst time I’ve spent on the Meadow End terraces- forty five minutes of total tedium. Truthfully, the second half wasn’t much better except for a moment of utter quality from Sam Smith who, following a pass from Frankie Artus, advanced on the Tamworth defence before unleashing an unstoppable shot from 25 yards. The same striker had a chance to make it 2-0 but had a volley that narrowly went wide. The only other excitement was a straight red card for Tamworth’s Duane Courtney for an elbow on Josh O’Keefe. After the game ended, drinks at the ground were followed by appointments elsewhere. However, the deficiencies in my listening abilities were sharply exposed when the pub I thought everyone was meeting in was empty. So yet again it was time for dinner by myself.
Sweet Chilli is on Bridge Street just up from the River Wye and within easy walking distance of Hereford Cathedral. Their menu seemed to have some interesting dishes beyond typical Indian restaurants with an emphasis on fish so seemed worth a gamble. The restaurant is divided into two main rooms. The entrance room has a large seating area with plain wood flooring and black leather sofas by the bar. The other half of the room had tables with stiff backed chairs on a thick rich red carpet.
Popadom with a selection of chutneys kicked things off satisfactorily.
Both ordered starters arrived at the same time and both had the same positives and negatives. The seared scallops marinated in exotic spices served with barbecued peppers and onions were delicious. The scallops were beautifully tender with excellent flavour. Similarly for the clay oven cooked spicy wings the tandoori emphasis on the moist tender meat was simply awesome. They had a lovely level of spice and carried a gentle persistent heat. But what was with all the other stuff on the plate? The salad and sauces added very little and the overall presentation looked poor. It’s a shame because the main components of both starters were cooked very sympathetically.
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The main course was chicken tikka kulcham which was a northwest Indian version of chicken tikka masala according to the menu. This was ordered with a side of plain naan. The chicken was lovely and tender and the tomato cream based sauce rather mild but excellent when mopped up with the fluffy naan.
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The restaurant then went into “new kid who’s eager to please” mode with a small dessert of vanilla ice cream with strawberry and ice cream. This was followed by an offer of a spirit of my choice that was declined. A few minutes later I was offered a drink again but really wasn’t in the mood so passed again. They’d obviously raided the contents of a sweetshop so the bill came with toffees, boiled fruit sweets and midget gems.
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To be honest the freebies at the end of the meal were unnecessary. The food was seriously tasty and indicated that they’ve got a fine team in the kitchen. Toning down the trimming on the starters would definitely be better but ultimately the food that was ordered was really good and I’d happily eat at Sweet Chilli again. Looks like Hereford has gained another decent Indian restaurant.
Overall Rating – 3.5/5
Overall Rating – 3.5/5
