Men vs Curry - The Departing

A second post in a day; that doesn't happen often...

... but then it isn't often that it is your last day in the office.

For the past week (since last Thursday) I have been partaking in Men vs Curry, a curry based challenge where we visit a different Rice & 3 venue every day for a massive plate of rice, with a selection of curries on it.

So, to keep as a reminder of this epic week of food and company I am going to bore you all to tears with a day by day, blow by blow account of each event.

Day 1, Yadgars

Fish curry, amongst others

This was quite a controversial choice as other regular members of the Curry Club had warned me off going however the temptation of a fish curry caused this to be added as our opening day of this MVC. Despite some egregious off sides in the queue (where a group comes in and sends one of their number to reserve a table - "getting in play ahead of the curry") and a slightly slow serving time this was a brilliant way to start the week off.

Starting the week off well

Day 2, Kabana

Really tasty Lamb in this one

For the second day of curry we went back to one of our regular haunts which rarely lets us down. Sometimes I complain that the rice is a bit crunchy however for this visit they outdid themselves and everyone who came along (and the crowd was pretty good, including some First Timers) were impressed with the quality and taste. Once again there were examples of offside in the queue; the thing is the speed people go through these places there is no point in saving a table; one always becomes free really quickly.

Thumbs up half way through

Day 3, Chapati Corner

Chapati Corner with the super hot extra chili

Monday found another good group of us heading to the venue most adjacent to our office; Chapati Corner. Once again this is one of our favourite destinations only let down by them microwaving the rice. They make the hottest curries of the round, with quite amazingly explosive green chilis liberally distributed in the vegetable curry, and the keema. They are so hot they make me hiccup and that takes some doing.

I am THAT happy

This was a very good start to my final week.

Cheesy grin for the camera

Day 4, Moghul's Taste

Ahhh my favourite of the week

Ahhhhhh Kerela Tuesdays. My favourite day of the week, at my favourite restaurant of the week. This requires the furthest walk of all but is the most worth it as they have Keema and Kerela, which is a bitter tasting fruit from India. The rest of the curry is pretty special too, with Lamb chops (left of the plate) and mustard leaves with baked chili (right side of the plate). The guys at this place knew it was my last ever Kerela Tuesday and so gave me an extra spoon of everything; that pretty much destroyed me for the day.

Two thumbs up for Kerela

Day 5, This & That

Actually an old pic cos I forgot to take one whoops

Ahhh the oldest and some would claim best of all the venues this was also the result of a very funny joke played on a long running member of the Curry Club. I was supposed to be at a meal with my team on this day however it was cancelled and so I ended with a gap in the diary. My mate had been complaining that I hadn't included This & That in the rotation so when this space became free, and I realised that he couldn't actually make this day, the obvious decision was made and we all trouped off across town to eat his favourite curry when he couldn't make it.

The montage of our trolling pictures

We took pictures at every stage and tweeted them to him, earning a bit of abuse back and having a large number of laughs. This & That normally has a slightly more liquid curry and I have managed to do Rice & 6 a couple of times. Not this time however as it was a higher quality than normal and filled me up well.

About to tuck into my curry

Day 6, Moghul's Taste (again)

Cheese and Peas - heavenly!

And so we reach the final day, the day of leaving. Today, no less. Obviously I had to go back to my favourite location and end my MVC and celebrate my last day in the office with my favourite food.

We have filled up the whole dining area

There was a large crowd at this one as it combined as my leaving do and we managed to completely fill the overflow seating downstairs, as well as causing them to actually run out of rice! What a good effort that is. At one point I went up to ask for the recipe of the Kerela (again) and the owner said "I'm sorry we shouldn't have been charging you" and gave me my money back.

Me and my favourite person

Then, as I was leaving the guy who always serves me said "at least let's have a photograph" and proceeded to ask all the customers queuing to get out of the way and pulled me behind the counter for a photograph. He even got his own phone out to get one for himself. I am expecting to hear that they have put this photograph on the wall.

A very happy Bearded Bastard

So there you have it. MVC (The Departing) completed very successfully and with happiness all around.