Restaurant Review: Hoole Indian

When is a takeaway not a takeaway? When it is eaten in the restaurant , of course.

Ordering from Hoole Indian has been a regular Friday or Saturday night ritual for us for some time: the quality of the food is consistently high, the service is excellent and the prices most reasonable. What’s not to like.

The popular takeaway has been on Charles Street for as long as I can remember but the restaurant element is a more recent addition, opening about four years ago.

For whatever reason, Hoole Indian had never been on our radar for a dine-in experience as we tend to frequent one of the city centre restaurants, but we decided a visit was long overdue and booked a table for two on a Saturday evening.

With five or six good pubs and bars nearby, Hoole is an excellent alternative night out for those who don’t want to venture into Chester and Hoole Indian is the perfect final stop for that British tradition of a few drinks rounded off with a curry.

Advance bookings are advised because the compact restaurant has room for about 20 covers, but the modern decor and cool lighting ensures it doesn’t feel cramped.

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We arrived 10 minutes earlier than planned but that was no trouble as our table was ready with our waiter showing us to our seats, handing us a menu each and asking what we would like to drink.

He returned a short time later and enquired whether we would like some poppadoms while we decided what we wanted to order: of course we replied yes and he promptly delivered four crisp discs served with accompaniments of mango, onion, sweet chilli and mint yoghurt.

The menu is extensive and includes all of the traditional favourites for starters and mains, and a good offering of house specialities including several award-winning dishes.

We eventually settled on a meat platter (£6.95) between us as a starter while for mains I opted for a chicken tikka balti (£8.50) and my partner went for her usual chicken tikka korma (£8.50). We ordered sides of pilau rice (£2.95), mushroom bazi (£3.95), naan bread (£2.55) and chips (£2.55) to share.

The sharing platter was brought to our table within about 10 minutes and was well-presented on a wooded board, consisting of sheek kebab, chicken tikka, two tandoori wings and two meat samosas with a small salad and dipping sauces.

I usually order a mixed kebab starter when having a takeaway so this would prove a good measuring stick for the restaurant.

Everything was well-cooked, flavoursome and piping hot.

The chicken wings in particular were delicious and the platter, which I could have happily eaten on my own, received a thumbs up from us both.

We did not have to wait long for our mains and although we did have to ask twice for an extra couple of poppadoms these were not put on the bill so no harm done.

The curries, rice, bazi and naan were served together on a board and we could not wait to tuck in, but before we did one of the waiters dusted our plate with a little smoked paprika: it would bring out the flavour and lift our senses, he explained. I’m not sure about that but it was a nice touch.

The balti was a thick, wave of medium hot spices covering tender chicken and it took me no time to clear out the dish.

I’m not that partial to korma, however my partner certainly is and offered up positive reviews, allowing me to have a small sample and it was creamy with a subtle hint of coconut, much more to my liking than the sickly sweet kormas I have had elsewhere.

The rice was perfectly fluffy and fragrant, the naan bread thinner than usual and perhaps not as big but perfect for mopping up the sauce from our mains.

There was not a morsel left at the end and we were both well-satisfied: the food had been as delicious as we were used to from our takeaway experiences and the service and setting helped raise it to another level.

The bill for a starter to share, two mains, four sides and drinks came to less than £50 which was excellent value.

I’ve no doubt we’ll continue using Hoole Indian for our takeaways but perhaps a little less frequently now we know dining in their restautrant is such a thoroughly enjoyable experience.