‘Curry is all around me’

The February meet fell on Valentines’ day, which many OCC members were delighted to spend not with their respective other halves but back In London for a curry. The OCC headed to the Standard Balti House located on Brick Lane near the city between Shoreditch and Aldgate.

Walking through Brick Lane is an experience in itself with many a curry peddler trying to lure you into lesser known unpopular establishments. An amateur curry enthusiast could easily succumb to such pressure. The OCC dismissed these efforts and arrived at our intended target.

The OCC were welcomed and placed on a long table. Initial concerns about The Standard Balti House not having a drinks license were quickly quashed with a comprehensive selection of beverages available (bottled beers, no draught options).

The atmosphere was good with much cross table singing, especially during the ‘warehouse’ song and banter leading to an atmosphere score of 8.04 out of 10. Drinks were certainly flowing all round with dry January a distant memory and thoughts of getting back for the remnants of Valentines’ day disappearing with each round.

A quality versus value debate raged afterwards as did accusations of online pricing differentiating from real world pricing. Despite a care rating of 7.27, service rating of 7.26 and quality rating of 7.14 the value rating hit the floor at 5.20 (all out of 10).

Were the OCC mugged off with Tourist pricing? who knows, but if so, The Standard Balti house will rue the day as on this occasion the all round performance was not enough for a prized OCC sticker for their window. One of the better curry houses on Brick Lane for sure but not an overall winner in our eyes.