Curry Canteen

3 curries and a rice for £3.50.
What was I expecting for that type of money? I’m not sure.
I had seen the offer advertised by the proprietor in a local forum, so I thought I would go along and give it a try.
The venue (I can’t refer to it as a restaurant) is located just off of Snig Hill, near to the city centre.
The premises were clean and tidy though a little austere and when I entered I was the only patron. The Curry Canteen certainly isn’t a restaurant, I’m not even sure that the food is cooked on the premises. It is located in an old building in the old industrial heartland of Sheffield and I think that the café is very much aiming itself at the local businesses and traders.
The floor area has approximately 12 tables, seating four people per table, it’s a fairly large space and during my visit I felt slightly uncomfortable. As I mentioned, I don’t think the food is cooked on site, though the lady who served the food said that the kitchen was upstairs. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t; it’s all a little irrelevant anyhow.
The food is kept warm in what can be best described as a glorified hostess trolley, 4 curries — 2 meat and 2 veg were the choices available plus either pillau or boiled rice. I choose the Chicken Curry, the Lamb Curry and the Potato and Mushroom Curry with the Boiled Rice.
They have another warming bin where they store pre-​cooked Nan breads, Onion Bhajis and I think the 3^rd item was Vegetable Pakoras. I opted for one of the nan breads at a cost of £1. I also had a can of coke from their chilled cabinet. These 3 items (Hostess trolley, warming bin and drinks cabinet) were the only 3 pieces of catering equipment they had in the building.
When you see the 3 curries for £3.50 you think whoooah, bargain. However when you opt for the eat in option you are probably served with what would amount to a curry and a half in terms of quantity. The eaterie has only been open for a couple of weeks, maybe this is why the portions are a little generous?
If you are a local then the eat out option really is good value for money as you get 3 metallic containers of curry and a fourth full of rice. The eat in option seems to be a little more metered and you get a couple of small ladles of each of the 3 curries to go with your rice.
Now the quality. Well for me none of the 3 curries were spicey enough.
I believe the owners are aiming to sell their product at the local white business community. I say this because the curries were in my opinion very dumbed down, probably in order to suit a curry novice. It seems that they are trying to catch everyone, yet they may fall short and succeed in pleasing no one. I just get the impression that people who work in a face to face people orientated business wouldn’t really want a curry for lunch. At the other end of the scale you have people like myself who seek out ethnic eateries for a lunch time meal, but who expect to have being curried after having had one. When I visited the Curry Canteen I felt like I had only had a Chicken and a Lamb casserole, it wasn’t really like a curry to me.
The other weakness of this establishment is that the dishes weren’t particularly hot as they weren’t cooked fresh they were just served from a hostess trolley. The nan bread I had was also only luke warm.
Would I return to this establishment? No, not for 6 months or so at which point I will probably return to see if they are still open and if things have improved.
A local with a microwave and a few chilies or chili powder could take advantage of this offer and get a decent meal/​s from it.
This has turned in to quite a long review of an establishment that’s neither a restaurant or a curry café. Strange.