Review of Jorna Indian Takeaway and Restaurant

Jorna Indian Take away & Restaurant, 29 Wherstead Road, Ipswich, Suffolk IP2 8JJ. The Jorna stood out before we even sat down as we are friends with the Bgoodes who wrote the jingle for their website. If you happen to see them gigging about give them a shout and ask them to play it for you, you wont regret it! I had been a sometime regular at the Jorna some years ago when the restaurant was more than twice the size it is now and always enjoyed the curry so was hopeful, this coupled with the fact that they offer a bar but you can also B.Y.O which is rare these days it seems. The place was a little on the quiet side when we arrived and we were seated in a fairly small booth by the friendly waiting staff. The menu was comprehensive, I stuck with something simple a vegetable korma, some rice and onion Bhaji's while Niggles and Davekins went for a Chicken Masala and Joebeak who is an avid Jorna eater had a ceylon. The general feeling was that the food was average, Dave said "the masala was hot but not much else to it" and personally I was very dissapointed as mine really only tasted of potato and coconut cream, I realise many people out there will be reading this and thing "well she went for a korma, korma's are bland" I don't happen to agree, I've had some really lovely increadibly tasty mild curry's over the years, it just takes a little spice and imagination. Joebeak however enjoyed his very much and recommends the Kulcha nan aswell. So the verdict? This is a very friendly restaurant, with a solid regular customer base, not particularly exciting food but a good price and a great theme song!

Survey Score: Jorna Indian Restaurant and Take away: 71%

Review of Zaika

Zaika situated at 17 St. Nicholas Street Ipswich, Suffolk IP1 1TW - 01473 210 110 and is a generally popular restaurant, so we hoped for something good. We arrived at about half 8 and so it was peak time, they were surprised to find we hadn't booked and so I would generally recommend if you wish to eat here on a Saturday call ahed. We were seated in a cosy alcove and the atmosphere was warm and generally friendly with low lighting, however this did make it a little of a challenge to read the menu. We were very quickly served with a round of drinks and popadums, however after taking our main orders and clearing away the starter plates we had another hours wait before the main courses arrived. The food arrived (with the waiter persistently calling me "sir", being a busty young lady this was a little odd) and I had a vegetable masala which was very very sweet and could have done with a little more variation in the flavour, Nigglybeak said he thought it was "overpriced and underflavoured" and Davekins who opted for the chicken jelfrazi said he thought that the My Keralam version of the dish was far nicer. Needless to say we were all a little dissapointed already, however when the bill arrived we were shocked to find that it worked out at £30 more than the average price we normally paid anywhere else. The verdict is that this would be a nice place for a quiet date mid week if you dont mind being a little cramped, but dont expect the food to be very exciting and take a little extra cash as you'll need it.

Survey Score: Zaika: 58%

Review of Ghandi

Ghandi is at 8 St. Peters Street, Ipswich IP1 1XB, 01473 286 268, placed at the quiet end of St Nicholas street it seems to get a little less foot traffic than the other restaurants in this road. We decided to use it as an excuse to escape the football and so found that it was an unusually quiet saturday night, the restaurant is fairly narrow so I imagine on a busy night it could be faily tightly packed, however in the quiet of world cup fever we enjoyed a relaxed meal. Davekins said he thought "the service and food were up to scratch albeit on the expensive side" which I would agree with, generally my feeling was everything at Ghandi was fine, the food service and atmosphere were all good enough, but it didn't particularly stand out for me in any way, either good or bad. However this ended up giving it the second best overall score!

Survey Score: Ghandi: 78%

Review of Orissa Bar & Restaurant

Orissa Bar & Grill is situated in the prime location of 10-12 St. Nicholas Street, Ipswich IP1 1TJ, 01473 232 439, right in the middle of Ipswich's restaurant row. Orissa is lucky enough to have a beautiful timber framed grade II listed building as it's setting, many will remember this as a tapas bar and some years ago "Spooks" goth restaurant. We were a little dubious at first largely due to a big sign in the window advertising DJ's and partying till the early hours on a saturday night, but the atmosphere seemed relaxed and we thought it was worth a try. The downstairs area is a relaxed bar, so if you want you can enjoy a quiet drink before heading upstairs in to the main restaurant area for a filling meal. They have done a nice job making the place feel modern but still sitting well with the age of the place, and generally the big selling point of this restaurant was it's ambiance, though there was no music the evening was relaxed and the staff were friendly, I certainly felt in no rush but also wasn't sitting there wondering where the hell my food or drink was! The food was good, not perhaps as interesting as My Keralam but tasty and unpretentious. Davebeak asked about the vindaloo sauce and rather than risk having him unable to finish a curry too hot for him, they recommended he stick with a madras but gave us a nice big bowl of vindaloo sauce to try for size and were happy to spend time making sure we had a great meal. The only real downsides to this restaurant are that it has no air conditioning, so in the summer heat it could be a little stuffy and the menu is very brief, having said that, it also offers a good enough selection and this may well enable them to offer better food and service than if they had a million options.

Survey Score: Orissa: 79%