Curry in Cambridge
Reviews for the Saffron Brasserie
Author:
Date:7/2/2010
The korma is dead exciting, and poppadoms are great too. The lack of parking ws disappointing.
Author:Rob
Date:15/8/2008
had a takeway from Saffron, food was very tasty and price was reasonable.
will recommend
Author:jack
Date:16/7/2008
Saffron is a fantastic curry house, i always go with a large group.
Great service and food is excellent.
try it out.
Author:Adam S
Date:22/4/2008
Very, very good food, pretty good portion sizes but let down by the service. Genuinely didn't understand the waiter (work is very polyglot so I am used to accents) which led to much embarrassment on my part and some confusion.
Not too stuffy with plenty of space, definitely worth a visit.
Author:KP
Date:1/12/2007
The food is very good - best Indian food we've experienced in Cambridge. However, the service is poor - almost downright rude. The first time we went, we though maybe our waiter was having a bad night. Our second trip on a later night with a different waiter was even worse. We're not demanding diners as all, but these guys seem to look at you with disdain act like they'd prefer that you not be there at all. I'll grant them their wish and find someplace else to give my dosh to. Maybe a good take-out place?
Author:Jon G
Date:18/12/2006
We visited this restaurant having read the other reviews on this site but were quite disappointed:
I started with a pint of Cobra which was a bit woody – not the fresh crisp drink you’d hope for. The puppadums were OK, but out of the oven. Then came the microwaved Onion Bhaji!
When I ordered the Chicken Vindaloo I asked for ‘plenty of potato’. The waiter repeated it back a couple of times. When it came there were two slivers of potato in the whole dish. I questioned the (different) waiter about the lack of potato and was assured that Vindaloo comes without potato. I wouldn’t have minded too much but the dish tasted like a violent collection of spices rather than something properly cooked and integrated. I also have to say it was the first time I’ve been served ‘sticky rice’ in an Indian restaurant.
In fairness to the place there was plenty of meat in the dishes and when I asked for a glass of water it came in about 10 seconds. The staff always seemed willing to rectify any problem but who wants to wait while a dish disappears back to the kitchen when they are hungry? The service wasn’t helped by the fact that we had four different waiters throughout the course of the evening.
I find it so frustrating to be served stale popadums and microwaved Onion Bhaji in an Indian restaurant. If we’d wanted microwaved food we’d have bought a take-away from Tesco. This and many other Indian restaurants in Cambridge really need to buck their ideas up!
Author:Rob
Date:25/11/2004
The Saffron is probably the best in Cambridge. The service is friendly and the curries are generally top notch. There are, of course some little things about it. The Ceylon is extremely variable - I've had great and awful ones there. The Vindaloo is flawless, absolutely flawless. The specials are good, the dhansak can be a bit sweet though. The Cobra is very good on tap and the wine is good for a curry house. The atmosphere is good or less good depending on the day of the week - Fridays and Sundays are the best times to go. The side orders are good and there are a lot of them. In summary Service - 9/10, Food - 9/10 and Value- 7/10 probably my favourite in Cambridge and I have been through the large part of them.
Author:Julian Gold
Date:12/10/2004
It was my 40th birthday this weekend; a group of 13 of us went to the Saffron Brasserie. We had booked a table for 15, and when they saw that all the seats were not going to be taken, they removed 4. I reminded them twice that at least 2 more were coming, but they did not provide extra seating - one guest had to sit cramped at the end of the table.
My wife then asked them if they could do anything special for my birthday - they said "No, can't you see how busy we are?". I mean, a free dessert or liqueur coffee wouldn't have hurt, would it?
The food was very average - I had the Special, it was on the mild side and the lamb tikka was tough.
Finally, the staff never offered us coffee or desserts. Why they would cheat themselves out of the immediate or repeat business only they can know, but I suspect there are 13 people who will not return to or praise the Saffron Brasserie.
Author:Steve and Jo
Date:7/8/2004
I have can quite honestly say this is the best curry house in cambridgshire ( and I have been to a few!! ). The staff are helpfull and very friendly, the meals are always first class and they are more than happy to "tweak" a meal a bit for you if you want something a little hotter or dislike a certain ingredient. Top marks Saffron keep it up.
Author:Brian Bear
Date:21/6/2004
A wonderful place to dine! Service was super-duper and the food was 10/10. The only negative, albeit a small one, would be the genre of patrons this establishment attracts. We were dissapointed to be situated close to a rather rowdy birthday group wearing out-of-date clothing and un-fashionable hair decorations.
Author:Ryan D
Date:31/1/2004
Great meal, reasonably priced, and they offer chicken malaya - mmmmmm, my favourite!
Author:John Young
Date:17/12/2003
Great food, brilliant service. I couldn't recommend this restaurant more highly.
I've tried nearly every one of Cambridge's curry houses, and I think this is the best. The Maharajah also does very good, but at a higher price and with very poor service in comparison to the Saffron.
The car park is also a bonus.
Author:Melony Smith
Date:22/9/2003
I’m no expert on curries, but my experience of the Saffron Brasserie was highly disappointing and uninspiring. Firstly, the décor leaves a lot to be desired, as does the etiquette of the waiting staff who were in no hurry to take and serve our order, but very keen to clear the table whilst we were still eating. The presentation of our chicken pacora and king prawn butterfly was v. poor, although was fine in taste. The ‘mild’ house specials (shakoothi chicken to name one) were hugely lacking in flavour and hardly distinguishable between each other. My biggest objection was with regard to the meat content of the curries. Our meals were rather more ‘curry sauces’ with strips of chicken tikka thrown in, than properly prepared/authentic dishes. The pilau rice and mushroom fried rice was also tasteless. In summary, I will not be returning to the Saffron Braserie and nor would I recommend it to anyone.
Author:Matt Anghi
Date:1/6/2003
To be quite honest I was dissapointed by this place.
Our onion Bhajis were very greasy, and realativly flavourless.
My girlfriend said her tandorri chicken was okay. I ordered a vegetable cylon. It wasn't very strong, and was rather over done on the packeted cocanut. What was the worse bit however was the fact that apart from potato (in a Cylon I hear you ask ????) there weren't any vegetables, just tinned chickpeas and broad beans....
I think the waiter was far too over familuar too, like he'd known use all his life, which he didn't.
Wont be returning to the Saffron, I also object to being placed in the window, to give the impression an empty restuarant was fullish.
Author:Daniel Edwards
Date:5/2/2003
Being a great curry eater, this place far outways any other curry house I have been too. The food is top notch and plenty of it and the staff also are friendly and quick. My only complaint is I live in Newmarket and have to travel to Cambridge to enjoy... ;-)
Author:a pseudonym
Date:6/10/2002
This does some of the best food in Cambridge. The staff are unfailingly helpful and courteous, even to large parties. Once they cut the ends off some cigars for us when we forgot to bring a clipper. Unreserved recommendation from someone who's been in every curry house in town. Since I found out that they're quite happy to let me have only a starter and a coffee I've even started popping in for lunch. It's one of the quietest places to do the crossword that I know of.
Author:Sean B
Date:15/4/2002
My only encounter was a takeaway for three the other night. I had a madras, one of the hottest I've encountered - not a criticism in itself, but the heat was harsh and dry. The dhansak was similar, and only the balti passed muster.
There are plenty of better places in Cambridge; I wasn't impressed.
Author:Petersfield Reporter
Date:5/7/2001
I mostly visit for takeaways. Good, friendly service, though on Fridays and Saturdays they seem a bit overrun with punters.
Food is variable and expensive. Take their chicken tikka dhansak (my standard order): sometimes just right, then sometimes far too sweet. Ceylons are good and hot here.
Superb, if slightly unusual, dhal samba. Other places seem to put less in the way of veg in, but I quite like what they do here. Good sag aloo.
Some of the special menu dishes often tasteless: shakooti chicken, chicken pasanda/lababda type dishes. The Mill Road giants and the estimable Ghandi do a better job of these posh dishes.
Author:Dr S
Date:15/4/2001
We went for a meal on Wednesday. We arrived at 7.45 and
got the main course one hour later with only a few popadoms
in between. The reason was a large (20-ish) party and
inadequate staffing levels. This could only happen in
an Indian restaurant. One nan and one main dish were quite
cold when they arrived (also presumably due to the
over-stretched kitchen), but this was courteously put right
when we pointed the problem out to the waiter. In fact,
despite the large party, the waiters were very pleasant and
helpful generally. I really enjoyed my Shakooti Chicken.
The other dishes ordered on our table were all very
different, but not nearly so good, having one dominant flavour - sweet, hot or sour.
Author:Neil
Date:7/3/2001
All the meals we have were very tasty (and the popadoms
had a 4th sauce, only the second place in Cambridge to
do so that I know of). Overall a very pleasant evening.
The only critisisms I would have is that the meals were all
very sweet & mild and that my mushroom rice arrived with
only 3/4 of a *single* small mushroom in it (they gave me
a replacement one with lots of mushrooms in when I pointed
it out).
Author:Dr S
Date:21/1/2001
Just a note that towards the end of 2000, the Rajbelash
Restaurant was replaced by the Saffron Brasserie. The
ownership changed, as did the menu and the decor in the
restaurant.
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