morrisons café, maldon

morrisons, maldon

Imagine my glee when Mrs Roastpotato texted to tell me she’d managed to secure a reservation for the hottest ticket in town: Morrisons Café in Maldon. We’ve been on the phone every day for weeks trying to get in, but it was always engaged, or when we did finally manage to get through it was fully booked.

It’s one of those swanky places with an obscure entrance: you walk through a supermarket, past busy shoppers, and then you glance out of the corner of your eye a queue of old people smelling faintly of wee. This is how the other half live, you think. You join the exclusive line and make your choices. It’s no ordinary menu-waiter style establishment, but instead you walk past a grand plaque pictorially displaying today’s epicurean delights. There was no hesitation for me, I’d heard wonderful tales of the delicate spicing and exotic ingredients used in their curry by Laissez Fare and BapSHOUT so that was my meal decided. Meanwhile Mrs Roastpotato went for le petit déjeuner d’anglais complet. The maitre’d (I think her name was Sharon) was effortless, taking my order without a word. Literally. Order placed, we took our plastic seats among the busy tables. This was definitely the place to be, it was heaving.

First up was the amuse bouche, a ’round’ of toast (it wasn’t round at all, it was square – so witty!) marinated in butter. This was tasty though a little damp, and flecked with black. I might attempt this one at home myself. While waiting for our mains, I took in our surroundings. I was gazed upon by a kindly old man, reinforcing the genuine and friendly nature of the warm decor.

lovely old man

Not a moment too soon, our plates arrived. The gimmick here is they are more thrown at you – I think it’s an Olympic discus thing ready for 2012 – landing in front of you with a tremendous clatter. Such theatre! Equally fascinating is having to choose the cutlery yourself from a selection of different stainless steel instruments. I think they were trying to catch out the naifs by leaving out all different shaped and sized forks. Luckily I’m experienced in such matters and was able to choose appropriate silverware for my dish.

chicken tikka masala a la morrison

And there it is, the chicken tikka masala. I could hardly wait. Vibrant and orange, I knew I was in for a treat. I wasn’t disappointed. Thick without being creamy, lightly spiced while simultaneously not tasting of much at all. It takes some skill to achieve that blend of flavours. The meat was stringy and unyielding, equally raised to perfection. Accompanied by skillfully steamed rice (essence of microwave perhaps?) and a naan resembling a pillow (because you will need to sleep after this feast), this was a perfect example of how to reheat a curry in the authentic supermarket way.

Would I go again? Yes.

5,000 stars out of 10

5 comments

  • OMG, I have to get myself down to this new hot eatery (I had heard about the ingredients as you mentioned, but haven’t sampled them in person…yet). Should I employ the tactics I did when making reservations for the slightly more down-market Fat Duck? How the hell did you get a table, especially at Friday lunch?!

    Your descriptions are wonderful, and I can’t believe they let you take photos!

    All the best,

    LF

  • My old stomping ground no less. Maldon born and bread me! good to see old place getting the recognition its deserves!

    Real Nice!

  • That really made me smile.

  • Thanks for the comments guys.

    svatzini, your only hope is that it gets closed down to a norovirus scare and clears down the booking list.

    (Come to think of it, it’s probably only a matter of time).

  • This made me giggle! I have been to my local Morrisons Cafe once for supper and had lasange and it was surprisingly tasty for a fiver! And yes, I would too visit again..

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