Pat Chapman's Curry Club
Join our mailing list
To receive our e-letters
please enter your email address below and click subscribe:


shop safely
cobra good curry guide

Cobra Beer founder

Lord Karan Bilimoria

at our

Good Curry Guide Awards Ceremony

 

 

The Good Curry Guide

(established in 1984)

Sponsored by Cobra Beer

 

The New Edition - 2013 Cobra Good Curry Guide

A completely new edition of The Cobra Good Curry Guide, the 11th edition, is now available.

Our Guide was established in 1984 and is in its 29th year. You can order it at our Online Shop, £14.095 plus £3.00 Uk postage and packaging or pick up a copy at all good bookshops for £14.95. It is  A5 size (210 x 150 x 20mm) with 384 pages, full colour throughout with many pictures of curry and restaurants, loads of facts and many new restaurants. ISBN: 978-10-9537735-3-4.

Established as the only in-print critical guide to the 1,000 best Curry Restaurants and Balti Houses in Britain. Regarded by media and the restaurants alike, as the definitive work of its kind. Each restaurant is assessed for price, style and quality of food, service, vegetarian availability, BYO, takeaway info, home delivery service, and more. Compiled with the help of hundreds of members of the public and of The Curry Club, whom we list in full (scroll down for more on this). Enhanced with dozens of colour pictures of restaurants up and down the country and their food. Facts and fun in the intro section, including a 30 year look-back on the Curry Club's history. 2013 A-List and Top 100 List. Statistics. Definitive menu glossary.  Also features: alphabetical town index, county maps, contributors' list, etc.

 

Who Sponsors The Good Curry Guide

The highly successful Good Curry Guide is, sponsored by Britain's favourite Indian beverage - Cobra Premium Beer, as it has been coninuously since 1992..

 

Some Background Information

First published in 1984, The Good Curry Guide was the pioneer in its field. Since then it has been copied and plagiarised, especially on the web. But like so many first-timers, it remains not only the brand-leader, but the one Guide where you get honest, often very critical opinion. And it is the only such Guide in print.

 

How Do We Make The Guide's Selection?

Curry Club Members form the national network of reporters who send in their views to The Guide. We get some 5,000 such letters, some containing a single report in a life-time, others submitting 20 or more reports in one letter, and reporting several times a year. Some of our reporters visit as many as 120 restaurants a year. One has visited every one of the Top 100 restaurants in the current edition of the Guide. It is largely this ground-roots-level knowledge which leads to the selection of the restaurants which make it to the Guide’s shortlist. This coupled with the questionnaire we send out to every restaurant each year, brings us a continuous flow of facts. Each restaurant which does make it into the Guide, is assessed for price, food and service, vegetarian availability, BYO, home delivery service, and more. Curry diners will be familiar with the Curry Club window sticker and restaurant quality certificate, which adorns the windows and walls of the only best curry restaurants. These are supplied free to all Guide entrants.

 

How Can I Send Information?

You can join our band of reporters and tell us your likes and dislikes. We don’t pay for this, and neither do we expect our reporters to request freebies from restaurants in our name. It’s really done for the fun of it, and the love of curry. And if used, extracts of your report(s) and your name in full will appear in print.

Click e-mail pat@patchapman.co.uk and send your information. Many thanks.

 

Previous Editions

  • Good Curry Guide 1984 (First Edition)
  • Good Curry Guide 1987
  • Cobra Good Curry Guide 1991 (First Cobra Edition)
  • Cobra Good Curry Guide 1995
  • Cobra Good Curry Guide 1998
  • Cobra Good Curry Guide 1999
  • Cobra Good Curry Guide 2001
  • Cobra Good Curry Guide 2004
  • Cobra Good Curry Guide 2007
  • Cobra Good Curry Guide 2008 (same as 2007 but specially produced for Tesco)
  • Cobra Good Curry Guide 2009 (two reprints each with minor changes)
  • Cobra Good Curry Guide 2010 (same as 2009 but specially produced for Sainsburys)

Some editions of this iconic publication are hunted by collectors. They have been known to sell on ebay for big amounts. They are available at sensible prices and, author signed, from the Used Books section of our Online Shop.

 

Spin Offs

Extracts from the Guide appear from time to time as specially commissioned pieces for newspapers and magazines such as the Independent’s (newspaper) Top 50, Visit Britain website, GNER magazine, Highlife, etc.

 

Which Restaurants Are The Good Curry Guide's Previous Award Winners?

The first restaurant awards of any sector were given by The Good Curry Guide in 1991. Since then many outfits have commenced giving awards. However in the curry sector, ours is still the plum award. We give awards each time a Guide is published (not every year). Following 1991, we next date was 1995, then 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2007 and most recently was 2009. Next will be 2011.

Best in the UK

  • 1991/4 ~ Chutney Mary, SW10
  • 1995/7 ~ Bombay Brasserie, SW7
  • 1998/9 ~ La Porte des Indes, W1
  • 1999/2001 ~ Chutney Mary, SW10
  • 2002/3 ~ Quilon's, SW1
  • 2004/7 ~ Madhu's, Southall
  • 2007/12 ~ Ithiaas, Birmingham
  • 2013 ~ The Painted Heron, SW1

Other Awards

  • Aagrah, Doncaster, Garforth, Leeds, Pudsey, Shipley Skipton, Tadcaster and Wakefield, Yorkshire - Best Restaurant Chain, 1998/99 &1999/2001
  • Agra Fort - Best in the North, 1999/2001
  • Adil Balti Birmingham - Best Balti House, 1999/2001
  • Ashoka Glasgow - Best in Scotland, 1998/9
  • Bengal Dynasty, Deeside and Llanduduno - Best in Wales, 1995/97
  • Bina, Reading - Best in the West, 1995/97
  • Britannia Spice, Edinburgh - Best in the Scotland, 2001/3
  • Blue Elephant - Special Award, 1995/97.
  • Brilliant Southall - Special Awards, 1991/4, 1995/7, 1998/99, 1999/2001, 2002/3.
  • Cafe Blue Cobra, Theale, Nr Reading - Best in the West, 1999/2001.
  • Cafe Spice Namaste, E1 - Best Chef, 1991/4 & 1995/7, Culinary Excellence 2002/3.
  • Chor Bizarre, W1 - Best North Indian, 2002/3.
  • Coconut Lagoon, Georgetown, Raffles, Birmingham, Kenilworth, Leeds, London, Nottingham, Stratford - Best Group 2004-6 Chutney Mary, SW10 - Culinary Excellence, 1995/7.
  • Diwana Bhel Poori, WC1 - Best Vegetarian, 1999/2001.
  • Great Nepalese, NW1 - Best Nepalese, 2002/3.
  • Gulnar's Passage to India, Leith, Scotland - Best in Scotland, 1999/2001.
  • Gurkha Kitchen, Oxted, Surrey - Best Nepalese, 1999/2001.
  • Gurhka Square, Fleet, Hampshire - Best Nepalese, 1998/9.
  • Hawelli, SW London & Surrey - Best Restaurant Chain, 1995/97.
  • India Club, WC2 - Special Award Winner, 1995/97.
  • Jaipur, Milton Keynes - Best in Central England, 1995/97, Best Outside London, 1998/99 & 1999/2001.
  • Jim Thompson's Thai Pub, N21 - Best Curry Pub, 2002/3.
  • Jubraj 2, Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales - Best in Wales, 1999/2001, 2002/3.
  • King William IV Pub, Coventry - Best Curry Pub, 1998/9.
  • Madhu's Brilliant - Special Awards, 1991/4, 1995/7, 1998/99, 1999/2001.
  • Maharajah, Birmingham - Best in the Midlands 1998/99 &1999/2001.
  • Malabar Junction, WC1 - Best South Indian, 1999/2001.
  • New Balaka Bangladeshi, St Andrews - Best in Scotland, 1995/7. Best Bangladeshi, 1999/2001.
  • Prince of Ceylon, NW4 - Best Sri Lankan, 2002/3.
  • Punjab, WC2 - Best North Indian, 1999/2001.
  • Rajdoot, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester and Dublin - Best Restaurant Chain, 1991/4 & 1995/7.
  • Rani, N3 - Best Vegetarian, 2002/3.
  • Royal Niam - Best Balti, 1995/97.
  • Sarkhel's , SW18 - Best Newcomer, 1999/2001. Best Indian, 2002/3 (Now bankrupt).
  • Shamiana, Edinburgh - Best Chef, 1998/99.
  • Shampan, E1 ~ Best Bangladeshi, 2002/3.
  • Sigiri, W13 - Best Sri Lankan, 1998/99 & 1999/2001.
  • Tabaq, SW12 - Best Pakistani 1998/99, 1999/2001 and 2002/3.
  • Tabla, E14 - Most Promising Newcomer, 2002/3.
  • The Taj of Agra Fort, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire - Best in the North 1998/9.
  • Tamarind, W1 - Most Promising Newcomer, 1995/7, Best Chef 1999/2001.
  • Tamasha, Bromley, Kent (Greater London) - Best in the South, 1995/97.
  • Tandoori Nights, W6 - Best Bangladeshi, 1995/7.
  • The Valley, Corbridge, Northumberland - Best in the North, 1995/7.
  • Veeraswamy, W1 - Best Newcomer, 1998/9.
  • Verandah, Edinburgh - Best in Scotland, 1991/95 and currently, from 2007.
  • Zaika, SW3 - Most Innovative Chef, 2002/3.

 

Which Restaurants Are The Good Curry Guide 2013 Award Winners?

Buy the latest edition of The Good Curry Guide 2013 from our Online Shop.

 

What Information Does The Good Curry Guide Need From Restaurants?

If your restaurant has never been entered into the guide, or has been previously, we need to know everything about it. We need menu information, pictures, and anything useful for the diners who want to know about you what is needed. And remember, the more you tell us, the more we can tell our readers. Read a current edition of the Guide to see the sort of thing we need to know. You can order your copy on our online shop. We need customer information. You can get your regulars to write to us or email us, but more importantly we need verification of your excellence from people whom you don't know in the form of reports from our own contributors, the people whom we list in the Guide. You will not know who they are.  We don't either. They are genuine curry-lovers. We do not pay them. They write to us because they want us and the public to know about their experiences. A word about this. If someone tells you they are a Cobra Good Curry Guide reporter or inspector, they are maybe hoping for a free meal. This is fraudulent. Our genuine reporters do not do this, so we ask that you do not fall for it. Please tell these people that you will report them to us and ask them to leave. Meanwhile, start the ball rolling by sending us your Restaurant Report Form now.

" );