Tamatanga has just opened it’s doors to the public this week! This is probably going to be one of the first reviews you’ll see, so listen closely.
Tama also have another branch in Nottingham, so some of you may already have heard of them.
If you haven’t, here’s the scoop.
Tamatanga are an independent restaurant, serving up their take on Indian street food. As previously mentioned, They’ve already had a chance to try out most of their recipes on the wonderful people of Nottingham so expect to see some refined flavours on their menu.
You’ll find Tamatanga on Navigation St, next door to Sainsburys.
Parking is fairly simple for this one. You’ve got the red cage car park just opposite, or the mailbox just a bit further around the corner. I presume most of you will be using the City Centre anyway, so pretty much parking anywhere will guarantee only a small walk.
Tama’s slogan is: Eat.Drink.Indian.
It’s pretty much as straight forward as that. No frills, No hassle and nothing but good vibes.
As you walk into Tamatanga, you’ll notice they’ve got their own signature theme. It involves lots of bright oranges and greens. It’s quite bizarre but surprisingly works really well with the dull lighting and open spaces.
The space itself is quite casual. It reminds me a little of Turtle Bay in some respects. There’s a little cocktail bar so you can have a few drinks if you’re not quite ready to dive in straight away. This is also ideal if you have to wait a few minutes for a table to become available.
Speaking of cocktails, lets talk a bit more about them.
The cocktail menu might be a little different to what you’d usually expect. Tama have put their own stamp on the menu and you can expect ingredients like chilli flakes, curry leaves and chaat masala to feature in some of their tasty concoctions.
Some of you might not be so keen at the thought of these exotic sounding ingredients. (I wasn’t at first either!” But give them a chance. I really enjoyed mine.
This is the first drink out of the two i had. The Corrito wouldn’t probably have been my first choice usually but i was intrigued at the red chilli protruding from a glass on the table next to me so I decided I’d order the same.
The Corrito is made up from: Rum, Coriander, lime, Sugar, Chaat Masala, Tabasco and topped with coke.
In all honesty, It wasn’t my favourite ever drink. I was a bit sour for my liking. It didn’t have a bad taste but the sourness was a bit too overpowering for me. Personally I probably wont be ordering this one again.
Back in 2010, the only blackberry that was buzzing was my smart phone. Moving on with age, I’ve come to find that cocktail menus are even more obsessive that blackberry messenger ever was.
The blackberry buzz was made up from: Vodka, Blackberries (Obviously), Coconut, Passion Fruit puree and Pineapple juice finished with fresh passion fruit.
I absolutely loved this one. I’m a bit of a Vodka lover anyway so it’s no surprise i enjoyed this one to be fair.
It was a really fruity tasting cocktail as you’d expect. It just tasted like juice to me so it went down an absolute treat. For those that haven’t got a high alcohol tolerance like myself. Be careful on these. *Haha!*
You’re still reading? Good. Because now we’re getting to the good stuff.
Tamas’ menu is quite unusual. They’ve got some familiar sounding dishes but not quite as you know them.
Check out their menu here.
We started with a few poppadoms. Naturally.
First thing I noticed was the unusual looking chutney tray. Mint Yogurt varies from place to place as we all know, but this one was nothing like anything I’d seen anywhere before.
Tamas’ take on mint sauce involves using Granny Smith apples from what sources have told us. Not sure where they got the idea for that, but it’s seriously nice.
It’s really fruity and tastes nothing like mint sauces I’ve had anywhere else. This is totally unique and I couldn’t get enough of it.
The Mango chutney was fairly average. Wasn’t anything overwhelmingly different to mention. It does the job.
The little onion mix was quite spicy. It had a nice flavour and was very more-ish.
All in all, They were pretty nice. It gave my palate a nice base to work with and Incorporated some new flavours into what is usually just a pre meal snack.
For starters we ordered the Bang Bang Chicken. This dish doesn’t seem to be part of their Nottingham menu as it doesn’t feature online.
I never managed to grab a photo of the Birmingham menu, so I’ll try my best to talk you through the flavours.
The chicken itself was coated In a mildly spiced breaded coating. Personally, It wasn’t that great. A little on the bland side and could have done with a maybe a little less coating or a little more spice.
Either way, the chicken is served with a little side salad and some more traditional style mint yogurt.
As starters go, It could have done with some improving. The chicken was well cooked and the portion was a fair size but the lack of flavours let it down for me. I’ll try something else next time.
The second starter we had, was what can only be described as Tama style fish pakora.
You can find them on the “Sides and Snacks” Page of the menu, under the name of “Fish Fry”
For me, these were very similar to Fish Pakora. The coating was slightly less thick but the flavours were pretty similar.
The fish was nicely cooked and the coating was a mildly spicy. Again, this was served with a little salad and some mint yogurt.
As a dish, it was fine. Nothing too much to talk about. You get what you’d expect.
Now we’re talking! “The Tama Feast”
You can find this on their “Tandoor Plates” section of the menu.
The feast consists of: Two Malai lamb chops, One piece of tandoori chicken,
One piece of Tamatanga salmon and one tandoori Hara Jhinga (King Prawn).
All of the Tandoor dishes are served with a small salad and Daal and a choice of Rice, Naan, or Tamatanga chips.
We’ll start from the top. The lamb Chops.
I loved the lamb chops. They were a nice size, spicy and cooked perfectly. I could have eaten hundreds of these. They were an absolute treat. I’d 100% recommend these as lone starter if you love this kind of thing.
The Tandoori chicken was probably my favourite thing on the plate. The spice blend worked really well and the chicken was cooked wonderfully. Again, I’d have eaten this all day and wouldn’t get bored with the flavours. Overall, really nice.
Seeing a few of the other bloggers talking about the salmon makes me wonder whether or not I actually like salmon at all?
The salmon for me tasted a little under seasoned. Salmon can be quite bland anyway but I felt it could have done with a little something extra.
Anyone that has been to the Raja Monkey will know that their salmon is a class above.
Tamas’ just didn’t do it for me on this occasion. I’ll give it another go next time though as other bloggers have talked it up to be better than I remember.
The King prawn was also just average. It tasted OK. Nothing Outstanding to note.
We decided to Opt for the Naan, not sure why. Looking back I’d have probably gone for the Tamataga Chips but nevertheless, It was a nice accompaniment.
There are a few Naans to choose from. We went for the Garlic and Coriander. It was nice and fluffy and the garlic wasn’t too overpowering.
Naan got a thumbs up from me.
Daal was excellent. Very refreshing and helped cleanse my palate. Couldn’t really find fault with it. Would 100% have it again and is a great addition to the dish.
Slightly different wording to their online menu. I believe it’s probably the same dish as the “Railway Lamb Madras”.
The “Railway Cabin Lamb” is described as: “A traditional recipe served in the first class railway cabins of India. lamb is cooked on a slow fire with garlic, whole red chillies & curry leaves resulting in a spicy, rich dish.”
This was my favourite dish of the evening. I absolutely love a spicy curry and this one really hit the spot.
Very flavourful, Spicy and beautifully refined. The lamb was absolutely mouth-watering and as a whole, a very enjoyable dish.
Not sure why they’ve dropped the madras title from the menu, but I’d say Madras is a fair indicator to the spice level so bare that in mind if you don’t like a hot curry.
I’m being really picky with this now because that’s just the kind of person I am when it comes to Indian food.
Personally, I didn’t like the ginger that the dish was garnished with.
I don’t think it adds a nice flavour to a curry but from what I’ve been told, many people disagree. I’m happy to accept that I’m not always going to have the same opinion as everybody else so we’ll leave that one there.
Enough room for Dessert? Of Course!
Couldn’t even pronounce this one if I tried!
Gulab Jamun is described as Indian style treacle sponge type dish. Served with Vanilla Ice cream.
Anyone that knows me personally, knows that I love treacle sponge so this was right up my street.
I enjoyed the dessert. It came as like two little sponge balls drowned in a treacle type sauce. It will never beat a traditional sponge pudding, but I appreciated the Indian twist on things and think it deserves its place on the menu.
That’s just about it from me, so lets summarise.
Tamatanga is bringing something new to the City Centre. Indian street food gives you a different experience to just “Going out for a curry”.
For me, I think it provides a more social environment where people can share dishes and laughs. It allows people to get together and communicate with food and flavours.
I like the casual feel to this place. It’s perfect for first dates or meals with friends. I think this place will be a real success, and It’s perfectly located.
Give Tamatanga a try. I can bet you you’ll experience some new flavours you’ll really enjoy.
I predict that Indian street food is going to really kick on with these guys in town!
Till the next time.
-Dan.
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