JACK PUDDING REVIEW:
I have eaten here a few times before and really like Rasa's no frills approach. Simple food, served simply. No weirdly shaped plates or pieces of wood used as plates. Rasa has a homely feel.
For Starters I had Konju Varuthathu which are king prawns marinated in a batter, deep fried and served with salad. The batter is very light and a slight hint of chillie and the prawns taste fresh. The dip that accompanies the plate works perfectly. A great way to start a meal.
For Mains I had Nadan Kozhy Curry aka Chicken Curry, the Coconut Rice and the Channa Masala (Chickpeas cooked in a thick tomato sauce flavoured with onions, chillies and fresh coriander leaves). The curry is wonderful and flavoursome. I was slightly disappointed by the Channa Masala as the chick peas were slightly hard for my taste. I have had them here a number of time before and they are usually soft and moorish. It could just be my teeth are getting weaker though.
I washed the whole meal down with a Mango Lassi which works a treat with the good food.
Overall, Rasa's simple and good food combined with friendly service and relatively cheap prices definitely mean it is a place to check. If you like Pink and currys it potentially is heaven.
7 out of 10 Puddings.
ALAN CARTE REVIEW:
RASA = (Rich Authentic Spicy And...Pink!)
Ever had some friends come to visit you and challenge you to take them to the pinkest Indian restaurant Brighton has to offer? If so, you’re friends are probably a bit weird. But at least you can shut them up by taking them to Rasa, Little East Street, Brighton (where Momma Cheri’s Big House used to be, not connected to the Martin Lawrence film Big Momma’s House, although it seems unfair that one of those projects went bankrupt while the other somehow grossed over $100million, apparently!).
Ever had some friends come to visit you and challenge you to take them to the pinkest Indian restaurant Brighton has to offer? If so, you’re friends are probably a bit weird. But at least you can shut them up by taking them to Rasa, Little East Street, Brighton (where Momma Cheri’s Big House used to be, not connected to the Martin Lawrence film Big Momma’s House, although it seems unfair that one of those projects went bankrupt while the other somehow grossed over $100million, apparently!).
If you can get over the pink exterior, the pink interior and the overwhelming perfumy smell of burning incense, then there is some very tasty food to be sampled at Rasa. Like a few other reviews of the place I’ve seen, it was pretty empty when Jack and I went (6ish on a Thursday evening), so there were a lot of staff hanging about while we chatted and ate. They were very polite, though, friendly, courteous and attentive without bugging us.
I don’t know anything about southern Indian food, so just took a punt on one of the starters, a Masala Dosa (a paper-thin pancake made of rice and black gram, rolled with a filling of spicy potatoes cooked with onions and ginger and served with sambar (lentil and vegetable sauce) and coconut chutney). I’m not sure if Jack has been able to put a photo of this up as it was as long as my arm! I would have liked some guidance on how to eat it as it seemed to me that there was only filling in the middle of it, leaving a lot of thin crispy pancake that I just left on the plate. The spicy potato in the centre was good, though. Colourful, soft and with a nice, mildly spicy taste.
For the main, I chose the most common chicken curry made in Kerala (according to the menu) - cubes of boneless chicken cooked in a pepper masala made from garlic, mustard seeds, curry leaves, green chillies and ginger, which I had with some plain, boiled rice. This was really nice. The chicken was sooooooo soft, I thought it must have been cooked for days on end (but it only took about an hour, according to the waiter). It had a real zing to it, a strong spicy kick that lasted a long while. Overall the dish was pretty basic, just chicken and rice, really, but that seemed to add to a home-cooked, authentic style and I did enjoy it. I think I just would have liked a couple of other ingredients, maybe some salad or something to go with it.
Overall, I enjoyed the experience. It was tasty, different, and good value (about a fiver for the tasty chicken curry and rice). I wasn’t overly impressed, though. Maybe a second visit will help me decide. I’m quite fussy. (I didn’t like the toilet being almost in the restaurant, and having a Dyson hand-dryer which is as loud as a jet-plane. I thought everyone would be staring at me when I came back in!) I can never remember if Jack wants me to rate these places out of five puddings or ten (we didn’t have pudding, by the way. I’m not big on banana-based desserts or semolina) but I’d give my first visit to Rasa 3 out of 5 puddings, or 6 out of 10. The soft, spicy chicken was the clear upside, but I needed that to get the taste of incense out of my mouth and to distract me from the decor. Give it a go...you got to try that chicken, seriously...
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