Dhamaka
Rating
Pros
Flavour Explosion Bombs, Great Curries and Strong Chutneys
Cons
Small Beers, Poppadom Crisps and OTT Hipster
Attendees
Snudds
Morgs
Runkle
Marshy
Slammy
Adley
Adam
Pre Drinks
Venue: Hy-Brasil ONO Start The Bus
1st Bristol Front Row Curry Club outing of 2019! Expectations were high after the venue Dhamaka, chosen by relative newbie member Slammy, had recently been featured on Bristol Post as a top Bristol Curry spot.
As a new “hip” Curry House the pre-drinks venue needed to measure up, so we ended up in Hy-Brasil, home of some of the best/worst live music in Bristol. Apparently OBRFC’s second-best dressed member Tref (Fison #1 obviously) was seen on the decks there recently.
Conversation turned to best XMAS food, XMAS parties, NYE parties, the few dull dry January participants and best/worst XMAS presents. We then helped Runkle figure out the worst present he could get his missus for her upcoming birthday, with the outcome being a Keytar.
A few messages then arrived from Whiteman as he was “struggling to find parking so was unable to attend”. The empty NCP multi-storey carpark opposite was suggested back to him but alas he had “gone too far down the Baldwin Street one-way system”. First drop-out of 2019.
After a few beverages we made our way the approximately 3 metre walk from the door of Hy-Brasil to the Ex-Subway establishment Dhamaka.
Poppadoms and Chutneys
We arrived at Dhamaka, the first thing that strikes you is the huge graffiti style mural on the wall and brightly coloured decor. Some thought it was cool, others (mainly the BS8 residents) thought not so much.
We immediately ordered 2x poppadoms and assorted chutneys for the group, standard. “We only offer mini poppadom baskets” the waiter replied, “3 baskets between you should be enough”. It wasn’t.
Mini poppadom baskets arrived with an aassortment of three different dips/chutneys. The usual suspects, Mint Yoghurt and Mango Chutney were on point and then “For Our Mystery Chutney” a delicious, tangy, Pineapple Salsa.
Morgs then proceeded to loudly besmirch the size of the provided Cobra bottles in the rather quiet atmosphere. Surprisingly, in the next round larger sized bottles suddenly appeared and Morgs was appeased.
Dhamaka has a combined menu of tapas-style Chaat / Indian Street Food and a more traditional Curries/Rice and Naan section. Curry/Rice and Naan was ordered all around because we are creatures of habit with the exception of thrill-seeker Slammy who went off-piste and stretched to one item off the Chaat section.
Curry, Rice and Naan
Mains arrived in funky multi-coloured bowls and hot plates, with plenty of warnings from the waiter, obviously ignored.
The naan’s all arrived in one mega basket with each quarter being dutifully dished out be the waiter with a pair of silver tongues. There was a bit of naan mix up resulting in Morgs ending up with 3/4 of a naan. With no one owning up to the theft it was decided to blame Dhamaka.
Slammy had decided to order himself the waiter-recommended Pani Puri Chaat, AKA “Exploding Flavour Bombs”. This turned out to be small hollow balls that came with two squeezy bottles of flavoured waters (Mint and Tamarind). “Fill them all the way to the brim” said the waiter as Slammy emptied an entire bottle into one of the six provided balls and judging from his face proceeded to explode with flavour. Slammy later recommended to ignore the waiter, fill them half way and they are super tasty.
Curries were consumed and they were all delicious, with even naan-shorted Morgs in agreement.
The cheque arrived, sans one round of large bottled Cobras. Morgs was much happier and smug that his loud conversations about what an avid TripAdvisor reviewer he was had the desired effect.
As it was dry January it was decided to forego the usual post drinks and everyone departed Dhamaka, thus concluding the 1st OBRFCFRCC outing of 2019.
