A fruitful experience
Mango Tree Indian Restaurant and Bar, Chester Road, Stonnall, Walsall 01922 744244.
There are times when only a curry house will do. It is usually after a night out and the munchies get you at about 11.30pm.
It is then that you join the throngs who sit bleary eyed around their tables ordering chicken vindaloo and more lager.
Then there are times when one hankers for a spicy evening meal: something that is a little out of the ordinary, where there are no crowds of tired and emotional lager drinkers, and a menu that offers a surprise or two.
When you find yourself in the latter category, then the Mango Tree is a good bet.
While we should never judge a book by its cover, that same adage should apply to this family-owned restaurant.
There is nothing wrong with its appearance, far from it. It is its location that might have people driving on by: it is on a main road, next to a petrol station and opposite a heavy plant hire yard. This is, therefore, what one might term a " destination restaurant".
Already the proud owners of a clutch of awards, including regional winner of the UK South Asian Chef competition of 2006, and named as one of the top three curry restaurants in the Midlands in The Real Curry Restaurant Guide 2006, it is clear this three-year-old establishment is not a curry house; this is definitely a South Asian Restaurant.
It is also somewhere that takes its food very seriously. It sources its vegetables locally, from a farm in Walsall, and its meat as close as possible.
With soft white walls, crisp table linen, tan chairs and banquettes, this is a smart space that looks every inch an aspiring restaurant. There are even twinkling fairy lights around the wrought iron handrails outside when the sun goes down.
What sets this restaurant apart from your common or garden curry house is the menu. No meat vindaloo or onion bhajis here, we had to study the menu for this new world of dishes.
There is an array of temptingsounding meals, from the starter chilli sooka chicken (juliennes of chicken marinated with lime juice, red chilli, black pepper, cooked with mange tout, baby corn and peppers) to its award-winning allepey king prawn curry and murgh jardaloo (Parsee festival chicken dish with Hunza apricots).
It was a pity there wasn't a taster menu, as we rather liked the sound of pretty much everything.
Pleasingly, there are some traditions that aren't omitted as diners peruse the menu: the poppadums and dips, which comprised a sweet - but not cloying - mango chutney and a punchy spicy mixed pickle.
My partner selected the fried crab cakes, flakes of crab mixed with spices, coated in breadcrumbs, out of the dozen or so starters and was rather pleased with his choice.
The spices did not overpower the delicate flavour of the shellfish and the two well-proportioned crab cakes were enjoyed by three out of we four diners (the smallest in our small band was too busy playing with his Power Ranger to care), although the plum chutney was not to anyone's liking.
I (or rather my daughter) chose the pani puri, very light crisp pastries filled with lentils and potato, served with a cold tamarind sauce, so we decided to share.
They were very delicate, almost like puffs of air, and were gone in a moment. They weren't exactly packed with flavour so the spicy tamarind sauce added the much-needed depth of flavour.
It wasn't until afterwards I realised I had missed out on the chef's special main course, a Malabar lobster curry, described as chunky pieces of lobster cooked in a Keralan spice blend, coconut milk, green mango, curry leaves and turmeric.
At £17.95, it was by far the most expensive dish on the menu. They are generally between £6 and £10.
But with two children trying Indian food in a restaurant for the second time (the first time was an unmitigated disaster), I had to ask for guidance on the milder dishes and chose three side orders, of miloni subzi handi, which is vegetables and paneer in a lightly spiced sauce; aloo gobhi, cauliflower and potatoes in a tomato sauce; and sambhar, a south Indian dish of vegetables and lentils, for us to share.
I liked all three. The miloni subzi handi was rich and tasty with a delicious sauce, but rather spicy, and it quickly defeated my two. In fact, I'd never seen the younger one drink so much water so quickly.
The aloo ghobi had more than the delicate spicing promised on the menu, so the two smaller ones rejected it fairly promptly, but I enjoyed it, even though it wasn't so different from the miloni.
The potatoes, waxy and firm, absorbed the spices and sauce beautifully and cauliflower was just on the al dente side. The sambhar was the dish enjoyed most by the children (perhaps because this was something I made for them as babies), even though they complained that it was still too spicy.
Each mouthful had to be helped down with glasses of water and lots of plain rice and a spoonful of the musky saffron rice.
Soupy and gloopy, and, yes, a little on the spicy side for the uninitiated, this was comfort food on a cool and rainy night.
My husband's lamb travancore was devoured with great enjoyment. It smelled divine, thanks to the meat being cooked in coconut and seven spices.
The lamb was meltingly tender and the flavourful and rich sauce seemed to get spicier with every mouthful.
He decided to give pudding a miss, but with two youngsters in tow, we didn't get away that easily.
The youngest chose a choc chip mint ice-cream on the basis that he hadn't eaten much curry, while my more adventurous daughter chose a real south Indian milky dessert, ras malai. I couldn't resist the kulfi.
Diners are advised to give puddings a wide berth in most curry houses, serving as they do sub-standard desserts and watery ice creams. But, as already established, the Mango Tree is not a curry house.
In all honesty, I can say this was the best kulfi I have ever had: like Christmas pudding ice cream, it was rich, fruity, nutty and incredibly moreish.
My daughter's ras malai was a mixed success; think of a mound pressed cottage cheese and a slightly musky sauce of milk with Carnation cream. I haven't painted the greatest picture, but it was unusual and strangely tasty. It is an acquired taste: I acquired it, she didn't.
With friendly staff and good service (with service already added to the closed bill), this is a place that I am certain to visit again, just to get through the array of specials and more unusual sounding dishes. The bill, including two beers and two litres of bottled water, came to £63.97, which is rather good value for money.
It might be an unorthodox score, but it has to be awarded three and a half stars. For me, it wasn't quite up there with the four-star establishments, but pretty darned close.
