Holmesdale Tandoori - Bromley

I live and work in the Chatterton Village area, when it comes to curry I’m spoilt for choice.  The excellent Shampan 2 which has great food plus a great décor.  The Ruby, fantastic food also, always with interesting specials, terrible atmosphere and décor for eating in though.  Tiffin Choice, pointless greasy takeaway only.  So it is a bit strange that we have lately found ourselves using the Holmesdale Tandoori, never again though.

We had a salesman come round our door selling us a voucher for £20 which over a year would entitle us to buy one get one free on all meals at the Holmesdale Tandoori for eat in or takeaway, plus on a one off occasion we get 50% off of the total bill including drink when eating in.  Now we had been stung before by one of these schemes when we lived in Biggin Hill.  We had great curry houses on our doorstep but were sold exactly the same deal for a restaurant in Westerham, we bought it despite never having eaten there, the food was terrible, everything had spicy ketchup on it…

This time however we had eaten at the Holmesdale Tandoori.  Friends of ours had got a takeaway from there and we had quite liked it.  I like trying out new curry houses as the specials of the house are the only chance you get to try anything different.  The food was pretty good so we jumped at the chance for the voucher as we thought we would make a great saving what with the amount of curry we eat.

The first time we used it we had a mate round so we ordered 4 main courses between the 3 of us with the intention of saving one for the following night, 2 of the meals would therefore be free.  The mate and myself went to pick up the curry and to have a cheeky beer.  The restaurant was packed, saw the neighbours in there, it seemed everyone had got in on the voucher!  We had our beer, paid up and left.  It wasn’t until we got home that the missus discovered that we had been ripped off to the tune of £12, the exact amount that should have been taken off of the bill (the beers had been taken into account!). 

Te next time I went I took a calculator, low and behold they tried to rip us off again, then the third time!  Every time by increasing the price of the other meals to cover the free one!  On the third occasion the missus left half of her meal because it just didn’t taste right either.

The fourth time at last the price was right, but the missus, having gone for a trusted Chicken Tikka Massala, had been served what could only be described as the worst takeaway curry I had ever seen or tasted!  There were five pieces of chicken, each about the size of my thumb nail.  Each piece of ‘chicken’ was as white as driven snow and almost perfectly square, the lowest grade and most tasteless meat you can get.  The sauce was luke warm ketchup with coconut and inedible.

As you can imagine this is the last time we will be using them, and we still have the 50% voucher!  What was a genius and successful marketing scheme should by rights turn into a disaster for them, as if everyone has been treated to the attempted rip offs and downgrading in food quality that we have then come September they will find themselves very short of custom indeed, and deservedly so.