Tony Rowen enjoys Saffron’s superb food and a bit of people watching
PEOPLE watching can be an entertaining exercise in a packed restaurant, particularly when you are on your own as I was on this visit to Saffron in Castilian Street, Northampton. Immediately to my left was a table of eight, which I deduced was an office outing; to my right was a family of four and opposite were four men on a lads’ night out.
The eight were coming to the end of their meal and were sorting out their individual payments involving a lot of maths at which some were better than others! The family of four were studying the menu with a lot of talk about who liked what, while the four men appeared to know exactly what they wanted as soon as they sat down.
The three tables that weren’t occupied when I arrived were soon filled, but by then I was more interested in deciding what I was going to eat rather than continue my people watch.
Owner Naz Islam has been in the catering trade since the age of 16 and has used his vast experience to take Indian cuisine to another level at Saffron, which over the years has won a host of awards including the Tiffin Cup and the Spice Chef of the Year in the Carlsberg UK Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards and this year has been nominated for the Best in Midlands in the British Curry Awards as well as being a finalist in the local Food and Drink Awards.
While enjoying a lager and poppadoms and chutneys, I realised the restaurant had had a makeover since my last visit, which Naz later informed my must have been more than a year ago! The contemporary and smart interior has an elegant panelled feature wall with a couple of eye-catching water features as well as a pleasant bar area.
Saffron’s menu contains many mouth-watering options with little pointers like ‘best-selling dish’ and ‘not to be missed’, topped by Executive Chef Bodrul Islam’s award-winning Signature Dish of Lime and Ginger Sea Bass cooked in the chef’s special delicious sauce with coriander and garlic, served with a pyramid of steamed rice. Diners are advised to allow 30 to 45 minutes preparation time for this dish.
Tempted though I was by this, I selected the ‘not-to-be-missed’ dish of Saffron Special Curry – a spicy dish of chicken tikka, lamb tikka and prawns prepared with the chef’s secret recipe accompanied by pillau rice. It lived up to its billing – the chicken was succulent, the lamb was tender and the prawns were tasty, while whatever was in the chef’s special recipe certainly hit the mark – not overpoweringly but built up with every mouthful to leave a pleasing after-glow at the end of the meal.
While some places in Northampton town centre might struggling at the moment, Saffron is an exception. The restaurant was packed on my Wednesday night visit and Naz assured me that business is ‘buzzing’ every evening.
With the superb food on offer, it’s easy to see why there are many regular visitors and those visiting on a casual basis are quickly converted to regulars.
Saffron
21 Castilian Street
Northampton
NN1 1JS
Tel: 01604 630800
Open seven days a week 5.15pm to 11.30pm