Last evening, a friend sent us a number for Joy’s Gourmet Kitchen (we won’t be speaking to said friend for at least a week – more on that below), a new food-delivery service in Bandra. They have a super extensive menu featuring Continental, Chinese and Mughlai fare, but the voice on the phone said they specialise in “Tandoori items”.  On a rainy night when we were looking for an excuse to cancel our dinner reservation, this Tandoori-in-front-of-the-telly thing sounded pretty good.

On their recommendations, we got two full Tandoori chickens - Pahadi and Reshmi versions– along with broccoli fritters and Tandoori mushroom for our vegetarian guest. (Lettuce) Heart!

Curry Leave

The food arrived on time, still hot and in neatly packed containers, instantly passing three important tests for a home delivery service. Unfortunately, the standards didn't quite stick. The reshmi tandoori chicken was passable, but in need of a serious shot of flavor; while the Pahadi chicken was intensely green (we suspect artificial colour and no mint that we were promised), burnt, dry and not so different tasting from the reshmi chicken. The mushrooms were better, but also seemed to have a heavy hand of red colouring.  Surprisingly, it was the broccoli fritters, also studded with corn and chillies, that turned out to be the best dish for the night. All the food at Joy’s Gourmet Kitchen is supposedly cooked in olive oil.

Okay so we haven’t given their Hawaiian salad or chicken liver soup a chance yet, but the fact that they couldn’t get Tandoori chicken right, doesn’t instill much confidence in us. Especially when we could spot good (Tandoori) legs over at Mini Punjab or Kareem’s on any night.

While we picked at our food, still hungry, a hearty dish of mutton curry appeared from the kitchen, our mum's version of a culinary back-up plan. Talk about a good rainy day save!

Getting there: Joy’s Gourmet Kitchen, call 9322178696 / 32165161, delivery from 11 am to midnight from Bandra to Santacruz, Rs 600 for a meal for two.