Taste of Punjab — Restaurant in São Brás de Alportel

We arrived at about 9pm. There were two other guests and it was very quiet. There was very little ambience, some Indian music was pleasant but the overarching soundtrack was the couple mentioned above smoking and hacking their way through the evening. If ever there were an advert for the perils of smoking these 2 croanies embodied it.

The waiter was nice, there was no air conditioning, it was unpleasantly warm. The smoke from the other patrons regularly wafted in our direction even though we were indoors, and they were outside.

We ordered, the waiter didn't write anything down, when he came back to confirm our order it was wrong. I corrected it, a warm and jovial exchange.

The poppadoms arrived. They were a bit on the soggy side of crispy. My daughter ate them with enthusiasm along with some of the supplied minty yogurty sauce. I preferred the mango, and my wife showed a preference for the dip she believed to be of fig origin.

The starters arrived, like something from the bottom of a freezer, they were neither offensive nor delightful, just a thing to eat - onion samosa (flat variety by design in case you wondered) and paneer pakora.

The starters are usually a sign of things to come, and what was to come were our main courses. Two trays of rice, really quite delicious. One keema naan - the chef must have got bored cooking as it was only half cooked and the interior was doughy and raw. A peshwari naan, my daughter said it was "good food" as she dipped into into the sauce her otherwise inedible chicken tikka masala. The "chicken" itself being a hard rubbery substance with no taste or seasoning.

I remembered as I started eating my chicken balti that it isn't a traditional Indian dish, I believe it has it origins in Birmingham. The only possibility was that the chicken contained therein may have walked from Birmingham to the Algarve and was heavily dehydrated as a result. Like the tikka masala, it was a dish of the highest disappointment which I only ate because I'd paid for it.

My wife had a prawn dish with pistachio in it. It was pretty nice and she was well happy. The friendly waiter had recommended the chicken version to her and converted it into the prawn variety in a very accommodating show of customer service.

She washed this down with a glass of house white, my daughter had 2 mango lassis and I had a pair of small beers.

During the meal the otherwise intelligent and charming waiter opted to stand outside smoking with the other 2 hacking customers. Luckily he wasn't fully in the full grip of near certain terminal lung cancer and didn't join in with the chorus of coughing and phlegm moving.

I will, in short, never go back to this restaurant. The food was completely substandard. The service was just fine. The chef exhibited no knowledge...

Fantastic food and service.

We had a range of curries, Goan style, Chilly tikka Masala, Tandoori Madras and a Korma and all of them were fantastic.

The staff ask exactly how hot you want your curry, anywhere from low to high, meaning if you are big on spice they can accommodate, likewise if you aren't big with spice.

The food arrived in a reasonable time.

We didn't think that the Goan style curry was very Goan, we have been to Goa many times and typically found Goan curries were red and tomato based. This was a white coconutty curry, but was still very enjoyable. Maybe we were mistaken though.

The staff were very polite. We would definitely eat there again and recommend to to any fans of...

I recently “mixed up” the two Indian restaurants in Sao Bras.

Please may I ask forgiveness for the owners of “Taste of Punjab”.

My (incorrect ) review was is deleted.

I live nearby and have eaten in both restaurants. The dining experience in taste of Punjab was exactly as I expected.

I was (lucky/unlucky) enough to grow up in Birmingham where we eat Indian food once or twice a week.

The meals here are authentic, tasty and good value.

I strongly recommend you try...