The Jewel in the Crown — Restaurant in England

I thought I would give this place a try for a takeaway. Its not great.

I came to collect a lamb biriyani and chicken tikka starter. Gave it good time, and so items were all ready to collect.

I had to move out of the way for one waiter with a food trolley while I was waiting to collect at the till. There was no queue. Another waiter came and asked to serve me but I had already been served. He had piece of something white in the back of his hair. And on the back of his suit. Might be tissue paper.

At least two of the front doors were fully open (it was a hot day today) so I presume they have no aircon for the entire restaurant. (I have seen the opposite here in winter with all the front windows steamed up.) Till counter is a bit tatty and worn.

Kitchen door was also jammed open so you could hear all the pan rattling and shouting. So, glad I didn't do a dine in.

When I got home, there was no salad in the bag. All food containers placed in the paper bag, which in turn is placed in a plastic bag, the usual. A lot of oil had come out of the veg curry sauce that comes with the biriyani, onto the rest of the food containers so had to wipe them first. No garnish on the biriyani as such. The biriyani only had three very thin, tiny lengths of carrot on top as garnish which I thought was weird.

After the meal, tidying up I found a small bag of salad. It was just chucked in at the bottom of the plastic bag. Not in the main paper bag with all the food containers.

Food was ok but no new tastes or unique selling points noticed. Just standard biriyani taste. Chicken tikka was strips, (not cubes as seen in the google review pics) and there was no garnish on the chicken tikka like in the google review pics.

There is a lot to improve on here, to reach the...

My friend came from London especially to take me out for my birthday . We picked this restaurant as they were open day time and had very good reviews . We were the only people in there and they sat us down in a freezing cold corner with poor lighting . The waiter spoke literally not word of English . I am allergic to dairy and asked several times whether the dishes I wanted to order were ok and could they do without it . ( they were non dairy dishes but I know they often cook in ghee etc. )He looked at me blankly and just kept saying ‘ yes yes Madame ‘. We went away , I assumed to check with the chef but next thing I know were asked 3 times by someone else to double check what we orders which was entirely wrong . We wanted also just 1 Nan, 1 dal , and 1 rice to share with our mains and they bought up 2 of everything ! My onion Bahji was fried to an inch of its life making it inedible unless I wanted to break my teeth , and I’m certain my mains was cooking in a load of butter . I couldn’t eat a thing as I was concerned it probably did have dairy as was pretty sure nobody checked . Nobody came over to ask if our meal was ok , and we couldn’t get anyone’s attention to ask about the dairy situation . I’m actually quite angry my friend paid for the meal as quite frankly if I’d been there with my husband I would have refused to pay. If you’re going to hire waiters , at least get them to know basic English especially when you have notes on all the Menus to let them know if you have allergy requirements . Quite frankly disgusted and never will go to this...

We recently had the pleasure of visiting The Jewel in the Crown in Swindon with our family friends, and it turned out to be quite the culinary adventure — with a few delightful surprises and one or two culinary conundrums.

Let’s start with the stars of the show — the curries. Rich, aromatic, and bursting with flavour, they were absolutely outstanding. Each dish felt like it had been prepared with genuine care, the spices perfectly balanced, and the portions generous enough to satisfy even the hungriest among us. The tandoori roti and naan were equally impressive — soft, freshly baked, with just the right amount of char from the tandoor. You could happily mop up any curry with those alone.

Now, the biryani… oh dear. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to the glory of its companions. It lacked the depth and fragrance one hopes for in a good biryani — more bland banquet rice than royal feast. A bit of a let-down, really.

On the plus side, the service was excellent. The staff were friendly, attentive, and genuinely welcoming without being overbearing. As for the ambience, it was perfectly serviceable — not overly posh, but clean and comfortable.

All in all, despite the biryani blip, we had a lovely evening. A great place for a satisfying curry fix and a good value meal with friends. We’d happily return — though we might give the biryani a polite...