A few weeks ago my girlfriend and I were headed to the Vue cinema in Cleveleys to watch Up in the Air and on the way we decided to try out the Fayez Tandoori on Victoria Road West.
My favourite curry house is Michael’s in Thornton because the food is consistently good and the service is rapid, so this is my benchmark upon which I will compare the Fayez.
The Fayez Tandoori doesn’t look much from the outside, indeed, the only ground level indication of the restaurant is a door with some mysterious stairs leading upwards. Allow your eyes to gaze upwards however, and you can see the first floor which is open, bright and has big windows overlooking the street.
Upon going up the stairs the door was opened for us by a member of staff and we were asked whether we wanted to take away or eat in. We discovered that we would be the only diners, but given that this was a Tuesday night and Cleveleys was like a ghost town, we weren’t too surprised by that; it’s not a problem for me anyway.
As you would expect, the decor is very much Asian style with lots of golds and purples. There was some Indian music pumping out of the sound system which the member of staff turned up because I was clearly getting into it. The tables are a bit low quality: not very substantial, and the same can be said for the chairs. The lighting was bright and to be honest I’d have preferred it dimmed a little to create some atmosphere.
There is a small bar which seemed well stocked with various spirits and there was a choice of a few beers including good old Tiger.
I ordered a chicken dopiaza and my girlfriend went for a rogan josh: both usually fairly mild curries. We shared pilau rice and a couple of garlic naan breads. The currys turned up in reasonably sized, clean, balti dishes and were very hot to the touch. But how did they taste?
Hot! Compared with other curry houses, the Fayez dishes are a lot hotter, such that quantities of lager were required as a mouth coolant! Naan breads were pleasant, although nothing like as big as those from Michael’s. Having said that, they are a lot cheaper.
In fact the whole menu is good value if you like your curry to be mind blowingly hot. Or perhaps I’m just a curry lightweight, used to Englishified Indian food!
The Fayez doesn’t have a website as far as I can see, but you can find it at;
82 Victoria Road West
Thornton-Cleveleys
FY5 1AG
01253 853 562
Excellent review Phil. I’m slowly falling in love with Cleveleys and it’s new prom and cinema.
How much did your meal cost by the way?
Probably should have mentioned. It’s a cheap place.
The curry was around £5.00, the rice about £2.00 and the naan breads were about £2.10 each.
Using lager as a coolant? Wrong, wrong, wrong! With hot (spicy) food you should never drink to cool yourself down unless it is a lassi (yoghurt drink) as your mouth will burn more and for longer.
And if you really like heat there’s always Vicious Viper (which I have tasted a couple of drops of recently, on it’s own) – exceedingly hot (and painful probably if you mix it with drink) and all the “flavours” of pineapple, guava, papaya etc are completely and utterly lost as a result. (250k Scovilles compared to Tabasco being 2.5k Scovilles, a hot vindaloo about 30k Scovilles ). Heat for heat’s sake and it’s nasty as a result.
Ahh thanks for the advice. I guess I’m just an uncultured Brit! lol
I regularly use the Fayez, Mr Kahn makes some great food,having eaten indian food in Coventry, London, York, Manchester, its the no 1 for me.
Shimla spice in Thornton is a great takeaway too.
Oh dear,
Harold seems to pretend hate all things Black and Asian.
Now we find he loves their cooking, perhaps he will invite a few of them round his home for a few drinks.
been there numerous accasions and they allways looked after us, food is allways well cooked and the price is good. as said above the lighting and funiture are due for an update but we never let that spoil things for us.
“Ahh thanks for the advice. I guess I’m just an uncultured Brit! lol”
That makes 2 of us !! If I’m out for a curry it’s always washed down with 2 large bottles of Cobra. Always hits the spot
Great review Phil, I shall have to try this place and Michaels (heard lots of rave reviews about Michaels). I absolutely love indian food, there is nothing better than a curry, I strongly recommend Plumbjabi on Highfield Rd and for takeaways you can’t beat Shapla Spice (Highfield Rd) Samir (Whitegate Drive opposite Belle Vue) and Eastern Spice (Bispham opposite B&Q).
I hear good things about Michaels
Is Plumbjabi a takeaway or proper restaurant? Might give it a go as its only a few minutes from me.
Its actually a proper restaurant, I went with some friends a few weeks ago. It has a very nice atmosphere, friendly staff and service and the food was excellent I especially recommend the Plumbjabi Special Massalla.
There’s nothing wrong with drinking with your curry – the only thing is you shouldn’t drink if you find you’ve had one that’s too hot until that burning sensation goes away on its own.
By the way eating hot food is great if you have a cold – the traditional Sri Lankan cold cure is to eat chillies like you would an apple. It certainly unclogs all your sinuses fast.