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(Code: CF5 – £5 off your next meal on orders over £30)

I grew up in Waterbeach and have had many fond memories dining at the Slap Up Tandoori and Bollywood Spice. When the family that was running the restaurant finally moved to North London, I felt that the building had never quite found its purpose.

It was eventually turned into a type of bed and breakfast, with most of the restaurant space turned into rooms, with a tiny Indian restaurant left over, which was mostly used for takeaways. I remember visiting about 4 years ago and I was disappointed with my dining experience. It was a far cry from its former glory days and it felt like Waterbeach had lost something truly special.

Luckily, the restaurant has once again changed hands and has been rebranded to “Miah’s”. It is in the capable hands of the owner of 7 popular Indian restaurants in Cambridgeshire, including Curry Palace in Cottenham and Royal Bengal in Willingham, as well as the old Kohinoor on Mill Road (God, I miss that place). It is a good sign that the man knows what he is doing and he has already started made some significant changes.

He has extended the remnants of what was left of the Indian restaurant and given it a capacity of around 30 to 40 people, meaning that it’s now suitable for friends and family to dine in together and enjoy their favourite curry again. This is very exciting because even though Waterbeach now has a Nepalese at The White Horse and an Indian food van at The Taps, but these are located in pubs, so can’t offer that formal dining experience like Miah’s can.

Waterbeach is utterly spoilt for choice when it comes to South Indian cuisine.

Papadums and sides

We started off with some papadums and a chutney tray. This consisted of mango chutney, onion salad, yoghurt and a type of red sauce. I really missed the lime pickle but the portion sizes were still really generous and everything seemed fresh.

Mains

I was genuinely surprised at how cheap the menu was, with the chicken and lamb curries still under £9. It felt like looking at a menu pre-pandemic.  There is good sized specials that was actually the biggest part of the menu. I was disappointed not to see any beer on tap but bottles are available.

Afghan Lamb Halim

I started with the Afghan lamb, a real favourite of mine. It is made with potatoes, chickpeas, green mung, and lentils. It had an almost mushy texture to it. The lamb was so impossibly tender that it almost disintegrated in my mouth. I haven’t seen lamb like this in a long time. Top marks!

Royal Kurzi

The Royal Kurzi is made with peas, tomato, tandoori chicken and minced meat, which is then topped off with a boiled egg. I’m used to having eggs on top of the Bangladeshi style biryani’s and I have always welcomed them but I have never seen one this well executed in a dish. The egg was absolutely soaked in spicy sauce that gave it a beautiful red colour throughout. It was absolutely brilliant and egg at its very best.

Chingri Tahirs

I had mixed feelings about the chingri taurus. It was a good looking dish with lots of colour and variety, with big juicy prawns that were served still in their shell. With that said, I found it a little watery and the prawns themselves failed to really soak up a lot of the flavour from the dish. I would have been disappointed ordering this as my mains.

The Bengal Special

The Bengal Special was absolutely superb. It came out with a beautiful orangey red colour and is served with a mixture of different meats, including tandoori chicken on the bone, chicken tikka, lamb tikka, and sheek kebab. This also came with a special rice making it a completely balanced meal in its own right. I was indifferent to the Tandoori chicken on the bone, but the chicken tikka and lamb tikka were both absolutely delicious. 

I was particularly impressed by how tender the lamb tikka was. I’d had previously had lamb tikka at the curry Queen on Mill Road and it was a stiff as a board. The staff at Curry Queen had explained to me that this is just how lamb is when you tikka it but the team at Miah’s has just proven otherwise. The highlight for me however was the sheek kebab, which was absolutely out of this world. Honestly, I think they should do the Bengal Special entirely out of sheek kebab because it worked so well. The kebab was a beautifully bright red colour in the centre and was so tender and full of flavour. My guest and I shared this dish between us and we both asked each other if we were going to eat the other sheek kebab in the curry, it was that good.

The perfect place for a Friday night curry

The restaurant has been absolutely transformed since my rather disappointing visit at India Kitchen several years ago. It feels like Waterbeach has a proper old school Bangladeshi style Indian restaurant again. Which is just as well because no village is complete without one.

The restaurant isn’t going to win any awards for style, but at least you can dine in comfortably and enjoy a really good value meal at a quality that will pass the test for most people.

Thanks for reading.

(Code: CF5 – £5 off your next meal on orders over £30)