Indian Restaurants in Bandon
Posted on September 20, 2006, by Conor O'Neill, under Bandon, Restaurants, Reviews.
Anarkali
Food style/ethnicity: Indian
Price: 10 - 20
Location:
North Main Street
Bandon, Co Cork
Ireland
I find it interesting that many people are still more comfortable sending me e-mails to ask questions rather than writing comments on the blog. I include all of my family except big sis in that group.
Do feel free to post any comments you like, you don’t have to give your full name (most don’t) and only I’ll see the email address. Blogs should be conversations rather than monologues.
In any case, I got a question from Clare asking about Indian restaurants in Bandon and I thought I’d post the gist of my reply here.
I haven’t done sit-down in either of the Indians in Bandon but I’ve had plenty of takeaways from Anarkali (023-29762). They are a bit hit and miss but the good dishes are really good.
The chilli garlic dishes are lovely, saffron chicken very nice, bhunas are good, dopiazas are good but their chicken tikka masala is awful for some reason. They seem to do creamy dishes badly.
All of their starters are really good. The restaurant itself is quite basic (and has a lot of take-away customers coming and going) but they are extremely friendly people. It’s a husband and wife team, one Indian, the other Pakistani. I also think they do BYOB.
I haven’t eaten anything from the one that was The Chapel Steps but it has already changed hands after only a few months in operation. My wife heard that it was not good when it was called Moghul. I’m not encouraged by the new owners describing it as “exotic cuisine”. I think currys stopped being exotic in the 70’s 
We’ve eaten in one of the Indians in Clon too. Not sure if it was Cobra or the other one (it’s on the same side as the bike shop) and it was in the category of not too bad. Tiniest kitchen ever!
10 Replies to "Indian Restaurants in Bandon"
conor on September 21, 2006
I’ve started doing that too. Next I’ll start quoting what people said to me about a post to my face
Norma on September 19, 2007
Conor,
Want to eat out in Bandon tomorrow night - somewhere good have eaten all over the world so am pretty picky. Where would you recommend
conor on September 20, 2007
There aren’t really any great restaurants in Bandon. Most are local middle of the road places. The new Cappucino does reasonable bistro food. Not awesome but tasty and great service. On Market Street just at steps up to big Church.
Dave Moore on September 22, 2007
We have being meaning to try the new Cappucino place. We are great fans of Anarkali. I just wish they would upgrade their sound system. Taste of India is a fab looking restaurant. The day myself and my wife went there we decided to eat outisde. Just as well otherwise we wouldn’t have seen the broken head of a screw in the filthy basket with our popodums, where it had been sitting under a grease trap and had gathared dust. There was no tandorri oven that day either so only half the menu was on. The owner was gone to mecca aswell so i gathered from the food we got that he was the chef also.
conor on September 22, 2007
That sounds horrendous. They moved from across the road a while back to “The restaurant location of doom” given that nothing has ever lasted there. Based on your report it looks like they’ll be joining the deadpool soon.
Dave Moore on September 22, 2007
That’s a Shame Conner. We are new to Bandon, and indeed Cork after moving down from Dublin. We still have a couple of places in the town to try. My favourites so far have to be Ho-Kee and The Marmatice
Michael Kerr on February 15, 2008
Hi all, we’ve recently moved to Bandon so it’s great to have a resource like this. We recently ate in The Poachers Inn, food and service was fabulous, can’t recommend it enough.
Where would I get a nice Indian takeaway? Is there a Thai restaurant in Bandon? Thanks…
conor on February 15, 2008
Hey Micheal, another satisfied Poachers customer - they really are building a great reputation for themselves.
There are two Indians here (described in the comments above). Anarkali is better.
There is (or at least was) a “Chinese-Thai” above Larry’s Bar on Market Street. The Chinese food was ok-ish and the portions were big but I haven’t tried any of their Thai food.
Dave Moore on February 27, 2008
HI Michael,
As Conor mentioned Anarkali is the better indian. My favourie dish is the anarkali special grill. My wife goes for the Chicken chili garlic. Don’t Iforget to bring your own wine (no cork charge). As far as thai food goes. We went to Golden dragon (i think its called) at the back of daVida tapas bar) Wasn’t impressed with the thai green curry. I thought it came out of a jar. I might try their chinese food sometime but i think it is going to be very hard to beat Ho-Kee. I have been to Nobel house four times, and although it’s a nice restaurant i was dissapointed with the food. If you are in dire need of some good thai food try Banna Thai (time square ballincollig or maylor street cork city). When i go shopping in cork city i will either go to banna thai or cafe mexicano. For a really good thai meal take a spin out to Thai Cottage main street Kinsale.
p.s Welcome to Bandon!!!
Rebecca on September 21, 2006
Sometimes when I get an email from a blog visitor I cut and paste it into a comment on my blog, hey presto, forced to sit at the front row regardless!
ps… I just sent you an email!!!