Chillies: Hillhead, Newtonhill

EVERY night I zip past Chillies on the A90 and every night I wonder to myself “what’s that like then?”

On the basis that life is too short for “what ifs” I decided to find out. Don’t worry, I wasn’t splashing out too much, not at £19.95 for the set meal for two.

Poppadoms, chutneys, two starters, two mains, Bombay potatoes, pilau rice, a naan and a couple of cans of coke. Can’t complain.

And we certainly didn’t for the starter. The chicken pakora was prime quality breast strips in light batter that still had a bit of oomph. It got an “awesome” from Mrs B. High praise.

The shish kebab, all moist lamb with fire in its belly, got a big thumbs up from me.

On to the main events and one of the finest chicken bhoonas going, rich with ginger, garlic, tomato and onions. It earned another awesome from over the table.

Could the chicken dhansak make a hat trick of awesomeness? Close, but not quite. It fell short from Mrs B’s gold standard because she prefers her dhansak a bit sweeter. As for me, I liked the fact it was hot, sour and mercifully free of cloying sweetness.

I can see regular A90 stop offs in my future.