I HAVE never been to Uttar Pradesh or Rajasthan, so I cannot say what they eat in the north of India, but I have been to Cockerton, to the west of Darlington, where they eat at a classic British Indian restaurant.

Although it has been a takeaway for a decade, Spice 4U only opened as a restaurant in November – the inaugural night so tickled the tastebuds of the mayor, Councillor Charles Johnson, that he suggested we had a look in.

At first, though, due to the discretely low lights, the smallness of the print and our ageing eyes, it was a little difficult to read the menu. My wife reached for her glasses while I took mine off to help me see.

As I focused in, it became clear that Spice 4U’s exotic-sounding menu contained words that are now staples of the English language: chat, tikka, balti, biryani, masala, madras and vindaloo.

So we started as the English always do at an Indian restaurant – we accidentally ordered a pile of poppadoms there was far too high for two people. But they were fresh and crunchy, the pickles were alternately viciously sweet and acutely sharp, but always homemade, and the onion salad was juicy, so we gave it a go.

I then had my traditional starter: bhuna king prawn on puree. It was a classic combination of tastes and textures: the crunch of the salad, the sweetness of the yoghurt, the stodge of the pancake, the flesh of the prawn, a slight tinge of heat and a wonderfully aromatic collection of spices. It wasn’t just my mouth that was eating, but my nose as well.

As a main course, my wife ordered prawn jalfrezi, which came in an iron dish on a wooden plate. It was a very good jalfrezi which, as everyone knows, is a rich combination of peppers, onions and garam masala with a scintilla of heat. The Spice 4U version of the jalfrezi also included a barbecue smokeyness to the prawns.

Because it would have been too boringly British to opt for a chicken tikka masala, I chose a rarely-encountered chicken muli. The menu spoke of it being grilled on charcoal, marinated in yoghurt and cooked with cashew nuts, tomato, herbs and butter. It may well have been, but really it was large pieces of succulent chicken in a rich, vivid, thick tomatoey sauce. It was a good muli.

We’d also ordered sag aloo as a side dish.

Needless to say, that’s spinach and potato, although it is important to say how potatoey the potato was – Spice 4U appears to use very good quality ingredients.

It doesn’t skimp on the quantities, either. We were full, but the table around us was still covered with curry, rice and naan. We discussed the etiquette of asking for a doggy bag, but decided it would be unseemly.

I departed for the toilet and returned to find that the waiter had, without any prompting, offered to box it up, so we had a microwaved meal the following night which was nearly as good.

The total bill, including a couple of glasses of wine and a gin-and-tonic (the young waiter arrived shamefaced at the table saying he couldn’t find a thin piece of green citrus – a slim lime – but hoped that a wedge of lemon would suffice in the tonic), came to just under £50.

For such freshly made honest fare, we judged this restaurant and takeaway to be very good value in the traditional English Indian style.

Food facts

Spice 4U
Restaurant and takeaway

8-10 Cockerton Green
Darlington, DL3 9EH
01325-485585

Ambience: 3/5 stars
Quality of food: 3/5 stars
Service: 4/5 stars
Value for money: 4/5 stars