Takeaway review: Nana Jan's in Buckshaw Village

Nana Jan’s opened with much fanfare in April this year and locals will already be familiar with the sight of a heavily branded mini zipping around the estate on numerous delivery runs.

But try and try we might, we could not get Nana Jan’s app to recognise where we lived.

It tried to guess that our street was either in South Shields or Reading, via Bedford, and there’s just no progressing until the app is satisfied that the address is correct.

After 30 minutes or more we eventually came up with a work-around (put any old address in, explain the real address in the notes, and hope for the best) we were too late.

“Delivery has now closed” it said. Not a great start - we ate elsewhere.

A few days later we tried again, confident we could crack this fiendish ordering process.

Because of the problems we’d had, we ordered early, and asked for a delayed delivery time of 8pm.

Miraculously, the food arrived at the right house and bang-on-time, handed over by a pleasant and friendly driver, who I assumed had previously been lost enough times to get a grip of the geography.

So to food, and it would be hard to review a place like this without tackling the basics, so for me was fish, chips and peas, the standard by which all such establishments should be marked, at a hefty £8.35.

Overall the food was dry and the chips had a rubbery texture, which made me think the dish might have been served and left under heaters until our requested delivery time.

The fish was fine, but the requested salt and vinegar seemed missing, or ungenerous at best, which left the whole dish a little parched and spiritless.

Opposite me was a generous portion of doner meat, chicken tikka and salad, drizzled with hot chilli sauce with yoghurt and mint dipping sauce on the side (£5.25). This was also served with chips, again brown and slightly bendy. The kebab meat was tasty though, and while I feel it should generally only be eaten during the hours of darkness, it did make a nice change as part of a chippy tea.

I had high hopes for this place, and teething troubles aside this should surely be a gold mine amidst a sea of hungry houses.