TAKEAWAY TEST: Naga, Bolton Road, Abbey Village

There’s always a ripple of excitement when a new takeaway menu slips through our letterbox. Sad, I know - and we really should get out more - but when you’re tasked with writing this column every few weeks and you’ve eaten your way through most of your local establishments any suggestions are most welcome.

So when a rather smart black and red leaflet arrived a couple of weeks ago, it was put safely to one side ready to fill a hole - in more ways than one.

Naga is a smart Indian restaurant situated in pretty Abbey Village, to the north east of Chorley, which offers a ‘fusion of eastern cuisine’. The takeaway menu includes all the usual favourites from biriani to bhuna plus a really good selection of ‘signature dishes’.

Hoping for restaurant quality at home, we chose one of the latter - a chicken naga with rice, plus a nan and Bombay potatoes, with papadoms, chutneys and a mix starter to begin.

Ordering online, our food was ready and waiting for us when Significant Other arrived to collect. They don’t offer a delivery service but takeaway orders do get a rather impressive 25% off.

Everything was still piping hot when he got it home and they had included a few extra papadoms - great, except a couple of them were a little on the stale side. The fresh ones however, were a light and crisp accompaniment for the selection of tasty dips - the mint sauce being particularly flavoursome.

The mix starter included chicken tikka, an onion bhaji, seek kebab and a lamb chop. And not forgetting the usual little plastic bag of salad which, for a change, was pretty good with a sweet little cherry tomato and crispy lettuce, although SO would have liked a bit of cabbage. The meat was all soft and succulent with plenty of herbs and spices while some fried onions and peppers added even more flavour.

The tastes continued with the Bombay potatoes which were perfectly cooked and had quite a rich sauce - some of the best I’ve had. The nan however was a little flat and not very soft but the rice was light, fluffy and a cooling relief to the fiery chicken naga.

I’m not too keen on really hot curries as I find the spice masks the flavours and this one was a proper burner. But once we’d mopped our brows and got used to it, the flavours came through and the added keema gave extra depth. The chicken, again, was soft and tender and there was plenty of rich, hot sauce.

With the discount the bill came to £23.25, pretty good value for the amount and quality of food.

Now, which takeaway is next.......

- Naga Bolton Road, Abbey Village PR6 8DA. Tel: 01254 832894