Saffron

Having to make the trip out to Hemel Hempstead everyday to work a night shift the occasional consolation is to treat myself to a curry on the odd Friday. Unfortunately after much hunting I have found it very difficult to find anywhere even passable in the whole town, that is until now. Saffron really is excellent, their vindaloo is tremendous, hot but thats not the only dimension. So far after 2 visits everything I’ve had has been very nice. The staff are always cheery and seemingly pleased to see you, ½ a lager is always presented for the wait for your takeaway and no matter how little you order there are a few poppadoms thrown in. This is now my Indian of choice when I’m in Hemel.

Very nice indian restaurant. Seats a lot of people on two levels in two rooms, so feels more private when dining. Gives a nice atmosphere and the service is friendly.
The range on the menu is good. They do a banquet night as is the norm for Hemel.
Toilets are acceptable for this kind of restaurant.
One of my favourites in Hemel

After being turned away from Mogul we decided to give this place a try. We were told that they were busy but they did put a table together for us by the bar, we were swiftly served drinks and popadoms and we settled in with the menu.
It didn’t take too long for someone to come and take our orders and we were informed that there was only one chef in the kitchen so they requested that we were patient with them, we said that was fine just keep the beers coming! Sitting near the bar/​till we were able to witness a series of increasingly stroppy, bad tempered, diva like customers. I assumed they had been informed of the chef situation as we were but some people thought if they puffed up their little chests, raised their voices and started jabbing their fingers at the staff they would get better service. The staff were most apologetic to their customers in the face of quite aggressive behaviour which is to be commended. I can sympathise that people can get very frustrated, especially if they have been a regular to an establishment and treated like royalty in the past but you would then expect them to have some empathy but no the majority thought it gave them the right to act like complete jerks. One customer was so out of line that I gave a little cheer when the restaurant manger responded «I don’t mind» when screamed at by a disgruntled little man «So don’t you want my custom any more» — after acting like that I would have thought he is the last person they’d want back through the door!
When we first got to the restaurant there was a couple just entering and they were seated next to us at the same time. Their order was taken first and their starters arrived within about 10 minutes which I think is a reasonable time. All the way through their starters that I was eyeing enviously they weer grumbling about how long it had taken to get them, blissfully unaware that we were still waiting! After they finished they waited about ten minutes (our starters were still no where on the horizon) they got up and made total idiots of themselves barking on about the service, they too were not missed! When our food arrived it was beautiful. It was tasty, flavoursome, hot and tasted like every care had been taken over the dish which you could expect to have gone out the window in the face of the pressure on the kitchen. We were offered complimentary beers and spirits and thanked profusely for our patience. For the stroppy 7 or 8 people who walked out shame on you for acting like such biggoted fools. I will certainly go back and be more than happy to wait. As for Mogul I went there a few weeks later, it was rubbish!

One of the many good Indians in the Old Town high street, offering the banquet sunday-​tuesday whereby you can get a starter, main, side and rice or naan for under a tenner. The food is great quality and service impeccable.