A decidedly different experience, this one.

We thought we'd try the Chaman, part of a hotel/bar complex on Manningham Lane. We were shown into a small side room done out in traditional Eastern style, but empty and cold. (One waiter, throughout the night, wore a coat.) The staff seemed a little bemused that we'd come for a curry, but what they lacked in efficiency and speed they made up for in friendliness.

We ordered our starters, and then moved through to the bar for a drink while we waited. And waited.

Perhaps thirty minutes later, just as we were beginning to worry that this might have been a mistake, we were told that our starters were ready, and we returned to the ice box.

We had chicken pakora (£1.60), onion bhaji (£1.20), mushroom bhaji (£1.40) and vegetable samosas (£1.30). They were, like the room, cold. They were also of a high quality and exceptionally tasty - the mushroom bhaji especially flavoursome, the batter crisp, the whole mushrooms fresh and succulent and encapsulated in a mild creamy sauce.

So what of the main courses? Well, we weren't expecting much - they would be cold, of course, and perhaps not served together...

In the even, however, we were pleasantly surprised.

I had a vegetable bhuna, a very rich dish containing a good selection of fresh vegetables (okra, courgette, carrot, potato, aubergine, among others) in a thick, ghee-heavy sauce (not exactly a bhuna, but I wasn't complaining.) IanW described his vegetable bhuna as "well-spiced, a good selection of veg, but a little oily for a bhuna". The chana aloo was another rich curry in thick, highly spiced sauce. The mushroom masala was above average, with chunky mushrooms in a pungent sauce. The chicken biryani was bland, despite a good portion of chicken - and it was cold. We also had good plain naan (£1.20) and garlic naan (£1.50).

The portions were ample and the sundries, chapattis, rice, came with the curries, which made for a very good value meal.

While they were not the best curries we've sampled in the city, they were of a sufficiently high quality to warrant a second visit when the establishment gets its act together.

(The price of the main meals include chapattis, boiled rice, etc.)