It's always nice to come across a restaurant that we haven't reviewed before. There's the possibility that this one might be up there with the best of them. It's one of the reasons we do the Bradford Curry Guide: to boldly go where few have been before, doggedly pursuing the exalted acme of curry excellence. Sadly, this also entails tasting the dross that some deluded restaurateurs serve up in lieu of the real thing.

So... what did we think of the Shalamar?

Let's not beat about the bush. The Shalamar is exceptional: everything about this restaurant, from it's décor, fixtures and furnishings, service, value for money, and finally the fare it serves, is exceptionally awful.

We started with onion bhaji (£1.00), mixed pakora (£1.50), and murgh pakora (£2.00). We should have smelled a rat when we asked what the mixed pakora consisted of (it was listed under the vegetarian starters section), and the waiter replied: "Onion bhaji, samosa and murgh pakora."

I pointed out that murgh was chicken.

The waiter graciously consented to substitute mushroom for the chicken. However, when it arrived, the plate consisted of onion bhaji, a samosa which contained meat, and a shami kebab. Good start.

To add injury to insult, they were very poor. The onion bhajis were bland and undercooked, the mushroom pakora overcooked, tasteless, and the mushrooms greasy. The samosa was old, dry and lacked flavour. Only the murgh pakora was average: the meat being tender.

The main dishes continued the trend of the abysmal.

Let's start with the vegetable jalfrezi, which has the rare distinction of gaining only the second zero score in the history of the Guide. At £4.50 for a small portion, it was a rip-off: added to which, it was an undifferentiated mush, vapid, lacking spice, and spectacularly unappetising. My dall mushroom was not dall but chick peas. It was identical in taste the dall tarka (also channa). Mild and overcooked, it tasted as if prepared with ancient spices. The murgh palak was described as, "bland and watery, without taste or texture." The murgh korma was, "far worse than one of those Morrison's 99p boil in the bag affairs," - tasteless and over-sweet. The chicken dhansak was lukewarm, spiceless, the only redeeming feature being the large portion of meat.

We decided not to risk having a coffee here - and decamped to Mughal's on Leeds Road, for excellent coffee and fine barfi.

All in all we thought the Shalamar one of those terrible dining experiences on par with the Alhambra II and the Westgate. We've all made bad curries like these at home - but to be served this standard of fare at these inflated prices, in an alleged curry house, is criminal. Avoid at all cost.

(Chapattis and rice come with the main dishes.)