Saffron Indian - Helston

I hate feeling let down after paying a lot for a meal, but that's what happened to me tonight. My dad and I decided to get a Chinese takeaway since I was down visiting him in Cornwall so I set off into Helston to get our usual Jade Garden (really crap chinese, which has given me food poisoning, but I seem unable to resist their crispy chicken). On finding that the Jade Garden was closed for it's annual holiday I opted for the nearly-next-door Indian, Saffron. The only patron in this tiny restaurant/takeaway, after a few minutes looking at the menu, a man came to 'advise' me. I looked for a balti bhuna, but since they didn't have it, I opted for a balti tikka masala again since I know it's tasty. My dad requested 'something with small bits' as he struggles to eat and an onion bhaji. I relayed this to the waiter and he suggested chicken tikka bhuna, which sounded very similar to what I'd just ordered for myself, but I assumed that the man wouldn't suggest an almost identical dish. I then asked for 'a couple of onion bahjis' he asked me if I wanted a papadum and I thought I'd misheard when he mumbled '4 papadums' and tapped on his calculator. To finish off I added a portion of rice and a garlic naan for us to share. I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when he asked me for nearly £30, but my British politeness once again struck and I nodded and smiled and handed over twice as much as I'd intended to pay for the chinese.

When I got home and opened my two dishes, lo and behold they were almost identical in looks and taste with massive chunks of overcooked meat, massive chunks of onion and then chunks of tomato in the bhuna and peppers in the balti - so much for small pieces, I had to chop it all up before serving to dad. Both were relatively tasteless too, which made this even more disappointing. There were indeed 4 papadums - for which we paid £3.20 and not 2 onion bhajis, but two portions of 3 and no sauce - maybe I've been spoilt in the past, but I love the minty yoghurty stuff that usually comes with onion bhajis, in fact, that's the main reason I order them! Regardless, who on earth wants 6 dry onion bhajis! Finally, I'm a HUGE fan of garlic, to the extent that He often complains that I've made stuff to garlicky, but the naan bread today made me feel unwell it was so overwhelming.

Massively disappointing meal and seriously unimpressed with seemingly deliberate sneaking on of extra expenses. I will not go here again :(